Keynote Address
Co-op Activist and Co-op Hall of Fame Inductee, Dr. Christina Clamp is heralded for her diverse work grounded in the values of civil rights, social justice and an inclusive economy. She is best known for her research on Mondragon, the world’s largest worker cooperative. The results of her deep interviews with Mondragon managers and founders continue to inform human resource strategies for worker co-ops worldwide. Her extensive list of publications includes, most recently, a collection of 30 essays highlighting the story of Mondragon and its ongoing influence in the U.S. UK, Korea and Germany, Humanity@ Work & Life, coedited with Michael Peck.
For more than 40 years Professor Clamp taught college courses on cooperatives and led a master’s program in community economic development at Southern New Hampshire University. As an activist professor, Chris expected her students to be engaged with community groups, particularly those that support existing and developing co-ops. Her work crosses sectors in cooperative development: from cutting-edge research on worker and shared-services cooperatives to training generations of cooperators to building and connecting cooperatives to broader movements for community economic development and the social solidarity economy, Chris is a steadfast champion of cooperatives.
Chris serves on the boards of the Local Enterprise Assistance Fund (LEAF), The ICA Group, and The Fund for Jobs Worth Owning.
Workshops
Co-op Movement & Case Studies
Mutualistic Funds and Growth of the Sector: Solidarity, Autonomy, and Sustainability
One persistent challenge for cooperatives is access to capital. Traditional lenders are reluctant to lend to cooperatives and even many government programs exclude cooperatives. In this chaotic political climate, it's more important than ever for the cooperative movement to support its own growth. This workshop explores the capacity of the US cooperative sector to fund itself through contributions to a mutualistic fund. It will also dive into opportunities and barriers to implementation of such a fund. Alex Stone, Cooperation Works! The Cooperative Development Network
Cooperative Development and Civil Legal Aid
Exploring the relationships between entrepreneurs, cooperative developers, and legal aid organizations—this program will identify past successes and room for continued collaborations, especially those with unconventional stakeholders, including local governments. Marco R. Castanos & Cassidy Bennett; additional panelists to be invited, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Small Business Development (SBD) Project; Public Counsel, Community Development Project [MCLE Credit Pending]
Brave Technology Co-op Innovations
An innovative model to help stop the overdose crisis. Using technology, the co-op strives to help solve the overdose (opioid) crisis in North America; with the following values as the core - Autonomy, Social Justice, Collaboration, Connection, and Trust. The workshop will speak to Brave's journey so far, challenges, and what the future holds. Brad Boyce, Brave Technology Co-op
Reducing Dependence on Lawyers and Government Interactions for Worker Coops Brief
In this workshop, the presenter and participants will share suggestions with each other about how worker coops can reduce dependence on lawyers and minimize the need to interact with government agencies. The presenter is a licensed attorney who is unlearning the ways of traditional lawyering. He will present suggestions about entity choice, drafting legal documents, and working with lawyers. He hopes to learn from the participants about how they have reduced dependence on lawyers and/or minimized government interactions too. Tobias, Damm-Luhr, Sustainable Economies Law Center (MCLE Credit Pending)
The Rebirth of Co-ops: Scaling a Cooperative Future with Startup Energy
Cooperatives have long been seen as a niche alternative to traditional business, but the time has come for them to break free from the margins and take center stage in the future of work. What if launching a cooperative was no longer a slow, laborious process but instead fueled by technology, shared infrastructure, and a new generation of public utilities designed to support cooperative founders at scale? This workshop will explore how co-ops can self-replicate across California by leveraging startup energy, open protocols, and collaborative tools that make launching and sustaining a cooperative more accessible than ever. Participants will gain insight into emerging innovations that lower barriers to entry, accelerate co-op formation, and build the know-how needed to turn cooperative ideas into reality. Join us for an engaging session where we’ll introduce cutting-edge tools, share insights from cooperative pioneers, and inspire a new wave of cooperative creation. Whether you’re an aspiring founder, an ecosystem builder, or a seasoned cooperator, this workshop will equip you with the vision and resources to be part of the cooperative revolution. Jose Leal, Radical World
Finance: Funding co-op development and managing funds within your co-op
Exploring Alternative Funding Sources for Your Cooperative
Thinking about raising money from your community or a Cassidylocal foundation? Interested in exploring whether you could raise money from impact investors? Want to make sure that the capital that is raised aligns with your cooperative’s? This session will focus on helping you assess options for raising debt and equity capital from sources other than banks, credit unions or CDFIs. What are some sources? How can you ensure that the capital aligns with the values and structure of your cooperative? This session will share tips, lessons learned, and best practices. In addition, the session will provide a high-level overview of securities law issues that should be considered. Christina Jennings, Shared Captial Cooperative
Loan Preparation for Cooperatives
