5 social purpose co-ops helping communities recover from COVID-19

Despite one of Canada’s most prominent co-operatives — Mountain Equipment Co-op — recently selling to an American private equity firm, the co-operative model is steadily growing in popularity (again).

In 2018, the latest available national data, there were 5,846 non-financial co-operative organizations in the country, up 92 from the previous year. Revenue generated by co-ops in Canada also jumped from $45 billion in 2016 to $52.9 billion in 2018. 

Healthcare and social services represent 8.7 percent of Canada’s co-ops — and because of their co-operative model, these organizations could be well-positioned to lead community-level and community-informed recovery from the pandemic. Here are five emerging organizations tackling some of the most pressing issues, whose work is made all the more urgent by the COVID-19 crisis.

 

Éconocoop

Childcare was pushed back into the national policy conversation this year as a major priority for pandemic recovery, after women’s participation in the workforce dropped to a 30-year low because of their disproportionate share of domestic responsibilities. The Trudeau government’s Throne Speech recommitted to a national childcare system, but the social impact sector says some key details need to be addressed — one being the informality of the childcare industry.

Founded this year, Éconocoop is a new national co-operative working to do just that — strengthen and professionalize the sector. The co-op formed after founding members travelled to all the Canadian provinces, visiting childcare centres, and discovered that there are four major challenges throughout the sector: attracting and retaining qualified staff; finding spaces to host childcare services; carrying out effective governance and management; and managing operations. To help, the co-op offers members services and software, from management and operations software to group buying and employee benefit plans. 

 

Co-Pharm 

Another big commitment in the Throne Speech was a national pharmacare program — another key recovery consideration as health equity is highlighted by the pandemic. Until a nationally subsidized program exists, Co-Pharm is providing Nova Scotians with pharmaceutical coverage on a co-operative basis. Membership is available to anyone living in the province, regardless of their annual income, credit score, or employment. In response to the pandemic, the co-op opened 100 free one-year memberships back in March, all claimed within 24 hours. 

Co-Pharm is funded by the Nova Scotia Co-operative Council. “The last thing Nova Scotians should be worrying about during this economically trying time is being able to afford the everyday prescription medications they need to stay healthy,” says the Co-operative Council’s CEO Dianne Kelderman on the Co-Pharm website. “We hope this donation to Nova Scotians will help ease the financial burden and stress on those who are vulnerable in our region.”

 

Brave Technology Co-op 

The pandemic has been a particularly trying time for those struggling with addiction. Isolation does not often aid in addiction recovery, and many of the support services — in-person support groups, for example — that those struggling with substance abuse have relied on are less accessible now. Overdose cases have risen across the country as a result, by as much as 40 percent in B.C.. 

Brave Technology Co-op is a platform (or digital) co-operative organization preventing overdoses by connecting “people with community supporters when they’re alone and at risk of overdose.” The co-op released its remote supervision mobile app, BeSafe, ahead of schedule to respond to the rising overdose rates during the pandemic. The app anonymously connects substance users with a community of people willing to monitor the person’s use, and if the person becomes unresponsive, community members can access their location and call for help. Brave is also “working on activating community responders for rural areas and other situations where a citizen responder is the quickest or best first responder.”

 

110 Arts Cooperative 

The arts have been hit hard by the pandemic. Theatres, galleries, and museums have closed to the public, and at a time when people around the world are relying on the arts to get them through isolating times, artists are struggling without work. The 110 Arts Cooperative is working to strengthen the creative community in downtown Vancouver. The co-operative organization provides a physical space, called the Post at 750, for four arts organizations (members of the co-op) in Vancouver, and the wider arts community in the city. 

“Under this model,” the organization’s website reads, “emerging artists and organizations are able to access centrally-located, professionally-equipped spaces at low cost, a rare resource particularly in the downtown core.”

 

West Kootenay Permaculture Co-op 

With household food insecurity on the rise, building resilient, accessible food systems will be key to community recovery. COVID-19 has also exposed the fragility of global food systems, with supply chain disruptions — and the relative resilience of local food networks. 

West Kootenay Permaculture Co-op is building one such network, with members being farmers, processors, retailers, educators, and industry consultants coming together to strengthen the food economy in West Kootenay, B.C.. The co-operative organization offers education and networking to members, and serves the wider community through food and supplies delivery to Kootenay residents in need. 

“For the past several years the West Kootenay Permaculture Co-op has been running Kootenay Food, a food resilience project aimed at accumulating resources in food skills, equipment and funds to invest in feeding our community local and nutrient dense food,” the organization’s website reads. “In the midst of this global crisis, the way we do food resilience needs to adapt.”