Episode 02: Co-operative associations, are they the answer?

This podcast will highlight the needs that are met through associations. As Trott noted in his paper, one co-op can do great things, but the scale that an association can achieve is incredibly impactful and meets a need concerning advocacy and long-term co-operative development.

Adam Trott is the Director of Member Relations for Shared Capital Cooperative, a national CDFI loan fund that connects co-ops and capital to build economic democracy. He is also the Executive Director of the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives, a co-op of worker co-ops that supports, develops and educates about and for worker co-operatives. Adam spent 13 years as a worker-member of Collective Copies, a worker collective and union shop western Massachusetts and served on his union's Regional Executive Board. He received a Masters in Co-operative and Credit Union Management from St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2019. His research is about the impact and power of co-operative associations in North America and throughout the world. Adam has had the pleasure of several board appointments including the Eastern Coordinating Council (organizing group for the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy), founding board member of the Cooperative Capital Fund, United Electrical Workers Union Local 274 representative to the Northeast General Executive Board, founding member of the Valley Co-operative Business Association and more.