Coop-eration
Form a Not-for-Profit Cooperative
Too much
Chatko Lake in the Canadian Yukon is a long way from the nearest town. Which means most folks shop for food at the nearby off-reserve general store. When prices went up again, Charlotte, the Chatko Lake Administrator, bellowed 'That’s it!. No more!'
Organizing
A colleague in a nearby community steered Charlotte to New Earth Village. There, she found what she was looking for. A week later, Charlotte paid a visit to every indigenous community in the area to pitch her New Earth Village idea - a multi-community food cooperative.
Building coop-eration
Within two months, six communities had agreed to form a joint venture food cooperative. In a New Earth Village wiki, they made plans, guided along the way with experienced New Earth Village members.
Yes!
Today, seven years later, Six Nations Cooperative brings fair prices, healthful foods and a healthy profit to twelve indigenous and non-indigenous communities throughout the region.
The Point:
Several communities can come together to organize cooperative business ventures that serve their own peoples as well as others, returning profits to their own communities. By partnering across communities, capital outlay, risk, human resources and costs are shared. And multiple communities provide a sufficiently large market to make the enterprise profitable.
