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It’s the moment you’ve been working towards all these long years. Your food co-op opens. You’re about to have a whole lot of financial information coming at you. In this session Siobain will cover what the full board is responsible for knowing & understanding, what your Board Officers and/or Board Finance Committee is responsible for, and when to seek outside support.

Owner engagement events are an important way to build excitement and keep owners and communities engaged during the long mid-development phase before you announce your store location. Come learn about the innovative events thrown by your peers when they were in Stage 2A-2B. Northside Food Co-op, Prairie Food Co-op and SoLA Food Co-op will be on hand to share about their popup grocery offerings, farmers market, and collaborative popup food giveaways. They’ll share details about their events, lessons learned, and the impact the events had during this important stage of development. You’ll rotate around the room, giving you the opportunity to have small group conversations with each presenting co-op, ask questions, and engage in dynamic discussions with peers, all while picking up tips and ideas to bring home.

Join community creative and marketing professional Rachel Dominguez-Benner for an interactive session introducing advanced techniques to engage your people in spreading your food co-op’s message and reach beyond the computer. After a short, upbeat presentation by Rachel DB, participants will work to choose and unfold one technique to take back with you, ready for action. Be prepared for talking to others, no wrong answers in brainstorming, the delight of creative cross-pollination, and prizes. 

Many things attract people to food co-ops and there are many stories that can be told about them. In fact, there are so many ways to talk about a food co-op that sometimes the notion of selling groceries can get left behind. From an organizational leadership perspective, it can be helpful to have a handful of stories to focus people’s attention on priorities, trends, or purpose, and, for food co-ops, it might be helpful if some of them were about selling groceries!

So, what if we played with this idea? You can have five stories about the co-op, and three of them have to be about selling groceries.

This session will feature amaha sellassie, board president of Gem City Market; Dennis Hanley, Columinate manager on contract and IGM at Gem City Market; and Anthony Goodwin of NCG Development Co-op, who will share stories about Gem City Market (with many of them about selling groceries!) Time will be provided for attendees to apply the 5 and 3 story principle to their own co-op.

With banks and lenders changing how they manage risk, and construction costs increasing, there is no longer a “standard” way to build a co-op capital stack. Panelists will walk participants through three capital stack examples from recently opened co-ops in both low-income/low-access communities and middle class communities. Cooperator and lender panelists will share their perspective on the current state of co-op financing, including lending, philanthropy, membership equity and other creative tools.

Together with their local city and county governments as well as scores of local organizations, community members and volunteers, Northside Food Co-op is building a co-op grocery store in Wilmington, NC. Collectively, they are creating a promise of food equity in a historically marginalized Black neighborhood, and pioneering a model for private-public partnership in co-op development. 

The fight for justice and equality is embedded in Detroit’s history, but organized efforts for food justice is fairly new to Detroit. The Detroit People’s Food Co-op began it’s journey almost a decade ago and is due to open its doors near the end of 2023. How did it all begin? How has it developed? What has worked and what has not? These topics and more will be discussed in this session.

Joe Rouleau (Board President) and Sarah Atkins (Treasurer) from Hudson Grocery Cooperative share their story and how they were able to get unstuck during a pandemic.   HGC started in 2012 and had 5 good years reaching its first 500 members.  Things started to slow down and 3 years later they were only at ~600 owners.  Experiencing lots of board turnover and push back even from within their community, had them at the edge as 2020 winded down.   By late 2020,  they were able to add new talent to their board and already started working on new strategies and initiatives.  By the end of 2021, they had largest year in history followed by 2022 their 2nd largest.  There were still some challenges along the way however they push through with a net increase of ~50% new owners in 2 years (over 940 by May 2023).  Their board is full with a wide range of skills and have re-engaged within their community and owners.   They are working on securing a site, drafting business plan and launching a capital campaign.  If this sounds familiar?, please join them to hear their stories and participate in a dynamic conversation.  

Doug Close, Food Shed Co-op Board member joins Katie Novak, of Katie Novak Cooperative Coaching to delve into an inspiring case study of the successful Food Shed Co-op $1.7 million dollar capital campaign. Discover the innovations that Food Shed Co-op employed alongside tried and true practices that consistently get results. In this session, Katie and Doug will take you on a journey through the Food Shed Co-op Capital Campaign highlighting their strategies, challenges, and triumphs. 

Organizational level storytelling that builds powerful startups with huge community support that get funded. How do co-op startups craft and tell the stories that will lead to success? Let’s look at examples of co-ops whose powerful stories are moving their communities to action and securing support from funders. Get ready to work on your co-op’s story and leave with concrete techniques that you can use right away.

Community organizing is the center of movement building and a critical tool in building out membership and supporter bases.  More and more communities are also looking to cooperatives as a way of creating economic centers and space for organizing. These elements are necessary for viable and supportive ecosystems that meet the needs of the communities cooperatives serve.  This workshop focuses on these objectives for the cooperatives and lifts out the tools, practices, and strategies that help build up participation and ownership interests.  

