Buddy Up! is an online social network designed to connect co-ops and co-operators across Canada! BCCA is excited to be launching Version 0.1 of this tool this winter and is looking for your input to help shape it. Curious? Sign up here to be a user tester and receive early access to the tool once … Continued
What do Mavins Marketing, Queens of Pop, Open City Events, Fusion Five, BLAC: The Black Arts Centre, Just.Us Instincts, and Daily Dose of Blackness all have in common? They are all co-ops associated with Solid State Community Industries. Using the co-op model, Solid State works with youth from racialized backgrounds to form enterprises to earn … Continued
While the world is facing an unprecedented health and economic crisis, co-operatives in industry and services are reorganizing themselves, finding strength in the people and communities they serve. It’s not surprising to social-economic strategists that COVID-19 spurred Canada’s co-operative sector to step up and respond to the needs of communities immediately. In many cases, co-ops … Continued
COVID-19 has led to dramatic shifts in consumer behaviour. To meet ever-evolving customer experience requirements, co-ops will have to remain flexible, relevant, and responsive. And as people-centred businesses, co-ops should be strategic and invested in sharing how they are there for their members and their communities. At the fall 2020 CIU Strategic Foresight Virtual Conference, … Continued
An active, engaged, and informed membership and staff community are critical to the success and sustainability of your co-op. The BCCA offers educational workshops, training, resources, and consultation services for our member co-ops that can help you build literacy around the co-operative model, cultivate a sense of co-operative identity, and boost participation among your membership. … Continued
When times are tough – we look for stories of heroes and impact. Now is the time for co-ops to step into the spotlight and start sharing their superpowers. The Co-operative Intelligence Unit (CIU) was developed to create resources and connect co-ops to experts to plan effectively in an uncertain future and this team of experts … Continued
As part of our Annual General Meeting on October 15th, BCCA hosted a public townhall dialogue around the sale of MEC and what BCCA and the co-operative community as a whole can do moving forward. We were joined by organizers Kevin Harding and Yuill Herbert from SaveMEC to speak about the valiant organizing work that … Continued
BC’s co-op and credit union sector is still reeling from the news that Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), a beloved retail brand in this country for nearly 50 years, is intended to be sold to a foreign private investor, U.S.-based Kingswood Capital Management. As has been widely reported, the members of MEC were not consulted and learned … Continued
We recently welcomed two new members to the BCCA family: Shift Delivery and BC Craft Farmers Co-op. Shift Delivery is a worker-owned co-op located in East Vancouver. They specialized in “last mile” delivery services utilizing trikes, allowing them to utilize bike lanes and park and unload almost anywhere. They can haul up to 500 lbs and deliver … Continued
By Madelyn Read Welcome to our series “We Are Co-ops” in which we profile our diverse membership and demonstrate the innovation the flexible co-op model supports and enables! BCCA had the chance to catch up with Lisa Giroday of Victory Gardens and learn about their resiliency and growth as a co-operative. Who and what is Victory Gardens? … Continued