Co-op Development in Turbulent Times
By Christina Clamp,
Southern New Hampshire University
Rising unemployment, frozen credit markets and thousands of foreclosed properties are a perfect economic storm. It is time to bring cooperatives back to the forefront as a solution to the failure of the market. The cooperative movement historically helped average Americans preserve their farms, savings and to create affordable, safe and secure homes in light of economic hardships. Co-ops are a very effective response in these troubled times.
The School of Community Economic Development (SCED) at Southern New Hampshire University offers education programs to promote effective cooperative development. The university’s masters’ program in community economic development integrates co-ops into a “tool bag” for community developers. Students can take an advanced certificate in cooperatives and credit unions to learn how to create and sustain new co-ops in both the US and abroad.
All master’s students in the program are required to be involved with a Community Economic Development project. Students with a focus on cooperative solutions are developing co-ops and co-op policies. Tanya Gracie is a Canadian and her project is focused on co-op policy. She is currently working with the Canadian Cooperative Association and the Ontario Cooperative Association to assess how to recruit a new generation of cooperators both through paths into existing co-ops and with co-ops specifically serving youth.
Michael Bowie is a graduate student with co-op development project. Michael was employed at a Community Development Corporation that was struggling with empty home ownership units in Worcester, Massachusetts, a city with over 2000 foreclosures last year. He realized that his hometown would benefit from a co-operative solution. Because his boss had previously been involved with a failed co-op housing project, the employer and others were quick to shrug off a co-op proposal.
We do not discount the value of starting a new business when one fails. So why, Bowie asked, do people reject co-op solutions when one fails? He conducted a survey of young community activists and found that they wanted to develop co-op community housing. He is working with a group of young people to acquire a property for a new housing cooperative while also developing a small housing cooperative for the Stone Soup Artist Activist Collective and Community Resource Center. Lisa Stolarski and Andi Shively are both students from Pennsylvania. Andi is interning with SCED’s Center for Cooperatives and Community Economic Development to create a web-based resource site for cooperative developers. Lisa is a consultant with Keystone Development Center. She is interning with the National Cooperative Business Association to identify resources for supporting urban co-op development.
The goal of SCED educators is to strengthen the student’s “tool bag.” Their communities are the case material and beneficiaries of what they learn. Founded in 1982 and with over 2,500 graduates from over 100 countries, SCED is recognized both nationally and internationally as a leader in advancing the creation of just and sustainable communities. A variety of advanced degrees are offered at the main campus in New Hampshire and satellite campuses in Los Angeles, Tanzania, and the Philippines. Alumni build affordable housing, run community-development financial institutions, promote cooperatives and microenterprise programs, and develop commercial projects and small businesses in low-income communities.
Visit the SNHU School of Community Economic Development web page for more information.
Editor's Note: This article was published in netWorks May 2009, a news update from CooperationWorks! - the center of excellence for cooperative business development.