Cooperative Home Care: An Opportunity for Wisconsin: Summary of an exploratory meeting held June 8, 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin
On June 8th, 2012, over 30 leaders from diverse sectors gathered at the CUNA headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin to learn about and explore the idea of multi-stakeholder cooperatives made up of both worker and consumer representatives as a tool for the delivery of high quality, affordable home care for rural Wisconsin seniors.Objectives included the sharing of information and the formation of a group interested in creating more home care cooperatives in Wisconsin.
2012 Forum – Cooperative Solutions for Affordable Rural Senior Housing
On March 19, 2012, CDF hosted a day long forum at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, to profile energy-efficient manufactured cooperative housing as an affordable housing option, especially for rural seniors. Affordable cooperative housing models, sized appropriately for rural communities and using energy-efficient manufactured housing, can provide all residents of rural communities with cost savings and can provide rural seniors an option for aging in place. The Forum gave an overview of the challenges, possibilities, and public policy issues involved in creating affordable cooperative housing in rural communities. Speakers were from USDA, NCB Capital Impact, the Corporation for Enterprise Development, Next Step, Wisconsin Rural Housing, the Housing Assistance Council, The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, the U.S. House of Representatives, Homeward, Inc., ROC USA Capital, and the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions. Topics covered included the case for co-op housing, manufactured housing as a new option for co-op housing, the challenge of energy efficiency in the rural housing stock, and making the financing work.
For more information: Click here for the white paper on the Forum. Click here for Forum photos and here for Forum videos. To see the connection between energy efficiency, manufactured homes, and co-op housing, click here. For information about the need for co-op housing, click here. For the definition of a cooperative and cooperative housing, click here. For information on manufactured housing, click here and here. For information on manufactured housing park cooperatives, click here. For an article about a conversion of a mobile home park to a cooperative, click here. Click here for “Moving Home,” a booklet about manufactured housing in rural America. Click here for HUD’s booklet about saving energy and money in mobile homes. Click here to see the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s “lessons learned” on energy efficiency for manufactured homes. Click here for an article on retrofitting manufactured homes for energy efficiency.
2011 Forum – Cooperative Solutions for Long-Term care in rural communities
On March 21, 2011, CDF hosted a day long forum at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, to profile applications of the cooperative model for delivering home care services. The forum featured speakers and panel discussions that covered a number of topics, including: the direct care workforce; the long term care crisis facing rural America; the cost reimbursement and funding challenges; federal resources for development; and, the multi-stakeholder model and its potential to produce more sustainable cooperatives. An article about the Forum appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Rural Cooperatives, which is published bimonthly by USDA Rural development. Click here to read the article which begins on page 18 of the publication.
2005 Forum – Cooperative Solutions for Seniors
In December 2005, CDF hosted a public form affiliated with the White House Conference on Aging. The commissioned report from this forum was submitted to the policy committee of the White House Conference on Aging, where it was added to the official record. A number of the Forum’s recommendations within the report was sent to the Administration and to Congress.