Six New Food Co-ops and Groups to Receive Bowers Fund Grants

Washington, DC (March 20, 2014) – Advisors of the Cooperative Development Foundation’s Bowers Fund recently approved nearly $6000 in grants to support training for directors and staff of six food cooperatives.  

The grants were awarded to:

• Local First Grocer Cooperative, Manitou Springs, CO,  for training of a board member and the general manager in finance and board development

• Market Street Co-op, Fort Kent, ME, for the general manager to spend two days at another Maine co-op for hands-on learning

• Monadnock Food Co-op, Keene, NH, for customer service training

• The Portland Food Co-op, Portland, ME, for board training for working with a new general manager

• South Philly Food Co-op, Philadelphia, PA, for board and committee member training and start-up support

• Taos Food Co-op, Taos, NM, to travel to another NM food co-ops for hands-on training and financial training for staff.

The Bowers Fund supports the food co-op sector through grants for the training and education of food co-op staff, board members, and managers.  Most of the contributions to the Fund are raised during two annual fundraising events — the Consumer Cooperative Management Association’s (CCMA) Annual Conference Event in June and Howard Bowers Day in October. The Bowers Fund has given out over $338,000 in grants to date.

The Cooperative Development Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation headquartered in Washington, DC.  CDF’s mission is to promote community, economic and social development through cooperative enterprises.  (www.cdf.coop).