Building Co-operative understanding in distressed communities

Working in a small city and surrounding rural communities which have experienced declines in both small manufacturing, local retail and small farming, or institution of higher education has received a small grant to promote... [ view full abstract ]

Working in a small city and surrounding rural communities which have experienced declines in both small manufacturing, local retail and small farming, or institution of higher education has received a small grant to promote co-operatives. This report will summarize efforts to bring together community members and to secure external support for a small co-operative center run by faculty, students and local volunteers. The report will assess cultural barriers to welcoming the co-operative model and efforts to build understanding. We will describe the varied backgrounds of participants in three community meetings, how they mirror or contrast with regional social structures, and the responses to major public and private institutions to our work. We will review efforts to increase outreach to missing constituents.

We will provide a detailed analysis of the region’s social, economic and cultural challenges, many seemingly grounded in a combination of individualism and a economic-culture that accepts exit from community in place of solution to fundamental problems. The primary purpose of this research is to assess what steps are needed to move from building social capital in the region to achieving acceptance of the co-operative approach to addressing rather than escaping the region’s serious economic, social and cultural deficiencies. The research focuses on the center of the U.S. state of Michigan, west of the small cities of Flint and Saginaw.