Viroqua Food Co-op Blog

Two organizations focused on cooperatives are stepping in to enable donations in support of recovery efforts after the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy: the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) and the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF).

My name is Kevin Schmidt. I am a clinical social worker/psychotherapist, at Center Point Counseling Services Cooperative, in Viroqua Wisconsin. We opened our doors in December 2011, the first mental health cooperative in the country.

We are a worker cooperative. This means that our 12 clinical and administrative staff are the member-owners of the cooperative.

During this last year of introducing our cooperative to the public, many have asked “So what is a worker cooperative?”  I realized that when we have been answering this question, we generally preface our response “Well, a worker cooperative is a business model…” and then there are a number of ways to end that sentence, to distinguish this business model from others. These distinctions were usually poignant, direct statements about powerful aspects of worker cooperatives, and cooperatives in general. One day, I decided to write down the many ways that we end this sentence, the ways that the worker cooperative is set apart from other business models:

National Bike tour raising awareness about the benefits of cooperatives.

When a group of college students from Amherst, Massachusetts learned the United Nations was declaring 2012 The International Year of Cooperatives, it proved to have a galvanizing effect. The announcement prompted the students to create the Co-cycle Project, a youth-led, bike-powered tour linking cooperatives across the United States and designed to draw attention to cooperatives and how they contribute to making the world a better place.

Starting in San Francisco, California on June 2, and ending on Labor Day in Amherst, Massachusetts, members of the Co-cycle Project are making their way across the country, stopping in nine cities where two-day public events and workshops about cooperatives are being held. Through these events and workshops, Co-cycle is raising awareness about the economic, social and environmental benefits cooperatives offer. For more details on event locations and dates, or to join Co-cycle for all or a portion of their cross country trek, check out their website at www.co-cycle.coop to see their route. For details on how to join them for the local part of the ride (August 3-5), contact Bjorn Bergman at bjorn.bergman@viroquafood.coop

Co-cycle’s journey will live on beyond this summer. The journey and events will be chronicled by a student film crew in a documentary (sponsored by the National Cooperative Grocers Association) which will serve as a “Cooperatives 101” tutorial, a vehicle for introductory education about cooperatives. The film will highlight the importance of dedication, innovation, and teamwork in making sustainable change for the future and the value of cooperative action.

From the onset, Co-cycle has been a student-led idea motivated by a wide range of intersecting passions. As the youth of (mostly) America, members of Co-cycle face a world full of complex problems whose solutions, they assert, will require imaginative, creative, and social justice-oriented thinking. They are motivated to learn and teach others about why cooperatives have increasingly become recognized for their ability to address complicated and interconnected local and global issues. And they are driven by hope and inspiration towards a better world.

Find more info about Co-cycle, their project and to follow their journey, visit www.co-cycle.coop.

From August 3rd-5th, Co-Cycle will be in the Driftless Region! Join us for a Co-Cycle and area Co-ops meet and greet, free and open to the public.

by Bjorn Bergman, 

Promotions and Educational Coordinator

On Monday, April 2nd 2012, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and a number of individuals from USDA Rural Development and the Wisconsin Farm Services Agency visited Viroqua to learn about the developing local food economy in our region.

APPLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE!

The Viroqua Food Co-op and its partners, the People’s Food Co-op and Bluff Country Co-op, are pleased to announce the 5th annual request for proposals for the Coulee Region Cooperative Community Fund Grant. This grant fund was established in 2003 by the People’s Food Co-op with a mission to provide supplemental or project-specific funding to local non-profit organizations which have missions consistent with the goals of our co-ops. Priority is given to grant requests for educational projects, development projects and events which have a focus on, but are not necessarily limited to, food and food systems, nutrition, health and well-being, sustainable agriculture, cooperative education and social change.

Bjorn Bergman,
Promotions and Educational Coordinator

In celebration of 2012 as the International Year of the Cooperative, Viroqua Food Co-op is highlighting a number of cooperative businesses that produce food and other products found on our shelves. This month we are focusing on the Organic Maple Cooperative (Maple Valley), a local organic maple syrup products cooperative.

February 23rd - 25th, 2012

CDF’s Mission: To promote self-help and mutual aid in community, economic and social development through cooperative enterprise.

Nestled in the pristine valleys between the Sea of Cortez and the rugged mountains of the Baja Peninsula, over 400 farming families of the Del Cabo Cooperative nurture their crops to bring you excellent organic produce.

by Nicole Penick, Valley Stewardship Network

Creating a cooperative business is no small task. Creating a multi-stakeholder co-op with diverse members of the local food chain has been a rewarding task for all involved. As 2012 begins, Fifth Season Cooperative is hard at work planning for the future—and it looks bright thanks to all of our members and cooperative partners!