Grant Profiles from 2008

Seniors in Rural America

The Hospital Cooperative, Pocatello, ID — Develop educational materials for seniors that address preventing falls and medication errors and making homes safer and develop training modules to prepare hospital-based health educators to teach seniors about these topics.

Maryland Assistive Technology Cooperative, Columbia, MD — Do outreach and set up a demonstration center on the features and benefits of low-cost assistive devices for seniors, which make daily living as independent as possible for as long as possible.

Circle of Life Cooperative, Bellingham, WA — Support community education program for seniors and their families and a public program about issues and options for seniors. This addresses the gap between the potential need and the knowledge about such services.

NCB Capital Impact, Arlington, VA – Develop affordable housing, track the process, and develop financial feasibility models, related strategies, and policy recommendations that will ensure a viable fiscal model built on mixed income membership.

Grant Profiles from 2007

Seniors in Rural America

Cooperative Care, Wautoma, Wis. — Create a training and orientation program to teach members of a home care cooperative about their roles and responsibilities as owners, rather than employees, of a worker-owned business. The final product will be available on a CD ROM format so it can be used by other home care cooperatives.

New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Concord, NH — Support the Fund’s work to create cooperatively-owned housing communities and its Leadership Development Program. This program trains leaders of manufactured housing cooperative communities in the basics of cooperative governance and management.

Senior Cooperative Foundation, St. Paul, Minn. — Determine the feasibility of establishing a purchasing cooperative or similar organization to enable shared purchasing of commonly used services and commodities among senior housing co-ops. The study will focus on Minnesota’s senior housing cooperative community.

Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation, Davis, Calif. — Support the Foundation’s work in Yolo County, CA to lead a county-wide drive to educate and engage local officials, financial institutions, and residents to convert mobile home parks to cooperative resident-owned communities.

Northwest Cooperative Development Center, Olympia, Wash. – Support the Center’s work to establish the East Hawai’ i Home Care Cooperative, specifically the planning and implementation of a series of interactive town meetings that will involve seniors, their families, and current caregivers.

Circle of Life Cooperative, Bellingham, Wash. – Market analysis and business, financial, and strategic planning for a newly-incorporated home care cooperative.

Grant Profiles from 2006

Seniors in Rural America

• CAP Services, Inc., Stevens Point, WI. Support home care co-ops in various stages of start-up by creating a collection of resources for use in home care co-op development by care givers, community organizers, long-term care advocates, co-op developers, and co-op staff.
• Cooperative Care, Wautoma, WI. Enable four members to attend the second nationwide Worker Cooperative Conference to network and learn about finance, law, governance, planning economic development, and organizational strategies.
• Minnesota Association of Cooperatives Education Foundation, St. Paul, MN. Expand services to better serve and educate an increasing number of rural senior housing co-op member-residents through meetings, workshops, and newsletters.
• Public Hospital Cooperative, Pocatello, ID. Improve patient care by providing training to management and staff of the 13 rural non-profit hospitals, clinics, and long-term care units that are members of the cooperative.
• Rural Community Assistance Corporation, West Sacramento, CA. Assist three rural senior mobile home parks to convert to co-op ownership through technical assistance on legal structure, organizing, finance, and management operations. Ownership of the land means member-residents are not susceptible to closure or sales, which usually deprive them of their investment in their home and force them into higher-cost housing.
• Senior Cooperative Foundation, St. Paul, MN. Support education program addressing the needs of senior rural housing co-op member-residents, staff, and developers. Covers legal, financial, and community issues; board of director responsibilities; working with the management company; aging in place; and fair housing laws.

Grant Profiles from 2005

Seniors in Rural America

• Cooperative Care, Wautoma, WI. Develop a training program to increase worker satisfaction and the quality of client care Cooperative Care, a worker-owned cooperative of direct care workers who deliver home and personal care services to the elderly and disabled. Develop and implement a values-based performance review system.
• Foundation for Rural Housing, Inc., Madison, WI. Establish and educational and marketing plan for replication of a five-home rural cooperative housing pilot project that clusters manufactured homes on land that is cooperatively owned. Provide training and technical assistance to at least ten Wisconsin communities in replicating the model.
• Minnesota Association of Cooperatives Education Foundation, St. Paul, MN. Expand the Foundation’s existing educational work in senior cooperative housing to include more outreach to rural cooperative housing residents and more programming focused on their special needs.
• Peace United Methodist Church, Pipestone, MN. Support the merging of parish nursing programs into a cooperative to allow for the governance, joint administration, and coordinated delivery of educational services in a rural community with an increasingly elderly population.
• Senior Cooperative Foundation, St. Paul, MN. Establish rural locations for educational workshops for senior cooperative housing members, staff, and developers that address legal, financial, governance, and management issues associated with a housing cooperative.

Grant Profiles through 2004

Economic Development Projects

• National Rural Cooperative Development Task Force. A strategic plan formulated by national and regional cooperatives for rural cooperative development centers
• Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives. Establishment of Cooperative Development Services.
• University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service. Expansion of a farming/marketing cooperative for Hmong refugees
• Homestead Housing Center. Promotion of senior rural cooperative housing

Education Projects

• University of Minnesota-Waseca. Development of courses on future careers in cooperatives and in management training for rural elderly cooperative housing.
• Puget Sound Cooperative Federation. Cooperative formation training materials for the economically disadvantaged
• Nebraska Cooperative Council. Cooperative materials for vo-ag instructors.
• Kansas Cooperative Council. Standardization of director development programs.
• North Dakota State University. Research for cooperative text.
• Iowa Institute of Cooperation. Cooperative teaching materials for high school vo-ag instructors.
• Idaho Cooperative Council, Inc. Conference subsidy.
• Bay Area Neighborhood Development Foundation. Grade school curriculum on cooperatives.
• National Conference of State Cooperative Councils. Travel subsidy for low-income participants.

Information Projects

• University of California-Davis. Publication of a directory of California consumer cooperatives.
• University of Wisconsin-Madison. Compilation of cooperative daycare center manual.
• Ohio State University. Indexed annotated bibliography of cooperative literature.
• North American Students of Cooperation. Booklet on careers in cooperatives for students.
• National Cooperative Business Association. Cooperative housing manual.
• Minnesota Association of Cooperatives. Cooperative resource guide for vo-ag instructors.

Pilot Projects

• California Association of Cooperatives. Peer Consultancy Program for managers.
• Southside ( Minneapolis) Child Care Committee. Cooperative childcare programs.
• Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation. Membership services development.