Feb 26, 2015 - cooperatives provides a certificate program in cooperative finance. ... Spain, provides educational webin
Directory of Cooperative Entrepreneurship Education and Training Programs
02.26.15
Training Offered Through Associations of Cooperatives or Individual Organizations. The organizations listed below represent a sampling of organizations and institutions that provide workshops and training.
Cooperation Works. This is a network of 34 member organizations across the United States devoted to promoting cooperative development. It offers a three‐day training program that focuses on organizational, legal, and financial aspects of starting and operating cooperatives. Each of its member organizations also deliver “cooperative academies” and other training opportunities. Its founding in 1999 can be traced back to earlier writing and organizational efforts by many organizations, including the National Cooperative Business Association (Nadeau and Thompson 1996). The Cooperation Works website has a directory of its member organizations. Available online: http://www.cooperationworks.coop/. Cooperative Business Institute. This program is located in Texas and specializes in training those interested in starting or working in employee‐owned enterprises. Available online: http://cooperationtexas.coop/about‐us/programs/cooperative‐business‐institute/. Cooperative Development Institute (CDI). The CDI is a member of Cooperation Works, but also offers its own training. It is located in Massachusetts but offers training throughout New England. It offers training in cooperative startup, as well as providing self‐directed readings for those interesting cooperatives. The CDI website also includes links to other cooperative training opportunities. Available online: http://www.cdi.coop/. Green Worker Cooperatives. This organization in the Bronx, New York, offers a five‐month training program for “teams of entrepreneurs” interested in starting worker‐owned cooperatives. It offers an incubator environment as well as topic specific training to help launch worker cooperatives. Available online: http://www.greenworker.coop/. Mid‐America Cooperative Council (MACC). This organization represents technical assistance providers in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan that promote cooperatives. Founded in 2003, the MACC offers workshops around the Midwest such as Co‐ops 101, cooperative leadership workshops, a youth conference, workshops on credit and financing issues, as well as custom training for specific sectors or cooperatives. The MACC website has a directory of member organizations. Available online: http://macc.coop/. National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The NRECA is an organization of rural electric cooperatives that offers many trainings for cooperative directors and board members. Specific certificates include the Credentialed Cooperative Director (CCD) Certificate and the Board Leadership
Certificate (BLC). Available online: http://www.nreca.coop/wp‐ content/uploads/2015/01/DirectorCatalog.pdf. National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation. This organization comprised of electric cooperatives provides a certificate program in cooperative finance. It also provides orientation training for new cooperative CFOs, and workshops on financing for cooperatives. Available online: https://www.nrucfc.coop/content/cfc.html. United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC). The USFWC is a member‐supported umbrella organization located in Oakland, California. It provides regular news updates on legal issues affecting cooperatives, coordinates education trips to worker cooperatives such as the Mondragon in Spain, provides educational webinars and has an online resource library. It is also affiliated with the Democracy at Work Institute that meets to think strategically about worker cooperatives. Available online: https://www.usworker.coop/. Training and Educational Opportunities Offered by Individual Cooperatives. Individual cooperatives also offer training programs and educational workshops. Often, the training may be something as simple as a cooking class offered by a cooperative grocery store. However, local cooperatives will also publish newsletters and have blogs that promote cooperative development. Common Ground Food Co‐op. This grocery cooperative in Urbana, Illinois, offers an array of cooking classes, wellness classes, and a newsletter. They are also an advocate for local food and local farmers in eastern Illinois. They have an interactive map showing the location of local farms that provide produce for the grocery cooperative. Available online: http://www.commonground.coop/. New Pioneer Cooperative. This grocery store cooperative with locations in Iowa City, Coralville, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, offers weekly cooking classes and healthy living workshops. It also offers a monthly newsletter called the Catalyst and the New Pioneer Co‐op website has a blog. The co‐op also features local farms that provide produce to the store. Available online: http://www.newpi.coop/. Willy Street Co‐op. This grocery co‐op has two locations in Madison, Wisconsin. The co‐op offers information on its website about cooking, healthy living, agricultural and food safety issues, and cooperative principles. In addition, the Willy Street Co‐op offers community development grants funded through member donations. This program has a request for proposals on its website. It funds projects that promote affordable housing, local foods initiatives such as community and school gardens, literacy, and other cooperative development initiatives. Available online: http://www.willystreet.coop/.
