More than 60 members and developers from across the U.S. representing eight of the country’s nine established home care cooperatives met in Dulles, Virginia, September 12-14, 2016 for the inaugural National Home Care Cooperative Conference, organized by the Cooperative Development Foundation and hosted at the headquarters of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation.

 

With a strong focus on education, the conference outlined how the emerging home care cooperative sector can become employers of choice by bolstering their recruitment, retention and training strategies. Conference presenters also addressed marketing to caregivers and clients, human resources and governance and finance. And, in an industry that can often be isolating, the conference was a unique opportunity for caregivers to network and collaborate with like-minded cooperators—sharing the resources, ideas and insights the sector needs to grow.

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MEETING DOCUMENTS

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National Home Care Cooperatives Conference
Leslie Mead, CDF

 

Opportunities and Challenges for Home Care Cooperatives
David Hammer, The ICA Group

 

Becoming the Employer of Choice: Recruitment, Retention and Training
Jodi Sturgeon, Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute 
Thomas Showalter, National Youth Employment Coalition

 

Managing Human Resource Issues in a Home Care Worker Cooperative
Joe Marraffino, Democracy at Work Institute

 

Governance and Finance
Anne Reynolds, University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives
Margaret Lund, Co-opera Co.

 

Conference Program

 

Evaluation Results

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MARKETING YOUR COOPERATIVE TO CAREGIVERS AND CLIENTS

 

What Sets You Apart from Your Competitors: Marketing Cooperative Values

Jessica Ross, Finn Partners
Katie Franklin, Finn Partners

 

Guerrilla Marketing and Other Stealthy Approaches to Marketing on a Shoestring
Deborah Craig,Northwest Cooperative Development Center

 

Workers to Owners: Membership Education Tools
Victoria Sprong, Circle of Life Cooperative
(Marketing Video)

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