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USDA Announces Three New Grant Awards Totaling $624,892 for the Cooperative Development Institute, Expanding Opportunity for Community Impact in Maine & Throughout Northeast
LEWISTON, ME—October 22, 2020—The United States Department of Agriculture Office of Rural Development announced today, at a live event at the New Roots Cooperative Farm, that it will award three federal grants to support the work of the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), the Northeast’s Center for cooperative business education, training, and technical assistance.
The Institute will be awarded a two year $250,000 Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI), a $175,000 Socially Disadvantaged Groups Grant (SDGG), and a $200,000 Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG). Funding will help create new businesses, new jobs, and address identified community needs in underserved communities.
The primary objective of the Cooperative Development Institute is to improve the economic condition of rural areas in the Northeast through the development of cooperatively owned businesses and enterprises. Katherine Bessey, Coordinating Director and Food System Specialist for the Institute highlighted the significance of the Center’s breadth and scope in the region, which the recent USDA grants will help support.
“With support from the USDA, CDI leverages its ability to partner with rural communities and organizations across the region to find solutions to identified needs and challenges, and then focus our unique technical assistance to address those needs and challenges through cooperative development and community engagement. The cooperative model, and the networking of cooperative ecosystems has proven a successful and resilient model during times of economic distress especially among underserved communities” Bessy continued. “Funding from the USDA, in partnership with state based foundations, state institutions and the private sector is integral in supporting our work, and provides the resources needed to serve the full range of cooperative enterprise: producer, consumer, worker, business owner, landowner, fishermen, and multi-stakeholder cooperatives. That’s a really broad, expansive impact of which we’re very proud.”
USDA Rural Development Maine State Director Timothy P. Hobbs said, “Under the leadership of the Trump Administration and USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, USDA Rural Development provides programs that help rural Maine communities thrive. During October National Cooperatives Month, I am pleased to be joined by Vermont and New Hampshire State Director, Anthony Linardos, at New Roots Farm, to make an announcement of $624,892 to the Cooperative Development Institute. This funding is an investment in the future of rural cooperatives in partnership with CDI to provide them with the tools and resources they need to become vital, self-sustaining, and impactful in their missions for the people they serve.”
Since its founding in 1994, CDI’s technical assistance has supported the development of 163 new cooperatives and mutually-owned businesses across the Northeast.
CDI utilizes its Socially Disadvantaged Groups Grant funding to assist BIPOC and New American communities to create food system cooperatives and cooperative business enterprises in central Maine, and is now working with New Americans, Native Americans and People of Color throughout the Northeast to create cooperative farms, businesses and land trusts that increase equity and access in our economy, Through support from the USDA’s SDGG CDI will be able to work with fourteen different cooperative groups in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and New York in the coming year.
SDGG funds have helped CDI support the development of cooperatives in Maine like New Roots Cooperative and the Isuken Cooperative, the first Somali-Bantu farm-to-table food truck in the country. SDGG funds also support CDI’s work with organizations like the Eastern Woodlands Rematriation Collective, a group run by several Native American women in Northern Maine seeking to develop a more formal network of local Native business projects including herbal medicine and youth leadership community garden projects organized by members of the collective.
Speaking about the success of the New Roots efforts, Omar Hassan, the Cooperative Marketing & Development Assistant at CDI said, “New Roots is four families who have been in the farming business for generations and know what it means to survive with a little. The last ten years they were able to join the fight against food insecurity, giving back to the community and producing fresh vegetables and fruits chemical-free. It is an honor to see this farm grow the last three years and to be part of that development.”
In Maine, CDI has been utilizing USDA funding to support cooperative development in three regions of the state: Lewiston/Auburn, Washington County, and the mid-coast. The Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) grant utilizes a “train the trainer” model to teach cooperative development techniques and business development strategies to community based organizations, so they in turn can provide technical assistance to address the community needs of the clients they serve.
Azenaide Pedro of the Raise Op Housing Cooperative, who worked with CDI to advance a culturally appropriate childcare cooperative in Lewiston, Maine as part of the RCDI grant detailed her experience as part of the “train the trainers” cohort: “the RCDI training was a great experience, I was able to better understand how cooperatives work and…to have a clear picture of the project I wanted in my community. There was so much support in terms of resources and research to find a better childcare model that would work for my community. Now I feel more confident about sharing the childcare cooperative with others all because of the support that RCDI offered.”
“Work shopping our cooperative idea throughout the USDA RCDI funded training gave us confidence that we had a good idea and that we could take it through to becoming an operating cooperative. The process of going from idea to forming a cooperative business instills confidence to be able to help others start businesses in the cooperative model. Being in a cohort of other developers helped us see other possibilities and strengths and pitfalls of various approaches,” said Scott Vlaun, of the Center for an Ecology Based Economy, who helped to develop the Spoke Folks Cooperative.
Spoke Folks began as a community bike sharing cooperative in Norway to assist with waste hauling and composting sustainability. During the COVID-19 state shutdown, the cooperative re-focused its mission and partnered with the local food pantry to deliver food to community members in need who needed to shelter in place. On one day in April, Spoke Folks delivered 40 meals to a senior housing facility.
Jen Peters of the Sunrise County Economic Council agreed. “I have a better understanding of cooperative development and can help business owners/employees realize why they should consider it. I also have a better understanding of who can provide assistance in cooperative development,” The Sunrise County Economic Council is also a partner in the Ownership Transition Initiative working with CDI to educate aging business owners in Washington County about converting to an employee owned cooperative as a succession plan for local businesses, preserving the business, and securing jobs in rural Maine.
The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Root Cellar will be joining the next two year training cohort. “MOFGA Farmer Programs staff look forward to developing their professional knowledge and skills in cooperative development, structures and strategies in order to support the expansion of Maine’s cooperative food system. We will be able to incorporate cooperative frameworks into our education and technical assistance for farmers seeking creative and resilient solutions to marketing, ownership of land, equipment, and other resources,” said Ryan Dennett, Farmer Programs Director, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Through the support of the USDA’s RCDG funding CDI has also been able to catalyze the work of regional organizations like the Maine Farm & Sea Cooperative, a Maine-based cooperative maximizing the amount of local food used in institutional foodservice operations across the state and throughout New England, with a focus on social, economic, environmental, and healthy dietary outcomes. RCDG project work has also included support for organizations like FedCo Seeds, a regional cooperative seed and garden supply company, the York County Community Shelter Program in Alfred Maine, and groups like Tootie’s Tempeh, a worker-owned consumer foods cooperative supporting local farmers, and the first commercial tempeh producer to ferment and package product without single-use plastic bags.
To date the Cooperative Development Institute has provided education and training programs for approximately 16,400 people throughout the Northeast. Thanks to the support of the 2020 USDA grant awards that impact will continue to grow and significantly expand.
New Roots Farm Cooperative
Isuken Co-Op in Maine
Raise Op Housing Cooperative
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Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) is the Northeast’s Center for cooperative business education, training, and technical assistance. CDI is an independent Center, a 501(c)3 founded in 1994 by cooperative leaders across industry sectors to work with people in the Northeast to create cooperative businesses and networks that grow a prosperous, equitable rural economy with healthy, robust, sustainable rural communities. While our focus is rural and regional, we contribute to innovative economic and community development strategies on national and global levels.To learn more visit cdi.coop.