In celebration of the United Nation’s 2012 declaration of the International Year of the Cooperative, we are organizing a summit of Upstate New York cooperatives – banking, grocery, housing, agricultural, worker. The summit will be held in Syracuse on Saturday, March 31, and include presentations and discussions with inspiring cooperative organizations and members. The event is free or very low cost, open to the public, and is primarily being hosted by Syracuse-based Cooperative Federal Credit Union and the Onondaga Small Business Development Center. All sectors of the cooperative economy are invited.
The event will be an opportunity to
- Build relationships among the cooperative community around New York State
- Educate and inspire entrepreneurs and workers about possible cooperative control of their economic lives
- Give existing cooperatives greater exposure to each other and the public, and
- Assemble a database of organizations and individuals interested in cooperatives, for state-wide organizing.
The schedule of speakers is still growing, and currently includes the following, with lunch provided and plenty of time for networking:
The Big Picture: The Cleveland Evergreen Model and Community Wealth Building
Steve Dubb, The Democracy Collaborative
The Story of Local Cooperatives
Ron Eherenreich, Cooperative Federal Credit Union
Travis Hance, Syracuse Real Foods Co-op
Naquia Edwards, Eat to Live Food Coop
How to Legally Start a Cooperative
Deborah Kenn, Syracuse University College of Law
Jason Hirata, Syracuse University College of Law
Observations on Successful Cooperatives
Brian Henehan, Cornell Cooperative Enterprise Program
How Worker Cooperatives Work
Joe Marraffino, Democracy at Work Network
Kim Pinkham, Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics
Using Media to Raise Capital
Bob Proehl, Buffalo Street Books
Rochdale Principle Six: Cooperatives Developing More Cooperatives
Howie Hawkins, South Side Community Coalition
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