By Madelyn Read Welcome to our newest series “We Are Co-ops” in which we profile our diverse membership and demonstrate the innovation the flexible co-op model supports and enables! This week’s edition features the East End Food Co-op and the initiatives that they have implemented to support their membership and community through the COVID-19 pandemic. … Continued
VALU CO-OP and Coming Together Vancouver have collaborated on an exciting set of artist-designed and artist-produced specialty items available for purchase online. Made by unionized co-operative workers in VALU Co-op’s Chinatown Studio, each item will be made with care and will contribute directly to mutual aid initiatives in the Vancouver community. This grassroots initiative was … Continued
BCCA is piloting a new early-stage community platform called Buddy Up! for BC Co-ops, and we want to know what you think! At our first demo session, we brought together a group of co-operators to explore opportunities for how a tool like this can be used to advance Principle #6: Co-operation among Co-ops, and serve as a … Continued
Welcome to our newest series “We Are Co-ops” in which we profile our diverse membership and demonstrate the innovation the flexible co-op model supports and enables! This week, our Co-op Champion Madelyn Read, connected with Marc Baumann, member-owner of Shift Delivery, to learn about how they have been adapting to the COVID-19 crisis. Marc … Continued
Daniel Brunette, Director of Advocacy and Partnerships at Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada (CMC) led our May 8th Co-op Meetup and shared his vast knowledge of federal financial programs and supports are currently available to co-operative businesses. Along with reiterating that co-ops have equal access to all federal COVID-19 emergency financial programs and supports, Daniel highlighted that … Continued
The B.C. and Alberta Provincial Governments have both recently released their strategies for restarting local economies by outlining phases for businesses to re-open over the coming weeks and months. But are you ready to re-open? Have you been operating an essential service since the outbreak began but are wondering what you may need to do … Continued
The Federal Government recently announced the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) for small businesses, which will lower rent by 75% for small businesses that have been most affected by COVID-19. CECRA will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50% of three monthly rent payments that are payable by eligible small business … Continued
For this week’s edition of “We Are Co-ops”, we are excited to feature our member Golden Community Social Services Co-op (Golden Community Co-op) and their new hire Lori Baxendale who was brought on to fill their newly created role as Community COVID-19 Response Coordinator. Our Co-op Champion Madelyn Read, connected with Golden Community Co-op to … Continued
The BCCA Co-op Meetups strive to be an opportunity and platform for co-ops to come together and share their knowledge and insight with each other, spark new ideas, and help each other grow and flourish. This week, we had the opportunity to engage in an international conversation with the Alberta Community & Co-operative Association … Continued
On May 4th, the Lobbyists Transparency Act will come into effect, increasing requiring registration and reporting requirements for all organizations (including co-operatives) that lobby provincial employees or office holders in BC. “Lobbying” is defined broadly. It includes attempting to influence government decisions, such as legislative proposals, bills, resolutions, regulations, programs, policies, directives and guidelines. It … Continued