By Kenna S. Eaton

This time of year, we have many things to celebrate: a great harvest, the change in seasons, our friends and family, and cooperatives! October is national Co-op Month and this year’s theme is “Build Back for Impact.” Co-op month is an opportunity to explore how cooperation can help us face some of our biggest challenges—the global pandemic, climate emergency, extreme financial inequity, and systemic racism—as we build back an economy that works for everyone.

From farmer co-ops to worker co-ops, credit unions to mutual insurance, housing co-ops to energy co-ops, cooperative businesses thrive across the north Olympic Peninsula. The cooperative model established back in 1844 continues to form the bedrock of cooperatively-owned businesses like us, with its seven guiding principles and the underlying values such as self-help, self- determination, equity, and equality, to name a few. The impact of coops is extensive, touching many things we value, including access to goods and services, sustainable businesses, healthy communities, and democratic governance. Our biggest impact as cooperatives comes from embracing the principles that makes us unique. Like any democracy, it requires everyone to bring their best selves to the table, to commit to listening, learning, and growing.

As a grocery store owned by its users—our members—we are rooted in our community. As a cooperative, the cooperative principles guide our decision making. At the same time, we must act like any prudent business to ensure we are here for future generations, by investing in our people, our place, and our planet. Over the past 49 years, this co-op has grown from a small buying club to a small store front to a larger store and eventually to our current location on Kearney. I am so proud of what we have accomplished together. Even though we aren’t perfect, we are perfectly placed for continuous improvement. How we chose to grow is up to us—there isn’t anyone telling us what to do. And that is both exciting and scary! Especially these days as the grocery business is shifting away from in-person shopping towards e-commerce and away from basic groceries toward prepared foods. Luckily, we have lots of other co-ops to help us navigate these changes.

A few years ago, we (The Food Co-op) helped form the Olympic Cooperative Network (OCN), and in March of this year, we held our first Annual OCN Network Gathering over Zoom. The intent was to meet folks from other Olympic Peninsula cooperatives as well as explore how we might help each other—and the local cooperative movement—grow by establishing a network. Preparing for the gathering gave us a snapshot of who is part of our regional cooperative ecosystem. In all, 32 people responded to our pre-gathering survey, half of whom represented existing or forming cooperatives. The other half were evenly split between those considering forming a cooperative and those interested in supporting cooperative development in general. The types of cooperatives represented included worker, food, consumer, producer, and non-profit service cooperatives. There is a wide range in membership size based on the type of cooperative, ranging from 7,000 (the Food Co-op) down to 6 (a worker’s co-op).

As you can see from those participating, we have the beginnings of a healthy network here on the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas. Seventeen people, in addition to the presenters and facilitators, were able to attend the gathering. We had an amazingly lively conversation, sparking a lot of enthusiasm for carrying on with the network. If you are interested knowing more about OCN, please join our listserv by emailing olycoopnet@gmail.com.