CDS Awarded Funds to Help Grow Rural Co-ops

On October 5, USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager announced the award of 38 grants to non-profit and university based cooperative development centers throughout the US. Among the grantees, Cooperative Development Services was awarded $225,000 to provide services to rural co-ops in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.

The funds are awarded through the Rural Cooperative Development Grant program, the federal government's only program to specifically support the start-up and expansion of co-ops. CDS will provide $75,000 in private match for the project; the project is scheduled to run from November 1, 2010-October 31, 2011.

For more information on the USDA RCDG announcements:

http://usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010/10/0505.xml

Testimonials

"A group of Minnesota county and state staff looking at how we can collaborate to more effectively deliver our human services programs. We asked Cooperative Development Services to come to our group in April 2011 to explain how a co-op works, and what needs to be done to set one up. They exceeded all our expectations and helped us clearly understand the work we have before us. We will definitely use the expertise of CDS again."

- - Lynn Skinner, CREST Project Facilitator, Olmsted County, MN