The National Co-operative Business Association (NCBA Clusa) is hosting a series of roundtables across the USA to identify policy changes needed by co-ops at local, state and federal level.
The roundtables are part of research funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to quantify the social and economic impact of co-operatives in the USA. Two events have already taken place in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Denver, Colorado, with other roundtables due to follow in Sacramento, California; Madison, Wisconsin; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Olympia, Washington.
Along with the Urban Institute, the NCBA has already developed a framework for measuring co-op impact, which will result in a policy paper focusing on how the legal environment could better enable co-operative development.
The discussion will continue at NCBA’s Impact Conference on 2-4 October in Arlington, Virginia. This year’s theme is Power in Purpose: Building the Next Economy. The event will focus on identifying the most significant strategic national, state and local policies, financing mechanisms and other systems and structures that currently support or impede co-operative development.
Delegates can also share best practices in governance, communications, community involvement, education and co-operation among co-operatives. NCBA will present crowd-sourced, actionable ways to achieve an enabling policy environment in which co-operatives can thrive.
The USA has 65,000 co-operative establishments with 115 million members.
