Cooperative Education Fund supports returning citizens

Collective REMAKE, an organization working to develop worker-owned businesses that accommodate and respect the needs of returning citizens in the Los Angeles area, is one of seven recipients of grants from CDF's Cooperative Education Fund. The CDF board approved $47,300 in grants on December 11.

"Cooperatives offer a democratic business structure that can engage individuals who are discriminated against in the job market because of a criminal record," said Mary Sutton of Collective REMAKE. "The unemployment and underemployment rate in the Black community in LA is over 50%. For former prisoners, opportunities to work for a living wage are few. Worker-owned businesses and other cooperatives can ignite a local economy in communities that are disenfranchised due to the loss of living wage jobs, defunded social programs, deteriorating schools, over policing and high rates of incarceration."

Other grants awarded were:

• CooperationWorks!, Berkeley, CA - Building Blocks Online education program

• North American Students of Cooperation, Chicago, IL - NASCO Institute sponsorship

• Boulder Housing Coalition, Boulder, CO - Social Justice, Cooperative Skills, & Mediation Training Series

• Food Co-op Initiative, Savage, MN - How to Plan and Conduct Ownership Drives publication

• Littleton Consumer Cooperative Society, Littleton, NH - Soil Health & Community Resilience: Stories from the North Regional Educational Series

• Prospera Community Development, Oakland, CA- Curriculum Online, Explore Your Cooperative Program

About the Cooperative Education Fund

The Cooperative Education Fund supports cooperative research, sponsors cooperative education events and scholarships, and develops cooperative education materials and programs. The Fund provides $90,000-$100,000 in grants, scholarships, and sponsorships annually. Applications for the 2021 Spring grant cycle must be submitted by May 1, 2021 by visiting https://www.cdf.coop/cooperative-education.