Cooperatives are member-owned, member-governed businesses that operate for the benefit of their members according to common cooperative principles agreed upon by the international cooperative community. In co-ops, members pool resources to bring about economic results that are unobtainable by one person alone. Most simply put, a cooperative is a business:

• voluntarily owned by the people who use it, and
• operated for the benefit of its members.

Your food co-op is part of a national and international movement to foster greater social and economic justice, strengthen communities, and help care for our environment. We stay connected to partner co-ops near and far in a variety of ways including being part of the National Cooperative Grocers Association, supporting and purchasing from a variety of other cooperatives,  being a member of CoSound (a local cooperative of cooperatives) and doing worker exchanges.

Exchange with CECOSESOLA
In 2012, to celebrate the United Nations’ International Year of the Cooperative, the Olympia Food Co-op partnered with The Evergreen State College for a historic exchange with CECOSESOLA, an integrated cooperative of over 50 member organizations in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. This exchange began a rich relationship between our two organizations that continues today. Below is a short film with footage and interviews from our visit in 2012. For more writing and photos, visit the blog, CECOSESOLA: A Co-operative Exchange. To learn more about CECOSESOLA (in Spanish), visit their website at  www.cecosesola.org.

Here is the video that our staff produced (conducted interviews, filmed, and edited)