A Conversation on Building Communities through Cooperative Development

Jake Schlachter

Development Specialist at Food Co-op Initiativ

Jake began grassroots organizing full-time in 2008, which he would describe as building power by those that have not got it, and has recently expanded his focus to include public participation and board training -- how power can be wielded responsibly and sustainably by those who do.

Jake has a background in computer science, owing to a previous career in software development.  In 2007, Jake had a moment of grace and realized he would rather be improving communities than computers.  He moved back to his hometown of Troy, Ohio to organize for fair elections and community economic development, which led him naturally to food co-ops.

Before coming to Food Co-op Initiative, Jake organized for Stone's Throw Market, the co-op he co-founded in rural Ohio.  Jake now develops resources and strategies for fueling the latest wave of food co-op organizing - already numbering in the hundreds of grassroots organizing groups across all 50 states.  Food Co-op Initiative is a 501(c)3 and serves as the first point of contact for new start-ups, providing instruction, resources, and connections from Day 1 to Opening Day.

Jake is, at heart, a believer in the power and values of democratic cooperation to solve our many shared challenges.  He believes that, combined with the economic engine of cooperative enterprise, co-ops can provide America with a new model of economic cooperation at home and economic competitiveness abroad.

Jake's presentation can be found at: http://s.coop/icdcdemocracy

Keith Taylor, Doctoral Candidate 

Human and Community Development 

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Keith is a PhD candidate in the Department of Human and Community Development at the University of Illinois. Keith previously worked as a Congressional legislative aide, and in university development. 

Having grown up in the Midwest during a period of decline has inspired Keith to seek community-based solutions to many of the critical problems facing rural to mid-sized communities, particularly during an era of decreasing state and corporate assistance.

Keith's research is focused on how various institutional governance arrangements impact community development outcomes.  Of particular interest is exploring the efficacy of the cooperative model toward community development ends. 

Keith's presentation can be found at:  http://prezi.com/lb40uac1ofui/cooperatives-and-community-development/

Jonathan Jenner

Jonathan Jenner, though originally from Harrisonburg, Virginia is a resident of Bloomington, Indiana and a graduate of Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.  It was in Richmond, as a student of Economics as well as Peace Studies, where Jonathan's interest in the cooperative movement came to be the focus of his studies and work, centering around the question: 'What happens when those affected by a firm (workers, consumers, farmers) own and actively manage that firm?' 

“As it turns out, many diverse and surprising things begin to happen; sometimes, I feel like I'm just trying to keep up with all of the different dynamics and directions that the cooperative movement implies,”  says Jonathan.

This desire – to document the various dynamics of the cooperative movement – fed Jonathan's research fellowship with the Thomas J. Watson Foundation, where he researched and wrote about worker and producer cooperatives around the world, in Argentina, Spain, Italy, Tanzania, and India.  Now settled in Bloomington, Jonathan is working on writing and editing his manuscripts from the year, and making plans to open a garden service workers cooperative in Bloomington.