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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday April 18, 2008
CONTACT: Liz Bailey
202.383.5459
ebailey@cdf.coop
10 NEW FOOD CO-OPS
RECEIVE GRANTS FOR STAFF & BOARD TRAINING
Washington, D.C.—The Howard Bowers Fund of the Cooperative
Development Foundation is pleased to announce $14,200 in grant
awards for staff and board training for ten newly-organized and
organizing food cooperatives across the country. The grant funds are
the result of fundraising done specifically for this purpose by food
co-ops nationwide as part of their annual observance of Howard
Bowers Day.
“Food cooperatives throughout the country pick a day each October to
donate 1% of their receipts for that day to a good cause – to
support education and training programs to help food cooperatives
learn best business practices,” said CDF Executive Director Liz
Bailey. “In October 2007, the focus for Howard Bowers Day was even
more specific -- the training needs of newly-organized and
organizing food cooperatives.”
“Startups depend heavily on talented and committed volunteers, so
training in best co-op business practices is essential, not only for
staff and management, but also to enable those committed volunteers
to become savvy board members,” Bailey said. In selecting the
recipients of these grant awards, the Bowers Fund trustees placed
the highest priority on strong proposals from co-ops that are
scheduled to open in 2008; six co-ops in this category each received
$1,700 grants. The second tier of grant awards, $1,000 each, was
made to four co-ops that are in early stages of organizing and won’t
open until 2009. The complete list of food co-ops receiving grant
awards is attached.
“The Bowers trustees are pleased with the amount of funds raised on
Howard Bowers Day 2007 and hope to have even greater participation
from food co-ops and their members in 2008. It’s a wonderful way for
established co-ops to help startup co-ops learn best business
practices. It’s an investment in the future that Howard Bowers would
have heartily endorsed, so it’s especially fitting that these funds
were raised on a day set aside annually to honor his memory,” Bailey
said.
The Howard K. Bowers Fund of the Cooperative Development Foundation
was established in 1993 to honor Bowers, an outstanding food co-op
general manager. The Fund’s focus is the education and development
of board members, management and staff of food cooperatives. The
Cooperative Development Foundation (www.cdf.coop) is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit organization promoting community, economic, and social
development through cooperative enterprises.
# # # # # #
Start-up Food Cooperatives Receiving Grants from the Howard K Bowers
Fund
Source of Grant Dollars: 2007 Howard Bowers Day Contributions
Startups Opening in 2008 -- $1,700 Grant Awards
Yahara River Grocery Co-op, Stoughton, WI
Mandela Foods Cooperative, Oakland, CA
Fiddleheads Food Co-op, New London, CT
Miami-Oxford Organic Network (MOON), Oxford, OH
Harvest Moon Natural Foods, Long Lake, MN
Sierra Vista Natural Foods Cooperative, Sierra Vista, AZ
Startups Opening in 2009 -- $1,000 Grant Awards
Friendly City Food Co-op, Harrisonburg, VA
Community Market Cooperative, Carroll, IA
Company Shops
Market, Burlington, NC
Vancouver Food Co-op, Vancouver, WA |
