Collaborating and learning from our fellow co-op development colleagues is integral to our work here at CDS, as we learn of emerging trends, seek new and alternative funding resources, and explore the local cooperative ecosystem. This spring, CDS team members collaborated, learned, and shared valuable knowledge with one another at several events.
Cooperation at Work! in Denver, CO
CooperationWorks!, the nationwide association of cooperative developers—of which CDS is a founding member– gathered for its Spring meeting in Denver, Colorado, bringing together co-op developers around the nation. Attendees learned from representatives throughout dynamic cooperative ecosystem. In addition to the several classroom-style learning sessions, attendees also toured a diverse number of co-ops that call Denver home.
Co-op developers tour Denver’s next housing co-op, The People’s Mansion, to open later this summer.
Center Leaders Gather in Livingston, MT
Several years ago, CDS recognized a need for a gathering of the leadership of cooperative development centers. In response, our past executive director, Kevin Edberg, created a unique event that brings together center directors to learn from and support one another in an agenda that they create together. As he has done in years past, Kevin hosted leaders of five development centers this year in beautiful Livingston, Montana. Both the setting and knowledge gained were equally matched during the two-day event.
Co-op developers tour Denver’s next housing co-op, The People’s Mansion, to open later this summer.
Food Co-ops Congregate in Duluth, MN
Last but not least, staff and directors from food co-ops across the country gathered in Duluth for the annual Consumer Cooperative Management Association conference. CDS ED Leslie Watson was among the 400+ attendees who came together on the shores of Lake Superior to celebrate the recent positive performance trends for consumer-owned food co-ops, and to explore topics on everything from governance, to meeting the diversity of community needs, to nitty gritty retail strategies. CDS tips its hat to our colleagues at the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, who have managed this conference for a number of years and consistently hit it out of the park. As a fun footnote, our own Snow River Cooperative contributed a series of beautiful wooden cutting boards to the event, which were raffled off to grateful participants!