Howard Bowers Fund Awards Last Round of Grants

Thanks to a grant from CDF's Howard Bowers Fund, Spanish speaking communities will have access in their native language to Food Co-op Initiative's Guide to Starting a Food Co-op. Developed in 2017 with assistance from a previous Bowers grant, the Guide is a valuable starting point for food cooperative development. The FCI grant was one of eleven grants made by the Bowers Fund in May.

The following cooperatives received grants for staff and/or board training:

• Plainfield Cooperative, Plainfield, VT

• SunCoast Market Co-op, Imperial Beach, CA

• The Marmaton Market Inc., Moran, KS

• Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC, Richmond, CA

• South Royalton Market, South Royalton, VT

• Harvest Market, Winston-Salem, NC

• GreenTree Cooperative Grocery, Mt. Pleasant, MI

The following organizations received grants for the creation of education materials and programs:

• Small and Strong Conference, Cooperative Development Fund of CDS, St. Paul, MN

• Toolbox for Montana Grocery Cooperatives, Montana Cooperative Development Center, Great Falls, MT

• Education materials, SoLA Food Co-op, Los Angeles, CA

About the Howard Bowers Fund

Supported by the food cooperative community and guided by the fifth and sixth cooperative principles to promote education, training, and cooperation among cooperatives, the Howard Bowers Fund invested in the professional growth and development of food cooperative staff and board members with bi-annual grants and scholarships. For 26 years the Fund provided training and education grants and scholarships to professional conferences for food cooperatives, sponsorship of education conferences for food cooperative boards and staff, and development of educational materials relevant to food cooperatives. The fund dissolved in May, 2020 and contributed its assets to CDF's Cooperative Education Fund which will continue to make grants to food cooperatives.