BUILDING COOPERATIVES IN

YOUR OWN COMMUNITIES

One Way to Work Toward

Sustainable Futures

Human Services Research Institute

7420 SW Bridgeport Road (#210)
Portland, OR 97224
503-924-3783
www.hsri.org

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 Topics

® Family and Peer Support Cooperatives

® How it works
® The Arkansas Family Cooperative
® The Oregon Juntos Podemos Family Cooperative
® The Arkansas Youth Peer Support Cooperative

® What are YOU going to do about it?

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 Help is not always an easy thing to give…

“Help,” he said “is giving part of yourself to somebody who

comes to accept it willingly and needs it badly. So it is
that we can seldom help anybody. Either we don’t know
what part to give or maybe we don’t want to give any part
of ourselves. Then, more often, we do not have the part
that is needed.”

I told him, “You make it too

tough. Help doesn’t have
to be anything that big.”

Norman MacLean in
A River Runs Through It

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“ No way exists for a rational
human being (or even an
irrational human being) to
fight a bureaucracy. Even
when the country of
bureaucrats is
conquered, they flourish,
effortlessly traversing from
the arteries of war to the veins of peace. Huge bureaucracies
are simply invincible.
Nonetheless, I throttled Dicky Piehand and pushed him up
against the paneling in his office.”
Mark Helprin, Memoir From An Antproof Case, p.277.

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 Meeting Individual Needs
A Three
Legged
Approach!
Individuals

Community Government
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 1st leg… Government

® A need to settle on a
direction…
® A need for greater
efficiency…
® A need for greater
collaboration

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 2nd leg… Community

® Enlisting community
businesses
® Enlisting faith-based
organizations
® Enlisting community
serving organizations

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How We Think Of Some Communities
Gangs Lack of
Services
Drugs
Poverty
Violence
Language
School Barriers
Failure
Unemployment
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Another Way To Think….

Community Assets
Local
Institutions

Community
Serving
Organizations
Individuals &
Groups of People
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 3rd leg… People
Helping People

® Toy Exchanges…
Equipment Exchanges

® Exchange Networks

® Micro-Loans

® Peer Support Networks

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Yeah… So… What About…
Family and Peer Cooperatives?

In a cooperative
participants unite to
address common or
individual needs through
mutual support and/or
joint action.

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A Few Examples
® Arkansas Family Support
Cooperative
® Oregon Juntos Podemos
Family Cooperative
® Arkansas Peer Support
Cooperative

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 The General Approach
Member Needs
Support
Personal and Family
Asset Development
Outcomes
Health & Well Being
Staff &
Leadership § Mutual support to
help meet family
Member needs.
Participation § Improved health
Resources and well-being.
Peer Support § Asset development
Community
IDAs

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Arkansas Family Cooperative

Geographic Area
Targeted is
Southeast
HERE!!!
Arkansas
In Stuttgart!
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Values & Family/Provider Grassroots Medicaid
Principles Partnership Commitment Strategy

Arkansas Family Support Cooperative

Family Support Worker

Government Community
Government Community
services Family Contribution

Peer Resource Reimbursement

Support Exchange Fund
Micro-
Self-Advocacy
enterprises

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 An Added Twist…
Individual Development Accounts

Key Concepts:
Low income Americans
Asset development
Matched savings accounts

http://www.cfed.org/
http://www.vidaoregon.org/
 Individual
Development
Accounts
® Participants can earn money by contributing time to
helping another family, helping with “cooperative
activities” or helping a community partner.
® We will contribute $10/hour to the IDA account earned if
the participant makes contributions of time…
® The money can come from project funds and
community contributions

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IDAs in Oregon
n Save up to $1,000/year for
3 years
n Receive up to $3,000/year
in State match
n Receive up to $2,000 total in
AFI federal match
n Potential to turn $3,000 of savings into $14,000
toward asset development goal
IDAs in Oregon

5 Asset Development
Categories
nHome Ownership
nSmall Business Development
nContinuing Education
nHome & Vehicle Modifications
nAssistive Technology
IDAs in Oregon

n Income eligibility

n Planning process

n Financial literacy training (specialty training)

n “Earned income” requirements
n Savings requirements
 New Activities at
Juntos Podemos

n Include asset development planning in family support

planning process
n We will contribute $10/hour to the IDA account earned if
the participant makes contributions of time…
n Become an IDA community partner
n Offer financial literacy training

n Create the Family Cooperative

 Juntos Podemos
Family Cooperative

n Funded with foundation dollars

n Identify asset development goals through family support
planning
n Receive financial literacy training
n Volunteer to support other families, the Center
or community partners
n Earn stipend - up to $500/year
n Deposit stipend into IDA & receive match
n Achieve asset goal in 6 month – 3 year timeframe
Arkansas Northwest Youth Center

® Supporting youth aged

13-30 years.
® One key feature is a Peer
Cooperative
® Members can also
contribute to an IDA

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Dreams ‘n Goals
A Game for Self
Advocates!

Gifts ‘n Giving
A Game for Self
Advocates!
Get FREE Copies at
www.theriotrocks.org
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YOUR TURN… You Do it!
® What can you give to others?
® What can others give to you?
® What resources are available in
your community?
® What can these resources give to
you?
® What can you give back to these
community partners?

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What Can YOU Do?
® Each community, locality and
state is in a different spot
® Opportunities differ
® But it’s the same critical question: What
changes do we need to make to achieve the
best possible outcomes for people and
families going forward?

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 Need and Opportunity

I Dream Things That

Never Were and Say,
Why Not?

Robert F. Kennedy

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