 Participants will identify collectively what community organizing tools are being used at our co-ops, and which ones we are not yet using. We will also create space to learn from one another’s work and what we can add to our co-op’s work to build our cooperative movement in our communities. We will also discuss how to engage in existing movements and other organizing efforts to create relational value for the community.

This session is designed to support the co-op in thinking about what value it is creating for the community and supporting the co-op beyond the scope of being just another retail store.

To create a strong foundation for your co-op startup, it’s crucial to learn and practice the basics of accountability.  Strong accountability systems can mean the difference between a wildly successful startup that empowers its members or an organization that saps its members’ energy and withers away. Don’t make your volunteers slog through the confusion created by having little or no accountability. Perhaps your startup has plenty of good ideas, but little follow-through. Or you are great at getting some things done, but not others. What does it take to be accountable? Come learn the basics of accountability, assess your co-operative’s strengths and weaknesses, and walk away with the tools you need to be accountability superstars. Participants will be introduced to Policy Governance®, a system used by Board’s worldwide to maintain accountability in their organizations, and how you can use a simplified version to kickstart your co-op’s accountability journey.

As co-op organizers, we are leaders in our communities with the ability to build inclusive movements. We go to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion trainings, read books, listen to podcasts, and yet we may still be stuck when it comes to shifting our behaviors.  There’s information we know in our minds, and sometimes contradictory things we feel in our bodies. 

This community conversation will explore how White co-op organizers can become mindful of our bodies in those moments of conflict and fear. What are the tools we can use for grounding and so we keep moving forward instead of freezing, fighting, or fleeing so we can address and not perpetuate white supremacy in the cooperative movement? Come ready to engage and play!

When we produce your first pro forma it’s intended to be a tool, an interactive file that you can use to explore the financial feasibility of your co-op. We’ll share a sample, talk with you about what it is and how it works, why you need it, how you can you use it. We’ll show you the inputs and the outcomes, along with key indicators of feasibility. We’ll share our experience and insights and tackle your questions. 

No matter what stage of organizing you are in, you’ve likely heard the term “market study” said a lot and are aware it plays a critical role in your co-op’s business feasibility. This one type of study not only decides if your co-op has market feasibility but also plays a huge role in two of the three other areas of feasibility for your co-op as well:  financial and site. We’ll dig into what a market study is, what it can and cannot tell you, how it is utilized in feasibility, and how you can leverage it in your organizing to gain owners and local support. We’ll also touch on the questions of market study accuracy, market study providers used by startups, the question of cultural competency in market study research, and more. 

This session will explore moving from a feasible site to beginning negotiations on the site—what skills and competencies do you need at the table, what’s your role in negotiating, and what to expect as you negotiate a lease or purchase.  We’ll discuss these topics with both consultants and co-operators who have been through the process, to discuss preparation and lessons learned from their site searches and negotiations.

The place your co-op calls home will have dramatic impact on the life and viability of your fledgling business. This session will cover site search, feasibility, and selection, with a focus on feasibility. 

What should these processes look like? Do they overlap? How to search for the right kind of site? How to decide if a site is feasible? What about multiple sites? We’ll explore these questions and more. 

Site feasibility will tell your board the pros, cons and doability of a potential store site so you don’t have to be a grocery pro to evaluate your options. Empower your board to sleep like babies!

With banks and lenders changing how they manage risk, and construction costs increasing, recently opened cooperatives have had to get creative to put together the equity and financing needed to build and open their store. Different kinds of co-ops and communities present different opportunities and risks, meaning there isn’t one right way to build your capital stack.  This workshop will delve into descriptions, tips, and pitfalls of the most commonly used sources of capital for cooperatives, including lending, grants, donations, member equity and loans, and public finance tools.

You’ve dreamed…You’ve planned…You’ve raised capital…You’ve secured a site…You’ve drawn up plans… You’ve created a timeline…Now you’ve got to hire a GM.

Join Jeanie Wells and Mark Mulcahy in reviewing the current landscape in the world of GM hiring – including its challenges and obstacles, available resources for support, and what to look for to find the best fit for your co-op, your mission, and your values.

In this workshop Jeanie and Mark will tap into their years of experience as retailers, GMs and consultants, working in a wide variety of co-op formats, locations, sizes and models, to help you find the clearest path to success.

Participants will leave with: 

Best practices for finding and hiring your GM

A broad understanding of the current landscape your GM will need to navigate and lead in in today’s marketplace

A framework to assess new GM’s strengths and gaps, and guidance on using resources to help new GM develop skills and fill gaps

Strategies to set the right tone and build a strong working relationship with GM from the outset 

Moving your board through transition – from planning to performance and profitability

A thorough list of resources available to start-ups

Stage 2A is all about feasibility—will the vision you have work? This workshop focuses on increasing your understanding of financial feasibility. We’ll talk about what it means, how to assess it, what impacts it. Your co-op will be financially sustainable if you can identify a path that’s feasible—and then operate the co-op accordingly. We’ll share our experience and insights, tackle your questions and do it interactively.