Training through Universities / USDA Support. USDA—Rural Development Rural Cooperative Development Centers. The USDA provides financial support to a network of 30‐plus Rural Cooperative Development Centers (RCDCs). Funding for a RCDC is secured through a competitive grant process. RCDCs offer a range of training, technical assistance, and research opportunities including conferences, workshops, board of director training, equity‐drive planning, member recruitment, feasibility studies, and other services. Because funding for the RCDCs is competitive the list of RCDCs varies a bit each year. In 2013, there were 33 RCDCs. A good directory of RCDC can be found on a website hosted at Iowa State University known as the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AGMRC): http://www.agmrc.org/directories__state_ resources/related_directories/cooperative‐development‐programs‐centers/. Some RCDCs are hosted by universities such as University of Nebraska, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, and Western Illinois University. Other centers are hosted by nonprofit organizations or cooperative associations such as the North Dakota Association of Electric Cooperatives. Here are two RCDCs operating in 2015. Illinois Cooperative Development Center (ICDC). The ICDC operates out of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, which is a research, outreach, teaching and policy development center located at Western Illinois University. The ICDC has worked with local food cooperatives, grocery stores, food hubs, and renewable fuels cooperatives among other entities. It also conducts research on cooperatives, including surveys of cooperators, case studies, and research on co‐op legal structures, among other topics (Merrett and Walzer 2001). Available online: http://www.value‐added.org/. Indiana Cooperative Development Center. This RCDC is located in Indianapolis. It provides a range of technical assistance services such as feasibility studies and business planning. It has worked with artists, renewable energy, local foods, housing, and other cooperatives. Available online: http://www.icdc.coop/. University Centers Focused on Cooperatives and/or the Social Economy. A preliminary review of education opportunities offered at North American universities suggests that Canadian universities offer more degree and certificate programs than universities in the United States. There is also an interesting array of programs devoted to collaborative development strategies behind narrowly‐defined cooperatives. University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives (UWCC). The UWCC is a comprehensive university‐ based center conducting research, teaching, and providing outreach to promote cooperatives. They offer executive training for cooperative managers, they host an annual farmer cooperatives conference, and have a broad array of materials available on their website on cooperatives. UWCC does not offer a degree program, but there are faculty at UW‐Madison affiliated with the UWCC who can guide formal
degrees focused on cooperatives. UW‐Madison faculty members also teach courses specifically focused on cooperatives. See below for more details. Available online: http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/. Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). SNHU offers an MBA degree with an emphasis in community economic development. Students who pursue this emphasis will take courses that focus on cooperatives and other forms of social entrepreneurship. Available online: http://www.snhu.edu/online‐degrees/graduate‐degrees/MBA‐online/community‐economic‐ development.asp. York University. York University, in Toronto, Ontario, offers a Co‐operative Management Certificate Program, in partnership with the Ontario Cooperative Association. The program has online and face‐to‐ face components. Available online: http://www.ontario.coop/programs_ services/coop_education/coop_management_certificate_program. Cape Breton University (CBU). CBU, located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, offers a MBA degree with an emphasis in Community Economic Development. Courses in Cooperative Development are part of the curriculum. Available online: http://www.cbu.ca/academics/business/ degrees‐programs#.VO6h‐i43K9Z. Saint Mary’s University (SMU). SMU offers a Master of Management, Co‐operatives, and Credit Unions through is School of Business. It also offers a shorter, graduate diploma in cooperative management. Available online: http://www.smu.ca/academics/sobey/sobey‐cooperative‐management‐ education.html. University of Saskatchewan. This university offers an interdisciplinary Master’s and Ph.D. degree program where the student can pursue a concentration in cooperative studies. Available online: http://usaskstudies.coop/?page_id=119. Individual Courses and Training Syllabi. Many faculty members at institutions of higher education have generously posted their formal syllabi, reading lists, and training outlines. Posted below are links to many of those syllabi. Note the array of disciplines that offer courses in cooperatives including Agricultural Economics, Schools of Management, and Urban Studies, among others. Note also that these courses focus on several cooperative sectors including agricultural marketing cooperatives, workers cooperatives, and other cooperative sectors. Finally, recognize that the courses are offered at the undergraduate and graduate level. Arizona State University, School of Social Transformation. Justice Studies JUS 497/591: Social Enterprises: Innovation, Justice, and Community Development. Available online: http://socialeconomyaz.org/jus‐487591‐sylabus/.
City University of New York (CUNY). School of Professional Studies. Worker Control and Cooperatives. Available online: http://american.coop/ content/syllabus‐worker‐owned‐enterprises‐cunys‐murphy‐institute. Cornell University, Applied Economics and Management. AEM 3260: Cooperative Business Management. Available online: http://courses. cornell.edu/preview_course_nopop.php?catoid=18&coid=245108. Harvard University, Extension School / School of Management. Social Entrepreneurship E154. Available online: http://isites.harvard.edu/ fs/docs/icb.topic468569.files/Harvard‐MGMT‐E154.pdf. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Urban Studies and Planning. Community Owned Enterprise and Civic Participation. Available online: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/urban‐studies‐ and‐planning/11‐954‐community‐owned‐enterprise‐and‐civic‐participation‐spring‐2005/syllabus/. Michigan State University, Department of Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics. FSM 443: Food Industry and Cooperative Marketing. https://www.msu.edu/course/fsm/443/. Ohio State University, Department of Agriculture, Environmental, and Development Economics. AEDE 3141: Agricultural Economics. Available online: http://aede.osu.edu/sites/aede/files/imce/files/Ugrad‐ Syllabi/3141%20SP%2013%20Worley‐Hahn.pdf. Oregon State University, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics AREc 372: Agricultural Cooperatives. Available online: https://secure.oregonstate.edu/ap/cps/documents/view/108492. Rutgers University, School of Management and Labor Relations 37:575:377. Democratic Capitalism. Available Online: http://smlr.rutgers.edu/2015sp3757537701. University of Connecticut, Department of General and Professional Studies GS 3088: Variable Topics ‐ Introduction to the Co‐Operative Movement: History, Philosophy & Prospects for the Future. Available online: http://www.thenews.coop/32495/news/co‐operatives/syllabus‐uconns‐introduction‐co‐ operative‐movement‐history‐philosophy‐prospects‐future/. University of Oregon, Department of Applied Resource Economics, AREC 372. Available online: https://secure.oregonstate.edu/ap/cps/ documents/view/108492. University of Pennsylvania. Urban Studies 480: Liberation and Ownership. Available online: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/urban/urbs480‐liberation‐ownership‐5. University of Wisconsin—Madison. Agricultural and Applied Economics AAE 323: Cooperatives. Available online: http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/ pdf/CourseSyllabus_2011.pdf.
