Blueprint for a Co-op Decade

Interior of the Ashland Food Co-op. Image from Return To Tradition

As the International Year of Cooperatives neared its conclusion, the International Co-Operative Alliance (ICA) released its Blueprint for a Co-op Decade. As stated by ICA Director-General Charles Gould, “We want to see co-operatives rise to the top of global business as the fastest growing business model by 2012.”

The January/February issue of More Than Food, newsletter of the Ashland Food Co-op, combined a summary of the previous year with an introduction to the Co-op Decade.

As related by Annie Hoy, outreach manager for the Ashland co-op, “One of the high points of 2012 was the formation of Rogue Co-ops, a cross-sector collaboration between Ashland Food Co-op, Medford Food Co-op, Grange Co-op, Rogue Federal Credit Union and Siskiyou Sustainable Co-op.”

My husband Jonathan Donihue and I have owned a share in Ashland Food Co-op since Feb. 10, 2006. We value this investment and stake that we have in the community of Ashland, Ore.

According to Hoy, the partner groups have decided to continue Rogue Co-ops “as a way to draw attention to the many ways cooperative enterprise in the Rogue Valley contributes to our economic, social and environmental sustainability.”