New publication: Cooperative Farming by Faith Gilbert, CDI contributing author

The Greenhorns, an organization dedicated to promoting and supporting young farmers, has published a guidebook for Cooperative Farming: Frameworks for Farming Together by Faith Gilbert. CDI's Lynda Brushett was a contributing author. "Compiled from 42 interviews with farmers and professionals, this is a how-to handbook on structuring and operating a group venture."

There is plenty of good information and insights here, so we're anticipating that it will be widely read. We were pleased to work on it and are happy that this resource will be available!

Job Posting: Maine Housing Program Organizer, part-time

Cooperative Development Institute (www.cdi.coop) is seeking a new hire to join its New England Resident Owned Communities (NEROC) Program. The main work of the program is to assist the residents in the nearly 1200 manufactured home parks in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine to purchase their communities and manage them as resident-owned cooperatives. The program is part of the highly successful ROC USA Network (www.rocusa.org).

This position will focus primarily on providing technical assistance to manufactured housing communities throughout the state of Maine. The successful candidate will be enthusiastic, a good communicator, a self-starter, ready to learn, able to travel and work on some evenings and weekends. The housing program work is part-time (20 hrs/week). A new hire may also have the option of supplementing this work by taking on fee-for-service cooperative development projects that the Cooperative Development Institute is working on outside of the NEROC program.

See job description below. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume with references to info@cdi.coop. This position will remain open until filled.

Job Title: Housing Program Organizer (Part Time).
Reports to: Executive Director, Housing Program Manager
Base Salary Compensation: $18-20/hour plus benefits (Exempt)
Part-time Position: 20 hours/week
Position Overview:Provides all manner of training and assistance to new and existing resident-owned manufactured home communities, both individually and in groups; helps members understand their roles and responsibilities in order to more effectively manage their resident owned community; fosters a sense of empowerment and community spirit. Occasionally assists the Housing Program Manager in organizing manufactured home park residents to form cooperatives to purchase their park.

Housing Program Organizer

Essential Job Functions

1. Assists in resident association board meetings, including preparation, agenda setting, running efficient meetings, follow-up, and review of minutes and financial statements.
2. Provides organizational, administrative and reporting assistance to the Housing Program Manager
3. Provides direct support and organizational training to cooperative board members, committees and residents.
4. In each developing co-op, trains committees and facilitates the production of:

• Bylaws
• Community Rules
• Membership committee policies and procedures
• Policies for general governance of Associations

5. Contributes to the development and implementation of workshops for board and community members on range of topics including: board and members’ roles and responsibilities, working in teams, infrastructure and planning for the future, best practices in managing contractors, community building, motivating volunteers, corporate finances and communication.
6. Work with co-ops to maintain meticulous recordkeeping and filing systems and ensure they are up to date on loan compliance responsibilities as well as other legal, financial and regulatory compliance responsibilities.
7. As needed, assists struggling cooperatives to assess their organizational health, identify problems, and develop goals and a plan of action.
8. Other tasks and special projects, as assigned by the Program Manager.

Organizational Expectations:

1. Responsible for conducting all activities within the prescribed policy and budgetary guidelines as set by the Board and administered by the Executive Director.
2. Functions as a participant in CDI's Cooperative Development Team, sharing information effectively to assist others in doing CDI's work. Builds positive and strong relationships with other CDI staff.
3. Demonstrates personal responsibility in job performance.
4. Responsible for role modeling professional standard of behavior. Takes this role within the organization, is consistently respectful and professional with staff and clients.
5. May be required to perform additional, related duties or functions of lesser or greater responsibility as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.

Minimum Requirements

1. 3 to 5 years of cooperative business experience, including project management experience in for-profit, non-profit community or economic development organizations.
2. Experience with group facilitation, coaching a group through an autonomous decision-making process, and coping with conflict situations.

Knowledge Skills/Abilities

1. Advanced degree in related field welcomed, minimum of Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
2. Must be extremely well organized with exceptional recordkeeping skills.
3. Strong knowledge of fiscal management, strategic planning and general business practices.
4. Working understanding of budgeting, real estate and financing.
5. Strong knowledge of and commitment to cooperatives and cooperative development.
6. Well-developed partnership, process development and integration and planning skills.
7. Excellent communication skills, including public speaking, consensus-building and facilitation skills.
8. Proactive and team-oriented leadership required.
9. Ability to think critically and solve problems creatively with small and large groups.
10. Demonstrated experience working effectively on a team.
11. Demonstrated success in community building and organizing.
12. Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills.
13. Demonstrated experience in working remotely/independently.
14. Computer literacy required.
15. Ability to work with diverse groups of residents as well as attorneys, engineers, and other professionals.
16. Available evenings and occasional weekends.
17. Ability to travel.
18. Experience with cooperative governance structures and working with boards of directors preferred.
19. Experience with meeting process, property management, or contractor negotiations a bonus.

