Coming to the conference? Choose great workshops! View this email in your browser Getting the most out of Up & Coming! Why do we encourage startups to send more than one person to Up & Coming every year? Because there are more workshops than one person can begin to cover!



How do you choose which workshops to attend?



Plan ahead so you can hit the workshops that are most important for the stage your co-op is presently in, and the next step after. Jumping ahead to opening the doors if you are just starting a membership drive will probably not give you the practical pointers you need in the months ahead. Check out the full agenda online. There are "tracks" you may choose to follow, but you are free to select any workshops you wish throughout the conference.



Case Studies - always popular, always informative



This year's conference will feature four co-op case studies with diverse needs and experiences. Plan to check these out:

Westwood Food Co-op, Denver CO Westwood Food Co-op, Denver CO

As with countless communities around the nation, the Westwood neighborhood in Southwest Denver is a food desert - not one grocery store in a very dense, young, low-income, and largely immigrant community. The Westwood Food Cooperative is both a vision and a reality - having grown out of the six years of grassroots leadership development and community food system work of nonprofit Re:Vision, it was incorporated in April of 2014 by a founding board of 9 community members. Since that time, Re:Vision has been incubating the Co-op and training the board, while also working to secure a physical location for the future grocery store.

MOON Co-op Grocery, Oxford, OH

T his workshop discusses some of the challenges faced by the co-op during the 8 years between incorporation and opening, as well as challenges during the 4 years that the store has been opened. Especially challenging were the rate of growth of membership, financial support,and the search for a site. Ultimately, the co-op had to decide whether to open a store under less-than-ideal circumstances, or give up. The key lesson is that opening a store under suboptimal conditions requires substantial additional costs and commitments that the co-op membership and leadership must be prepared to bear. Challenges with broader applicability to other food co-ops include the need for continued financial support and for the board to play multiple development and management roles. Today, MOON Co-op Groceryâ€™s condition remains fragile but is improving. The co-op is making a much-appreciated contribution to the community, including a great impact on the local farm and small-business economy. Durham Co-op Market, Durham, NC The path to opening a new retail food co-op is not always easy, and Durham founders can tell you all about that! After its opening last year Durham was named Startup of the Year last year, in part because it took a lot of community work, had to overcome some big obstacles, was forced to re-evaluate goals and visions, and then made it to opening day with great success. Learn how this new co-op is managing to meet members needs, and grow in the community.





Renaissance Community Co-op (RCC), Greensboro, NC

Everyone seems to have seen the videos: We Want a Co-op!



T his community was working towards a store for years before starting on the path to owning their own by starting a co-op. When itâ€™s doors open later this year, RCC will provide good paying jobs and affordable healthy food to a predominantly low income African-American community. This community in Northeast Greensboro has suffered in a â€œfood desertâ€ for more than 18 years following the closing of the Winn-Dixie supermarket in 1998. Unlike many other food co-ops, the RCC will offer mostly conventional products at a price point that will be competitive with the major chain stores in the area because these are the products the community that owns the coop wanted. Many people believe a co-op grocery store in a low income, minority community wonâ€™t work. The residents of Northeast Greensboro disagree. RCC Board members and staff from the Fund for Democratic Communities (F4DC) will discuss the steps the community has worked through to launch their co-op grocery store. F4DC has provided technical assistance to the community throughout the development of the RCC.