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Help UMd Reach $2,500!

April 29th, 2012

University of Maryland’s Maryland Food Collective has made huge progress this semester reducing some of the debt that they had incurred over the years.

They just have a little more money to raise to pay off their rent for this semester. They’re holding several fundraiser concerts in their campus storefront, and they’re running a campaign on IndiGoGo! Donate here, if you can; if you can’t, please help them spread the word!

They’ve been working with CoFED to rework their pricing and addressing collective responsibility to ensure the co-op’s financial sustainability. Your generosity will help them focus on keeping themselves in the black in the future!

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Vote for UCLA’s SFC!

April 29th, 2012

A little message from UCLA’s Student Food Collective!

(5 days left to vote; they’re currently at #4)

Hi CoFEDerates,

I hope you’re all well! I just wanted to let you know that my food collective has the really exciting chance to be a contester in the “Green Solutions Competition” at UCLA. If our idea and business plan wins, it gets published in GOOD magazine and we have the opportunity to work with university facilities to implement the idea.

The public gets to vote for the first stage of the process, so please vote for us! And tell anyone you know!

This is the link to vote or read more about the competition. I am so excited. This is a rare chance to make working with the university to make our food coop a reality that much easier.

a lot of love!

Shaydanay Urbani

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Singing in the Rain: Or, How Writing a Business Plan is Not that Scary

April 27th, 2012

From Sam Shain: Director of Inter-co-op Communication, CoFED relations and Grant Writing; Haverford College Food Co-op The Beet Goes On!

I was intimidated to begin writing what is now a 45-page-long opus of a business plan, that couldn’t have gotten to its current stage of completion if not for amazing teamwork and collaboration with another Beet Director. Ben and I set out to write this document as a final project for a clustered set of courses that focused on Perspectives of Sustainability, and we had no idea where that would take us. We were writing and refining the plan as others in the co-op were gearing up and launching our third pilot project: developing a relationship with a co-op of local farms, and having them deliver shares to campus, while at the same time, mobilizing the campus community to support these farms and invest in local, sustainable food for next semester. There was goal setting, community organizing and affirming happening all over the place. We found the boundaries of this community and started pushing them. We also pushed against our own — where we thought our limits and abilities tapered off — and created work that is amazing and revolutionary.

We began the business plan project with the blank template that CoFED had offered us, and a long way to go. We had already conducted our market research and had 305 responses to work with. We had a mission statement, a statement of purpose, a website and a year’s worth of organizing. With that, a few weeks, no forecast and sturdy rainboots, the two of us jumped into a Google doc and started filling in what we knew, and making up what we didn’t. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that simple. What we knew were the shopping habits of our community, the location of the local stores, the structure that we wanted for the co-op and a few shreds of strategic planning. What we didn’t know was market research about the local stores, the way we were structuring membership, ownership and leadership, the calculations of working hours and energy consumption of the co-op, our start-up costs and long-term strategic planning, and the text that was going to serve as a blueprint for how this generation of leaders (directors) and the next few will conduct themselves. We knew the levity of writing this document, and wanted to be as prepared as possible, as if prepping for a thunderstorm — blankets, food, tea, rain slickers, good company — all the usual things. We didn’t know when (or if) the storm would hit little apartment 31 on Hannum Drive, but we were ready to face the worst.

But surprisingly, the sun shined most of the way through the process! And when it did start to rain, instead of retreating into safe cover and pitching umbrellas, we had no choice but to face it squarely. We wrote more essays, provided more context and dug deeper into our analyses in response to the insistence of our professors. We got a little muddy at times, but we had the support of CoFED staff and folks from GW, UCLA, Chatham and UCSB cheering us on. We found allies in unexpected places on and off campus and we wrote more than we had thought possible in just 2 weeks. And unlike most writing assignments, where I begin feeling like I don’t how how to start or what to argue, we had relevant details and extensive training from the start to be able to approach this project with expertise and joviality. Writing the business plan was a privilege and a chance to really grapple with some central co-op logistics and values. It was an amazing way to contribute to a project that we really believe in, with the support of the rest of the leaders and directors. It was also a way to express how far we’ve come in the past year, from a cluster of post-its on the wall of our apartment, to a living document full of rich information, graphics, statistics, history, narrative and criticism. Writing the business plan, at least for us, wasn’t scary. It was an opportunity and an exciting one! As we prepare to formally present it to our community, I can’t help but think that this whole affair is like tapdancing in a rainstorm — making fun out of stress and expressing ourselves because are passionate, prepared and empowered, despite unpredictable obstacles and weather patterns. Join in the fun! For more information about the work we’ve been up to, check out our website @ thebeetgoeson.weebly.com

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NYU Student Food Co-op Debuts!

April 20th, 2012

Check out this Washington Square News article on the NYU Student Food Co-op’s first catering event at NYU’s Earth Week Mobile/Mobile Fair!

How cool is that bike blender!?