Your board is already up and running – so why attend this session? Just like buildings need a solid foundation and world class musicians or athletes revisit fundamentals to maximize performance, this session will cover the critical fundamentals in a fun and engaging way. Whether you’re brand new or coming in for a tune-up, if your board is operating at less than 100% efficiency, productivity, and fun, there’s room for improvement. Bring what’s hanging you up, and we’ll tackle the challenges your board is facing.

Co-ops are of the community, for the community, by the community.  But there are so many decisions to make, so many tasks to accomplish: will you ever get your doors open if you ground your co-op’s organizing process in your community? Come for a lively discussion based on “Community Organizing Self-Assessment” to explore various ways you can intentionally root your co-op in your community throughout your development process.

In this foundations session, community creative and communications professional Rachel Dominguez-Benner will bring participants on an exploration of the four pillars of effective startup outreach. All stages welcome – start your outreach on strong foundations with a full picture of the four pillars, or increase the fruitful connections of your outreach efforts by filling in the gaps in your foundational wisdom. Lecture style with visual presentation. 

This session invites participants to explore ways in which power and privilege are represented in our individual lives and how they impact co-op development efforts. By reflecting on how power and privilege show up in collaborative spaces too, we’ll move towards identifying anti-oppressive values to support co-op development efforts.  

How has the development process and support from Food Co-op Initiative (FCI) served you? Have you felt welcomed into the food co-op community? For the past 15 years, FCI has paved the way for new food co-ops. We are seeking your input on how well FCI and the food co-op development process serves racially, ethnically, and economically diverse communities, and how we can better meet the needs of all. Join Faye Mack, Executive Director of FCI and Darnell Adams, FCI Board Member for this Co-op Community conversation. Let your voice be heard!

This session invites participants to explore ways in which power and privilege are represented in our individual lives and how they impact co-op development efforts. By reflecting on how power and privilege show up in collaborative spaces too, we’ll move towards identifying anti-oppressive values to support co-op development efforts.  

Play along as seven roots helps one co-op get one step closer to their dream store. We’ll choose one lucky co-op with a site in their sights, and help you walk through site feasibility factors live and in person! Everyone in the room will get a chance to dig in to fun activities related to a different aspect of feasibility. Bring your co-op’s info to compare, contrast, and get insights. 

Stop by seven roots’ table to enter your co-op to win time in the limelight or attend to learn along the way to inform your co-op’s site search. Bonus: One lucky participant gets a FREE STORE (just kidding, but this session will be a lot of fun!)

Grants have gone from a “nice to have” in your co-op’s funding sources to an absolute essential, with only one startup opening in the last three years that did not have grants as part of their capital stack. Luckily, startup food co-ops have quickly adapted to this new reality and are carving the path forward to grant success! Anne Misak, Senior Program Manager for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative at the Reinvestment Fund, will be facilitating and adding her knowledge to this panel session where multiple startup food co-ops that have successfully received grants will share their on-the-ground stories of finding grant sources, winning grants, unsuccessful attempts, and lessons learned. Come learn from your peers about what has worked for them! 

Representatives from Rise Community Market (Cairo, IL) and Southside Food Co-op (Chicago, IL) join Katie Novak of Katie Novak Cooperative Coaching for a facilitated discussion about their organizing experiences. The conversation promises to be an insightful and informative discussion on the differences and similarities in cooperative organizing across population sectors from rural southern Illinois to densely populated Chicago.

Columinate has a Manager on Contract program that can support a food co-op from early in the start up process all the way through store opening. The phases include a consultative relationship very early, followed by Managers on Contract for Project Management, Pre-store opening, Store opening and Post-store opening stages. With this approach the hand off to the co-op’s longterm manager happens in the Post-store opening stage, three months after opening, for example. This approach to store opening changes when to start your GM search process and goes hand in hand with Columinate’s GM Development and Training program for your new GM.  In this session a panel of Managers on Contract will share their perspectives and Columinate will gather feedback on the approach.

“Gentrification: the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and business. This process often causes the displacement of people and businesses that have been there.”

How is gentrification affecting the communities we are organizing in? What are we doing to address it with our co-op/organizing?  Are we actually organizing for the future residents of our communities? Join facilitator Darnell Adams as she leads a conversation with panelist Jamila Medley, Steve Cooke and Raynardo Williams to discuss these questions and more! 

Many startup food co-ops connect with their owners and future shoppers, build community, and develop relationships with local vendors by finding innovative ways to offer food before they open their store. Come learn about the creative ways your peers are bringing food to their communities at this round table session. Chicago Market, Little Africa and Market 166 Food Co-ops will be on hand to share their unique programs and lessons learned. You’ll rotate around the room, giving you the opportunity to have small group conversations with each presenting co-op, ask questions, and engage in dynamic discussions with peers, all while picking up tips and ideas to bring home.

Storytelling is key when it comes to building genuine connections that last. A story can also help you find a tribe that is committed to the same agenda as you. In this session, attendees will find power in themselves and craft their personal story in conjunction with their co-op. Attendees will also learn how to share their story through different platforms to reach different audiences (donors, community members, partners, etc.).