Participants will learn 1) what type of money/capital is available for co-ops, 2) how Shared Capital as a lender evaluates loan applications, 3) how to ensure member-owners maintain control of their capital, and 4) how the cooperative can better prepare and represent themselves through the process. We will explore lending concerns related to all co-ops, including worker co-ops and agricultural co-ops. Participants will hear experiences directly from borrowers of Shared Capital Co-op. Esther West, Shared Capital Co-op, and others to be confirmed
Sistema Financiero y Acceso al Capital para Cooperativas (presentado en español)
Exploraremos una breve historia del sistema financiero desde la perspectiva de las comunidades de color y trabajadores, destacando los impactos de los sistemas financieros extractivos en nuestras comunidades y reconociendo nuestro valor y contribución. Celia Álvarez, Prospera
Agriculture/Farming & Consumer Food
Building a Strong and Vibrant Local Food System
Building a strong and vibrant local food system is at the center of helping to create more access to healthy food and reducing food insecurity in communities across the country. We all benefit when we create and support a local economy that ensures fair prices while paying the true cost of producing food. Cultivating robust relationships with local producers and providing locally grown food in our stores are two key aspects of creating a strong local food system. This session is intended to share stories of successful programs from across the country, and to discuss the most effective ways to harness the power of your own story while building the most successful retailer-farmer relationships possible. The stories include lessons that can help you make your program easier to manage, learn marketing and pricing strategies, and storytelling techniques that engage customers, support retailers and promote local producers for the best outcome possible. Mark Mulcahy, Columinate
Food Coops in Food Deserts
In this workshop we will discuss how to develop a business plan for a food cooperative in under-served communities. We will talk about creating a "quick" cash flow projection as a way to determine what resources a co-op project might need and discuss some of the challenges in creating a food co-op in low-income areas. Examples are drawn from real-world projects, both good and problematic. Sean Park, Illinois Cooperative Development Center
Organizing Food Hubs as Cooperatives, Local Food Grounded in Community
California law establishes that Certified Farmers Markets may only be run by local governments, certified producer(s) or non-profit agencies. This has long kept them grounded in place, by limiting the ability of big business to co-op such markets. There are not many certified producers who run Certified Farmers Markets, but those who do are often producer cooperatives. We can use Certified Farmers Markets as a model for other local food businesses, also grounded in place, such as Food Hubs. Food Hubs are local distribution businesses, which have taken off in recent years, and are in danger of being co-opted by big business. One way to protect them would be to create a Certified Food Hub, which is ideally a business run as a producer cooperative or a multi-stakeholder cooperative run by producers and community members and workers (or by a local government). This workshop will explore the state of Food Hubs in California and propose some solutions for grounding them in place, particularly by establishing them as cooperative businesses, protected by the state of California with a new certification: the Certified Food Hub. Peter Ruddock, Resilient Foodsheds, Co-op Law Group
Governance applicable to all types of Coops
Organization Culture: Creation & Maintenance
The culture of our organizations is the primary road map we follow when participating in our group endeavors - it is the container which tells us 'how we do things here' for literally everything we do. In this workshop we excavate the functions of culture in our cooperative and organizations, identify sites where it is reproduced, and troubleshoot culture transmission models. We'll explore the challenges and opportunities in your organization's culture, and equip participants to engage with culture as a tool for creating and maintaining organizational excellence. Kate (Sassy) Sassoon, Sassy Facilitation
P6 Plus: Finding Partners in Purpose
Expand your cooperative's impact through strategic partnerships that transcend traditional co-op-to-co-op collaboration. This interactive workshop explores how cooperatives can identify and build meaningful partnerships with values-aligned businesses of all structures. Participants will learn to evaluate potential partners, structure mutually beneficial relationships, and maintain cooperative integrity while extending their community impact. Perfect for cooperative leaders seeking to grow their reach through mission-aligned collaboration. Rob McClinton, Small Word
Bringing Joy and Balance to your Work Life
You work hard. You remain dedicated to mission and core principles. You remain true to your work, your team, and your values in spite of the challenges of our age. This has come at a cost, and many of us need to recharge to bring balance back to our daily work. The answer is JOY. Joy is the “it” factor to achieve true retail greatness. When we live and work with JOY at the center of our focus, good things happen at all levels of our personal and professional lives. Our seminar will reset your compass and help you ask the correct questions to help find JOY in your work and create an atmosphere that is contagious amongst your staff and customers. Mark Mulcahy, Columinate & Debroah Yasher, California Center for Cooperative Development
Consensus Decision Making: Policies, Procedures and Context
