Transforming Communities Through Developing Cooperative Leaders
CFNE’s Co-op Navigator Fellowship has proven to be a catalyst for change, supporting a cohort of five Black, Latine, and South Asian fellows who launched new co-ops, built community networks, and expanded the cooperative economy’s visibility. With CFNE’s training and coaching, fellows advanced culturally relevant projects that are leaving a lasting mark in their communities.
Highlights from the past year:
- New Co-ops & Coalitions: Fellows launched businesses, organized state-level alliances, and created grassroots academies for co-op education.
- Culturally Rooted Tools: Indigenous-led resources, oral histories, and evergreen guides are now supporting rural and BIPOC communities in Maine.
- Anchoring Community Work: Fellowship projects attracted new funding, and created infrastructure that will sustain co-op growth far beyond the program.
A Fellowship Built for Localized Impact
The program’s structure ensured fellows could thrive as leaders while staying rooted in their communities.
What made this fellowship unique:
- Living-Wage Support: Stipends and benefits enabled fellows to focus on organizing without sacrificing stability.
- Cohort Model: Peer retreats, study circles, and shared learning built accountability and mutual support.
- Tailored Coaching: Embedded advising connected fellows and host sites to national and regional co-op resources.
The results have been powerful: fellows gained confidence and focus in their leadership, while host sites grew into stronger anchors for BIPOC cooperative development.
Building Lasting Change
Perhaps most exciting, the work continues to grow. Many of the initiatives launched through the fellowship are now continuing outside of the program:
- A self-organizing network of BIPOC farmers scaling across the Northeast to connect with urban food markets.
- State-level alliances in Rhode Island and Connecticut have secured funding and new partnerships.
- Fellows and host sites now serve as anchors and connectors, expanding the cooperative ecosystem’s reach.
The past three years have proven that with the right structure, support, and relationships, grassroots co-op leaders can make a transformative impact on historically disinvested communities. The Co-op Navigator Fellowship grows not just individual co-op businesses, but leaders, networks, and infrastructure—laying the foundation for a more just and cooperative economy.
Download the Executive Summary of our Impact Report and sign-up to receive the full report when it’s released here.