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The Role of Community Organizing in Developing Cooperatives

The Role of Community Organizing in Developing Cooperatives. Chuck Hotchkiss and Eric Jacobs School of Community Economic Development Southern New Hampshire University. POWER. In cooperatives, power = ownership In organizing, power = organized money, people, vision

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The Role of Community Organizing in Developing Cooperatives

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  1. The Role of Community Organizing in Developing Cooperatives Chuck Hotchkiss and Eric Jacobs School of Community Economic Development Southern New Hampshire University

  2. POWER • In cooperatives, power = ownership • In organizing, power = organized money, people, vision Shouldn’t cooperative development and community organizing be complementary strategies? Are there examples? What can we learn?

  3. FEATURES OF FAITH-BASED ORGANIZING • Institutional base • Values orientation • Relational organizing • Multiracial approach • Independent power • Professional organizers

  4. SOME ORGANIZING NETWORKS • Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) • Gamaliel Foundation • PICO National Network • Direct Action and Research Training Center (DART) • InterValley Project (IVP) • Organizing Leadership and Training Center (OLTC)

  5. FOUR MAIN CASES • Brooklyn Ecumenical Cooperatives (BEC) • Naugatuck Valley Project (NVP) • Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) • Anti-Displacement Project (ADP)* PLUS Valley Health Care Cooperative Manufactured Home Parks

  6. BARRIERS TO ORGANIZING COOPERATIVES • General business climate • The “usual suspects”: funding, leadership • “Organizing vs. Development,” especially when resources are limited • Limited beneficiaries, uncertain commitment

  7. WHAT COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT BRINGS TO ORGANIZING • Visible accomplishment • Leadership development opportunity • Opposition to globalization BUT NOT • Revenue

  8. WHAT ORGANIZING BRINGS TO COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT • Political clout • Knowledge of the community • Knowledge of the business • An “umbilical cord”

  9. WHEN COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT MAKES SENSE AS AN ORGANIZING STRATEGY • When an organization has resources that can’t be used for organizing • When the cooperative has a large pool of beneficiaries • When the cooperative has a large pool of potential leaders • When the organization has a partner • When there’s an opportunity for an employee buyout

  10. PROSPECTS AND CONCLUSIONS • Organizations need to decide at the outset whether they’re primarily about organizing or primarily about development • Organizing is an inefficient strategy for cooperative development • But cooperative development may make sense as an issue for organizing • For an organizer, the question is always: Will it help build the organization? • Getting more organizations to develop co-ops may mean rethinking co-ops

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