Company description

CCCD is a 501c3 non-profit organization providing technical assistance and training to cooperative organizing groups and existing cooperatives in sectors including agriculture, retail grocery, housing, child care, and worker cooperatives. Services include educating organizers, founders, and members about the cooperative organizational model, it’s legal and financial aspects, and about the development process. We lead feasibility assessments, business plans, and work with many partners to provide a network of support services, including food safety and organic certification. We are also growing our services to include support for existing business owners in converting to worker or user-owned cooperatives

Job description

The Cooperative Development Specialist will support projects involving people who are interested in starting cooperatively owned businesses within the food system, including farmers marketing fresh and value-added fruits and vegetables, farms operated as worker cooperatives, and consumers opening retail grocery stores. The specialist will also provide ancillary education related to general farm production and marketing, and business planning. Many of our project partners include groups who speak English as a second language. The agriculture projects include those based on fruit, vegetables, grain, and processed food producers in separate projects and includes working with local technical assistance provider partners for each project. This position allows for the Specialist to grow into work within other sectors, including housing and non-rural service oriented worker cooperatives.

As a Cooperative Development Specialist, you’ll be:

• Talking to farmers who produce many different crops, ranchers, and small business owners in the food supply chain about strategies for improving their businesses through cooperation
• Completing market research and feasibility studies, including conducting producer surveys, interviews with key informants, and building financial pro formas
• Assessing the readiness of organizers and helping them get to the next level
• Developing relationships with partners with specific expertise in different areas to help our clients make strategic decisions
• Developing presentations and written materials for trainings
• Organizing and marketing conferences
• Evaluating current and potential projects and preparing progress reports for funders

Compensation

this position is: salaried, $50,000 to $100,000

Application instructions

Deadline

no deadline