Programming

The Southeast Center for Cooperative Development is dedicated to providing free cooperative business education to cooperatives at all stages of development in Tennessee, the Southeast, and beyond.

Core Programs

We offer education, training, technical assistance, business support services and financing for startup or expansion of worker cooperatives or cooperative enterprises; we also provide assistance to conventional businesses for conversions to workers-owned enterprises.

Our education services include an introductory co-op session, a 10-week Co-op Academy, and a Strong Co-op Series and supporting workshops. Our education and support provide guidance and assistance in everything from business planning via the business model canvas, value stream mapping, to marketing and feasibility assessments, financial modeling and breakeven analysis, to governance and decision-making, conflict resolution and organizational development.

Additionally, we provide non-extractive financing through our funding entity, the New Economy of Tennessee (NET) Fund (a funding service established by SEC4CD and Free Hearts through the Seed Commons Network). In collaboration with the NET Fund, we also host Co-op Cafés throughout the year which work to bring together community members in all stages and interest levels of cooperative development.

intro to cooperatives (co-ops)

Our Intro to Co-ops sessions are hour and a half long learning sessions that introduce community members to the history and possibility of worker-owned co-ops. Most often, these are done virtually and recorded for participants. You can check out a previous session here.

CO-OP ACADEMY

Co-op Academy is our flagship intensive training and support program that takes place over the course of 7 months that helps teams of aspiring entrepreneurs develop worker-owned businesses together. It’s a business boot camp for cooperative start-ups! The program includes synchronous in-person and online training options, intensive 1:1s with experts in the field, a panel with existing cooperatives in the Tennessee area, and the opportunity to apply for non-extractive financial services.

You can SIGN UP for the upcoming 2025 Coop-Academy here.

Read more about our 2023 Co-op Academy here!

Spring 2023 Co-op Academy

STRONG CO-OP SERIES

The Strong Co-ops Series are individual trainings designed to support building and maintaining knowledge for the purposes of personal and professional development. These training sessions are diverse in content and targeted towards co-ops in all stages of development including first-time learners and experienced cooperators. These trainings allow us to reach more people than just those that are able to attend full courses as well as keep in touch with those who have gone through other courses and strengthen skills they learned there.

Review the takeaways from past trainings:

co-op café

Co-op Cafés are an opportunity for community members in Tennessee to meet, network, and learn about cooperative development in the Southeast. Each time, we feature a short presentation on various topics like non-extractive lending or an emerging cooperative. We host them regularly in Nashville, and periodically across the state.

FIRE

FIRE (Formerly Incarcerated Re-entry Entrepreneurship) is a program targeted to provide job creation and business ownership opportunities for our formerly incarcerated community members who face challenges in employment, housing and education upon integrating back into the community.  Our goal is to reduce recidivism by developing real options for meaningful reentry, and is especially focused on the 37208 zip code community, with plans to expand the model throughout the state.

Growing Programs

The programs listed below are projections of future growth for SEC4CD. If they interest you, we are always looking for funding and people capacity to help encourage their growth.

Preservation of Legacy Enterprises (POLE)

This cooperative conversion program will aim to provide business owners who wish to exit their business (for whatever reason) a viable option of preserving the entity, by selling to the workers. We will offer a range of services (from culture assessment, valuation, introduction of participatory management, open book management, to governance development and democratic decision-making training) to assist in reaching a conversion decision and assisting in the transition if conversion is chosen.

Cooperative Real Estate and Economic Development (CREED)

This program will provide cooperative training and support to residents seeking affordable housing and real estate developments via a model of collective ownership and control. Our aim is to affordably acquire and develop the properties, and permanently remove them from the speculative markets so that they remain affordable.

We educate residents about the cooperative options which are available and conduct listening sessions to determine if a cooperative model fits their needs. If a cooperative model is chosen, we will work with a collaborative team of nonprofits to develop the properties and we assist the residents in developing the legal structure, governance, democratic processes, ownership agreements, and operating plan. The foundation for this program is underway with the Barnes Fund allocating $7mil. to housing cooperatives in December of 2022, which you can read about here. 

works of faith

This program is an aid to guide the faith community in working more directly at building a just economy. Recognizing that the exploitation and extraction of our current economic system is counter to our faith traditions, Works of Faith will support and facilitate the engagement of people of the faith community in creating "opportunities to improve both the material and spiritual lives of congregations and their communities through empowerment of working people, cooperative entrepreneurship, and the creation of social ventures." A CIT Toolkit is already provided as a resource on our website to help explore the concept of transforming our churches and communities for liberation through the economic empowerment and democracy of cooperatives and working in solidarity.