Landmark employee ownership act, signed into law yesterday, will amend lending landscape for worker co-ops
The biggest employee ownership legislative victory in two decades was signed into law yesterday as a key cooperative provision of the expansive $717 billion defense bill.
Championed by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in the Senate and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) in the House, the bipartisan Main Street Employee Ownership Act amends longstanding inequities in how the Small Business Administration (SBA) administers loans to Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and worker cooperatives.
IMPACT 2018 is the only cooperative event that brings together all co-op sectors to engage with key stakeholders, like these mayors and city leaders.Tomorrow is the last day to get early-bird pricing on this year’s premier co-op engagement event
Tomorrow, August 15, is the last day to lock in early-bird pricing for the 2018 Co-op IMPACT Conference, a pivotal opportunity to engage with stakeholders committed to advancing the shared interests of the cooperative economy.
Seynabou Fall, left, president of the Inter-Regional Millet Union, with a buyer of more than 1,000 tons of high quality millet.
Senegalese millet producers tackle the challenge of procuring quality, on-time agricultural inputsAccessing high quality agricultural inputs, like fertilizer and seeds, at the right time and in the right amounts has been one of the biggest challenges for rural Senegalese farmers. Given agriculture is the main driver of the Senegalese economy, being able to solve this problem is key to the success of smallholder farmers.
The Rural Energy Savings Program is a focus of NCBA CLUSA’s partnership with the Environmental and Energy Savings Institute to spur broader and more affordable clean energy adoption.
No-interest clean energy loans now available for rural electric co-opsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) last week opened an application window for approximately $100 million in interest-free loans to rural electric co-ops (and other rural electric utilities) to support member-facing energy efficiency and other clean energy programs.
Opportunity Threads, an immigrant-owned textile factory in North Carolina, is one of many worker co-op success stories in the U.S. [photo courtesy USFWC]
What has caused the number of U.S. worker co-ops to nearly double?The number of U.S. worker co-ops has almost doubled over the past decade—from 350 to 600—and new legislation easing access to financing for employee-owned businesses is expected to accelerate that growth.
River Valley Co-op’s “Wild About Local” campaign highlights its ongoing investments in local farmers and producers.By promoting their communities—not just products—co-ops “do local better than anyone”Along the retail supply chain, there’s nothing more “local” than a food co-op. The food chain moves from farm to co-op to table—and the shopping habits of a growing number of Americans underscore this trend.