Northside Urban Partnership

Editor’s Note: The work of Northside UP involves many partners, including Onondaga Community College’s Small Business Development Center. Frank Cetera, a certified business advisor with SBDC, shares our offices, seeing clients on a wide range of issues pertaining to starting and operating a small business. In this post, we’ve asked him to share a bit about the United Nation’s designation of 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives.

The future of our economy may be hard to see.  But make no mistake, the cooperative business model has been here all along, and its coming-out party is happening at every turn   - including 2012’s designation as Year Of The Cooperative by the United Nations.

For one thing, it exists behind the scenes, and though many people participate in it, they do not often know they do.  How do you fit into the cooperative scene?

As a member of a local credit union such as Cooperative Federal here on the Northside, you receive all the services that you need from, and are also an owner of, that financial institution.  You have the ability to participate in the governance as a Board Member or on a working committee, or as a voter selecting the leadership and direction of your credit union.

As a consumer, you may belong to a grocery such as the Syracuse Real Food Cooperative or the soon-to-be Food For Life cooperative. Your capitol membership contribution entitles you to participate in the democratic governance, and will provide you with special discounts or savings.

You also likely purchase products produced or distributed through cooperatives. Sunkist is a marketing cooperative owned by, and operated for, the California and Arizona citrus growers who are its membership.  If you shop at Ace Hardware, you’re buying screws and nails from a business collectively owned by the dealer-owners of each individual Ace Hardware store.  Bringing Dairylea Milk home for the family?  Your purchasing from a cooperative comprised of 2,000 dairy farm families.

Cooperatives can also be owned by the workers who are employed in a business.  These worker cooperatives present special opportunities to create equitable work environments and revenue sharing distinct from discrepancies that exist in many businesses between owners, management, and productions workers.

For a second thing, cooperative democratic business has not been lauded by traditional economic development agencies, governments, and non-profit institutions as the important strategy that it really is, though that is starting to change.

The “Social Entrepreneurship” movement, begun in the 1960s, is supporting a strong case to understand that business is not only about profit but also about improving and upholding community and social standards.

Behind-the-times economic development agencies and governments are hearing the sea change accompanying the Occupy and the Move-To-Amend movements that will encourage more equitable ownership and profit distribution within business entities.  This is proving itself out as the pro-active and long-standing US Steelworkers are embracing the cooperative movement; and multiple agencies including university, health and government communities in Cleveland Ohio lead the way domestically with worker cooperative development through the Evergreen Laundry, Ohio Cooperative Solar, and Green City Growers Cooperative.

We can’t be, nor should we be content to be, far behind this curve.

Contact Onondaga SBDC Business Advisor Frank Cetera at the Northside Urban Partnership for free one-on-one business advising and strategy discussion.  And consider taking part in the Upstate NY Cooperatives Summit to be held in Syracuse on March 31st – details at www.cny.coop.