Toolkit Implementation: Practical Application of Tools and Skills for Cooperative Developers

Our friends at CooperationWorks! run a rigorous three-part course for participants to develop the skills to start a new cooperative and assist groups to start new cooperative enterprises. The second part of their course, Toolkit Implementation, builds upon the concepts and skills developed in Building Blocks and prompts participants to use these in interactive, hands-on, case studies. This session will dive deeper into topics like feasibility, explore a wider array of business planning tools, include more information and resources for later stages of business development, and put more emphasis on the field of cooperative development and the participants’ role in it. Toolkit Implementation includes a tour to a co-op development centers and other institutions that support cooperative development.

Our own Ricardo Nuñez will be presenting on Funding Cooperative Development, which will provide a break-down of the funding available to new co-ops and when it’s most appropriate to access. Includes bank loans, member equity, community loans,
grants, DPOs, CDFIs. Ricardo will be basking in the glow of his co-presenters Margaret Bau, Cooperative Development Specialist with USDA Rural Development, and Christina Jennings, Executive Director of Shared Capital! Ricardo will also present on Building Co-op Capacity: A Case Study on the Bay Area cooperative ecosystem. 

To find more information about CooperationWorks! trainings, please visit their website, The Art And Science of Cooperative Development.