In this workshop we will explore Consensus as both a Decision Making Process and a 'decision rule'. We'll place Consensus within the spectrum of Democratic Decision Making practices, take a decision through a standard Consensus process, and unpack the Pros, Cons, and Conundrums facing organizations using Consensus. Participants will be encouraged to share experiences, policies, and practices within a safe communication space, and will come away with tools to improve decision making - of any kind - in their cooperative communities. Kate (Sassy) Sasson, Sassy Facilitation
Leveling Up: Strategies to Grow Your Co-op's On-line Performance
Transform your cooperative's digital presence into a powerful tool for growth and member engagement. This hands-on workshop provides practical, accessible strategies for developing an effective online presence that aligns with cooperative values while meeting modern consumer expectations. Participants will learn budget-friendly approaches to assess their current digital footprint, identify key opportunities for improvement, and create actionable plans for their website and social media channels - no tech department required. Ideal for cooperative leaders ready to enhance their online impact and connect more effectively with members and customers. Rob McClinton, Small World
Patriarcado, hermandad y cooperación (presentado en español)
A pesar de décadas de movimientos feministas y logros de las mujeres, la realidad que enfrentan, especialmente en el ámbito del desarrollo empresarial, sigue siendo patriarcal. Sabiendo que la competencia y la desconfianza entre mujeres sostienen el sistema de dominación masculina, en Prospera construimos intencionalmente hermandad, apoyo mutuo y cooperación dentro de las cooperativas y entre líderes empresariales. En este panel interactivo, escucharemos a las mujeres cooperativistas presentes en la conferencia, representantes de los millones de mujeres que son heroínas en nuestra sociedad. ¿Cuál es su secreto? ¿Cuál es la realidad de desarrollar y sostener cooperativas en una sociedad patriarcal? ¿Cómo están desaprendiendo y desafiando un sistema opresivo? Este panel será una conversación guiada con respeto, empatía y profesionalismo por Anahi Rojas & Ana Castaño, de Prospera, mujeres latinas, inmigrantes, madres y líderes. Aunque se presenta como un panel, las verdaderas panelistas serán las mujeres participantes en el taller, quienes compartirán sus experiencias con el grupo.
Cooperative Housing
Supporting Cooperative Housing: A Comprehensive Plan of Tools and Policies to Expand Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives
Presentation addresses the conference theme, Advancing the Co-op Movement, by providing a comprehensive plan for the expansion of limited equity housing cooperatives in a municipal or regional housing ecosystem. The workshop begins with background and history on housing cooperative models to ensure that policymakers and activists share the same foundation of knowledge. Next, a comprehensive plan to increase limited equity housing cooperatives is presented, including education and advocacy, technical tools, and policy changes. Examples from throughout the United States are shared to demonstrate the potential of these initiatives, as well as insights and experiences from participating in a working group to advance this plan in San Diego and its larger region. A goal of the workshop is to jumpstart the policymaking conversation on comprehensively addressing the barriers to expanding limited equity housing cooperatives. Grant Ruroede, Senior Planner, City of San Diego City Planning Department – Housing Policy Team
Developing a Limited Equity Housing Cooperative
This session will be an introduction to housing cooperatives with a particular emphasis on limited equity and shared equity models. Participants will learn about 1) limited equity models, 2) organizing your group, 3) the development and feasibility process for start-ups, and 4) types of financing. We will also talk about common challenges faced by housing cooperatives and recent trends in development happening across the US. Mark Flick, Shared Captial Cooperative
Housing Co-ops on CLT Decommodified Lands
Workshop will offer a Landscape of housing cooperatives emerging within Community Land Trusts. Panelists will discuss the distinct challenges & opportunities in the collaboration between these two models, and offer organizing stories, successes and current developments from on the ground. This workshop will explore how cooperatives on decommodified lands can be a pathway for creating permanently affordable, democratically governed housing for low income & working-class communities. Lydia Lopaz, Tracy Parent, & Felix Linck-Franz, Bay Area CLT & OakCLT (Housing Coops)
Worker Cooperatives
Corporate Transparency Act for Coops- 2025 Update
Last year we presented on the newly instituted federal corporate Transparency Act requring certain filing from reporting companies, as defined. The 2025 update delves deeper into the status of the law, pending federal litigatin, and concerns regarding enforcement in light of the new presidential administration's policy priorities. Marco Castanos & Ninoa Kamangar, Bet Tzedek Legal Services, Small Business Development (SBD) Project [MCLE Credit Pending]
Lessons from Developing an In-Home Care Cooperative
Homecare cooperatives address a crucial need for both elderly and disabled clients and for workers. This workshop will discuss and summarize lessons learned in the development of a new worker-cooperative in-home care business in the Salinas Valley/Monterey Bay region, composed primarily of Latina women worker-owners. Zav Hershfield, Ventures
A Path Forward to Worker-Focused Worker Co-op Conversions
This workshop will provide an overview of issues with the current owner-focused approach to worker co-op conversions. Then, it will discuss ways to provide technical assistance that aligns with the interests of the workers rather than the owners. Jay Cumberland, SELC
