As we wrap up the International Year of the Cooperative and continue to mark an incredible milestone—our organization’s 40th anniversary—I’m filled with gratitude for the community that makes our work possible.
Three Regional Celebrations Bring Our Community Together
A Twin Cities gathering, co-hosted with CoMinnesota and the Minnesota Credit Union Network at Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative, brought together over 70 credit union professionals and cooperative leaders to honor 100 years of Credit Unions in Minnesota, the International Year of the Cooperative, and CDS’s four decades of cooperative development. Through video reflections, structured networking and generous servings of cake and beer, participants explored how cooperation has shaped their lives and imagined how it might inform the future.
We then traveled back to our roots in Madison, Wisconsin—where CDS was originally founded in 1985 as the Wisconsin Cooperative Development Council. Co-hosted with our good friends at the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives and Cooperative Network, and co-sponsored by Cooperative Network and the Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association, this gathering held special significance. We were honored to welcome founding organizers Ann Hoyt and Judy Ziewacz, along with our first-ever Executive Director E.G. Nadeau
Our final stop was Rochester, Minnesota, where we partnered with People’s Energy Cooperative and Cooperative Network in an event that featured a third birthday cake and drew cooperators from Extension and the farm supply, credit union, and electric co-op sectors. A highlight was Aaron Eberhart from Rep. Brad Finstad’s office presenting a Congressional Declaration honoring CDS’s 40 years of service to the cooperative community.
These gatherings reaffirmed that cooperation isn’t just an abstract concept—it’s a powerful tool for building resilient, connected communities, as well as an excellent excuse to eat cake.