Category: Events

World Food Day Features Cooperatives

As we gear up for an exciting conference next week, we’re pausing to note a recent commemoration that connects the cause for coops to the cause for global worker justice and the fight against poverty.

October 16th was World Food Day. The creators of  World Food Day are a mega network of large and small international aid and anti-hunger foundations. See who sponsors them here.  Their activities in the US mostly involve encouraging people to host events and get involved in the food movement in their region. This year, they have focused in on coops as a solution to food insecurity. Coincidentally, so is everyone else because the United Nations declared 2012 International Year of Co-operatives. Fabulous!

Watch the World Food Day video about cooperatives and hear the stories of how people have created cooperative solutions to help communities weather social, political, environmental, and economic turmoil.

It’s difficult to list with exact certainty the possible outcomes for this conference but it’s clear that it is time to have to start talking to  these conversations.  The pressures on the communities in the video aren’t exactly the same as ones we know of here but nor are they that different. For communities to survive and adapt to shifting conditions, radically creative ideas are necessary. If done right, cooperatives are one of them.

If cooperatives are really a useful tool for communities in and around DC to make decisions about how community needs are going to get met, then we’ve got to start talking to our neighbors and asking them the important questions.  Are we working together? Are we making connections? Do we understand how much we need each other?

Please consider bringing a friend to the conference or telling someone you know why you’re interested in or curious about coops. Register today.

 

 

Fixing the Future – AMC Loews Georgetown – July 18, 7:30 pm

Documentary Highlights Innovative, Sustainable Approaches to Job Creation and Building Prosperity

Buy TicketsWASHINGTON, D.C.—July 10, 2012—In Washington, D.C. on July 18, 2012, A local network of grassroots organizations, community bankers, individuals and a national trade association for cooperatives will join cities and towns across the country to host a screening of the documentary Fixing the Future, spurring action toward strengthening local economies.

In Fixing the Future, host David Brancaccio (of public radio’s Marketplace and NOW on PBS) visits locations across America that are using sustainable and innovative approaches to create jobs and build prosperity, inspiring hope and renewal amidst economic collapse.

Coop DC, the DC Time Bank, Emergence Community Arts Collective, the Independent Community Bankers of America, Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO) and the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) are co-hosting a local showing of the documentary at 7:30 p.m. on July 18 at:

AMC Loews Georgetown 14
3111 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-342-6033

The screening will be followed by an exclusive onscreen discussion panel featuring:

  • Bill McKibben: Author, environmentalist, Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College
  • Majora Carter: Peabody Award winning broadcaster & Urban Revitalization Strategist
  • Mike Brady: CEO, Greyston Bakery & social entrepreneur
  • David Brancaccio: Host, NOW on PBS

Representatives of worker and housing cooperatives, Time Bank, DC Coops, GEO, community banks, community organizations and NCBA and will be on hand to lead discussion of the film and discuss their activities.  Tickets are available online (Fandango) and at the box office.

The event kicks off the metropolitan Washington D.C. area participation in Fixing the Future Across America, a national campaign led by JumpStart Productions, Area23a and the media strategy organization Active Voice. Coop DC, the DC Time Bank, Emergence Community Arts Collective, the Independent Community Bankers of America, Grassroots Economic Organizing and NCBA are among the more than 50 groups around the country participating in the campaign. Through this screening, these organizations are using Fixing the Future to encourage American communities to create resilient, local economies through innovative approaches to job creation. Fixing the Future Across America also links together a national network of business groups and community-based organizations working to improve their local economies.

Cooperatives, time banks (a form of bartering), credit unions and community banks are ways that people are coming together to “fix” the current economy. A cooperative is a member-owned and controlled business that operates for the mutual benefit of its members. More than 29,000 cooperatives operate in every sector of the economy and in congressional district; Americans hold over 350 million co-op memberships. US cooperatives generate 2 million jobs and make a substantial contribution to the US economy with annual sales of $652 billion and possessing assets of $3 trillion.  Learn more about co-ops at www.ncba.coop, and see a list of cooperatives in the DC area at http://coopdc.org.

The DC Time Bank is an exchange system that allows people to help each other while receiving credits for their service. Time banking is a way to value the favors we do for others and the helps to weave community. Learn more at www.dctimebank.org.

The Independent Community Bankers of America® is the nation’s voice for more than 7,000 community banks of all sizes and charter types. With nearly 5,000 members, representing more than 23,000 locations nationwide and employing more than 280,000 Americans, ICBA members hold more than $1.2 trillion in assets, $1 trillion in deposits and $700 billion in loans to consumers, small businesses and the agricultural community. For more information, visit www.icba.org.

To learn more about the organizations hosting this screening, visit their websites:

ABOUT FIXING THE FUTURE

In Fixing the Future, host David Brancaccio (of public radio’s Marketplace and NOW on PBS) visits locations across America that are attempting a revolution: the reinvention of the American economy. By featuring communities using sustainable and innovative approaches to create jobs and build prosperity, Fixing the Future inspires hope and renewal in a people overwhelmed by an economic collapse. Fixing the Future was produced by JumpStart Productions. www.fixingthefuture.org