Send Santa Cruz to the CA Co-op Conference!

At the conference, these cooperators will:

· Discover how cooperatives revitalize and fortify local economies by creating jobs, housing, and locally owned businesses.

· Learn how to strengthen their cooperatives and start new ones.

· Engage with other cooperators and share ideas, experiences, and strategies.

My name is Dave Brown, and I'm a member of Co-op SC, a Santa Cruz volunteer group dedicated to helping local worker cooperatives form and grow. Knowledge is power and our local cooperatives need access to difficult to obtain information, technical assistance, and networks that are specific to their business model. The California Co-op Conference provides all of this, but like most new businesses, our new co-ops are on shoe string budgets and resources are tight. With your help, we are going to sponsor a representative from each local co-op, so they can attend the event and bring back critical information and insights to share with their fellow worker-owners.

Funds raised through this campaign will cover admission passes to the conference. Almost everything else has already been covered by Co-op SC. We have a big van to travel in, a full service campsite, and the equipment necessary for attendees to be frugally comfortable. We are sending a Co-op SC member using our own limited resources and have even managed to sponsor an attendee from a cooperative out of pocket! We are maxed out though. Conference passes are $330 apiece. If we can raise $1,980 more with your support, we can ensure five more co-ops and a co-op partner organization can attend. All funds raised will go directly to pay for conference registrations.

Let me share why this is so important. The cooperative sector is growing quickly because the model is proving itself to be an effective tool for bottom up economic development. Cooperatives have a lower failure rate than other small businesses and employee-owners earn more within their sectors. Cooperatives stay local because workers never vote to send their own jobs away. Cooperatives are non-extractive, meaning their earnings stay local longer. Working people, keeping it local, creating local jobs, and practicing democracy at work! That's a model for eliminating poverty and building community wealth!

So let's do this! Let's show these hard working folks that their hard working community has their support. Thank you so much for your solidarity in creating a more inclusive and equitable economy!

In appreciation and gratitude,

Dave Brown
Co-op SC
https://www.facebook.com/CoopSC831/

Please donate here:
https://www.gofundme.com/send-santa-cruz-to-the-ca-coop-conference