Characteristics

1. Well spoken and articulate.
2. Calm demeanor; able to perform under pressure during difficult interpersonal conflict.
3. Plans ahead, able to complete tasks and meet tight deadlines.
4. Able to understand and manage multiple complex tasks.
5. Works collaboratively, self-motivated, flexible, enthusiastic.

In accordance with Federal law and the U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discrimination on the base of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (voice and TDD).

CDI Helps 2 Communities, 466 Families Go Co-op

CDI HELPS 2 COMMUNITIES, 466 FAMILIES GO CO-OP IN SINGLE TRANSACTION

For immediate release  CDI HELPS 2 COMMUNITIES, 466 FAMILIES GO CO-OP IN SINGLE TRANSACTION Carver, MA, June 25, 2012: The residents’ associations of 2 manufactured housing communities comprised of a combined total of 466 homes in Carver, Massachusetts have purchased their communities, securing for themselves enduring control of the land their homes occupy. Cranberry Village Residents Association and the Pine Tree Village Residents Association closed in a 2 party transaction Friday afternoon after working together for 5 months toward the purchase. Notably, the purchase was without an increase in rent to the residents. With the total transaction exceeding $23 million, it is the largest single transaction in homes and dollars closed within the ROC USA™ network. Cranberry Village, a 55+ community, and Pine Tree Village, a family community, were developed and operated by the Piper family since the 1970’s. After the Pipers signed an agreement last December to sell the properties to a NYSE-listed Investment Trust, the communities’ residents banded together to purchase under a right of refusal law in Massachusetts. They quickly contacted the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), which served as their technical assistant through the process of establishing right of first refusal, incorporation, negotiations, due diligence, financing and closing. CDI, a member of the ROC USA Network, will provide technical assistance for the life of their mortgage loan. “This is a place where we help each other — it’s a close-knit neighborhood that got closer by forming the co-op and going through the purchase process,” said David Tessier, president of the Cranberry Residents Association. “Now most people are concentrating on the rent stabilizing. We were worried, because in today’s economy, some people are living on very slim fixed budgets and they can’t afford the rent going up every year.” As quoted in the Patriot Ledger, Pine Tree board member Larry Erikson said: “It’s like a new democracy. The members decide, what do we want to do with surplus? We could reduce the rents or do tree work and fix potholes.” ROC USA (www.rocusa.org) is a non-profit organization with a national network of eight organizations such as CDI and a national financing source for co-ops. The ROC USA process solves the two basic barriers to resident ownership – access to expert technical assistance and financing to help homeowners become buyers when their community is for sale. Financing for the project was provided by ROC USA® Capital, a 501c3 national community development financial institution that is certified by the Department of Treasury’s CDFI Fund. With these communities CDI’s New England Resident Owned Communities initiative (NEROC) has assisted 7 conversions in 20 months in a territory that covers all the New England states except New Hampshire. CDI (www.cdi.coop), a 501c3 cooperative development center based in Shelburne Falls, MA is funded in part through a USDA Rural Development grant.  For further information contact: Andrew Danforth, Director, CDI NEROC adanforth@cdi.coop 1-877-NE-COOPS Mike Bullard, ROC USA Communications Manager mbullard@rocusa.org 603-856-0763

2011 Year in Review

2011 was an exciting year for the Cooperative Development Institute, and 2012 is shaping up to be great as well. We're thrilled to be participating in celebrations of the International Year of the Cooperative. See our Year in Review:
http://www.cdi.coop/cdi-Year-in-Review-2011.pdf

CDI awarded $225,000 grant for rural co-op development

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Economic Development Funding To Create Jobs in Rural Communities in 26 States

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., - October 26, 2011 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the selection of 36 organizations in 26 states and the District of Columbia for grants to help rural cooperatives and small businesses expand, create jobs and strengthen their capacity to serve rural citizens and communities.
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Vilsack said, "As we celebrate National Cooperative Month, USDA is proud to continue its support of local and regional efforts to bolster these cooperatives and help them bring increased value and economic opportunity to rural residents."

The grants are being provided through USDA Rural Development's Rural Cooperative Development Grant program. Under this program, grants of up to $225,000 may be awarded to colleges, universities and non-profit groups to create and operate centers that help individuals or groups establish, expand or operate rural businesses, especially cooperatives and mutually-owned businesses. Grants may be used to conduct feasibility studies, create and implement business plans, and help businesses develop new markets for their products and services.
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Cooperative Development Institute: $225,000 to build a cooperative economy in New England and New York by creating and developing cooperative enterprises and networks in the northeast region of the country.