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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Growing co-operatives on America’s east coast

Co-operative development in the USA has a unique set a challenges, largely underpinned by the sheer scale of geographies, politics and histories. On the east coast, the Keystone Development Center (KDC) has been taking on these challenges for 20 years, working across Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware to sustain communities, economies, and resources through cooperatively-owned businesses. KDC provides technical and research assistance to groups wanting to organise as co-operatives, giving priority to new and emerging groups in areas that are under-served and financially challenged.

Heading up KDC’s membership, outreach and education activity is Stephen R. McDow II, who has dedicated his life to bringing together rural and urban America for the purposes of achieving an inclusive economy. Previously, Stephen managed membership and stakeholder relations for the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA-CLUSA) and handled membership outreach and retention for the Montgomery County Medical Society (MCMS) and MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society.

His introduction to co-operatives is a familiar one: through a local food store. “There was a grocery co-op in my mother’s old neighbourhood that she joined when I was a kid,” he says, “but I never really paid attention to the fact that it was a food co-op.”

Read the rest at Co-operative News

 

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