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To A Successful Northeast Leaders Retreat

March 19th, 2012

This weekend, 18 students from 7 universities on the East Coast traveled to New York City for the Northeast Leaders Retreat.

After a speech by the manager of NYU’ Office of Sustainability, we gathered for a private dinner at the only worker co-op restaurant in NYC, COLORS. A full day of workshops at the Bushwick Food Co-op followed, and Sunday brought a private tour of the largest food co-op in the country, Park Slope Food Co-op!

Check out pictures as they continue to roll in on the Northeast Leaders Retreat page!

And get ready for the Summer Incubation, registration starts April 1st!

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Register for the Northeast Leaders Retreat by March 1!

February 19th, 2012

Poster courtesy of Sam Shain The Great

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Northeast Event Planning Intern

February 16th, 2012

Please circulate widely!

Northeast Event Planning Intern

Applications due Feb. 22, but will be accepted until position is filled.

Company Description:
CoFED – the Cooperative Food Empowerent Directive – is a national cooperative network and training program committed to empowering students to create ethically-sourced, cooperatively-run food enterprises on college campuses. CoFED provides week-long retreats and resources with our regional organizers to support student groups as they open up their own food co-ops on their campus. Our mission is to cultivate a more sustainable, community-oriented culture through college campuses.

We’re looking for a fast-learning intern interested in sustainable food movements, event planning and/or cooperative careers and alternative business to support the development of CoFED’s events in the northeast, including but not limited to our March Leaders Retreat and the June Summer Incubation. This position will require both attention to detail and a willingness to learn on your feet and take initiative on projects.

Hours: 10-15+ hours a week.

Job Duties:

Assisting the Regional Organizer and related CoFED Staff in all aspects of planning for each event, including but not limited to:
- Searching for and securing suitable locations
- Securing food donations through sustainable food organizations/companies
- Corresponding and following up with speakers and students
- Developing registration documents, creative tracking processes and ticketing
- Development of publicity materials and strategy
- Brainstorming event themes and activities + creative implementation
- Developing and/or assisting with fundraising events
Self-directed projects
- Potential opportunities to create and lead relevant workshops.

Opportunities:

Discounted admission to retreats, relevant food conferences, food events and/or dinner parties
Gain skills in online management tools and event planning;
Exposure to cooperative businesses, consensus decision-making processes, anti-oppression training, food justice and related concepts in action;
Excellent networking opportunities with influential movers and shakers in the food movement;
Experience working with a small team in a fast-paced, professional environment where your ideas and input are valued and desired;
Entrance into a nationally-recognized organization within a quickly growing field;
Professional support and connections through advisers and partnering organizations

Qualifications:

Demonstrated interest in sustainable food movements, cooperative movements and/or sustainable and alternative business.
Ability to travel to NYC for monthly meetings
- Students in the NYC Metropolitan area will be given preference if all else is equal.
Experience planning events in school or elsewhere.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Comfort working virtually and in person.
Experience with GoogleDocs, Excel, etc.
Ability to take initiative.
Students who can remain through the end of the Summer Incubation (approx. June 3rd) will be given preference.

Job Begins: March 1st, 2012. If the candidate is a good fit, the position can be extended through the summer.

Compensation: Unpaid, but we can work with your school to get credit. CoFed staff will commit time to supporting professional development and connecting to opportunities.

To apply, please fill out the highlighted section of this document: https://docs.google.com/a/cofed.org/document/d/1Pvsjl758TplYW3kW3Yasg8AzafwPSZ6c6N9bwjuadsc/edit and send it with a resume and short cover letter describing your qualifications, goals and expectations. Send to jobs@cofed.org and cc christine@cofed.org. Applications received before Feb 22nd will be given priority, but will be accepted on a rolling basis until position is filled.

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CoFED Northeast Event Planning Intern

February 9th, 2012

CoFED Northeast is hiring a spring semester intern!

The official description will be up soon, but here’s a teaser. If you’re interested, email Christine@cofed.org!

We’re looking for a fast-learning intern interested in sustainable food movements, event planning and/or cooperative careers and alternative business to support the development of CoFED’s events in the northeast, including but not limited to our March Leaders Retreat and the June Summer Incubation. This position will require both attention to detail and a willingness to learn on your feet and take initiative on projects. We are seeking to fill this position soon, with a starting date of March 1. Applications received before Feb 22nd will be given priority, but we will consider applications on a rolling basis until position is filled.

You’ll be a crucial part of planning awesome events like these:

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2012 – The International Year of Cooperatives

January 20th, 2012

If you want to be incrementally better, be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better, be cooperative:

The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation. ~ Bertrand Russell

Cooperatives are a reminder to the international community that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility. ~ Ban Ki-moon

“Co-operative enterprises provide the organisational means whereby a significant proportion of humanity is able to take into its own hands the tasks of creating productive employment, overcoming poverty and achieving social integration.”
~ Boutros Boutros-Ghali