Here are some potential powerful questions I would ask Chloe and responses I might get: 1. What inspired your team's vision for a chocolate-covered snail café? - We took a field trip to the snail ecology lab and were fascinated by their research. We think campus would be interested in learning more about snails through tasty treats! 2. What strengths and resources does your team bring that will help make this vision a reality? - Our recipes have been a big hit at Fine Dining Club events. The food services manager is excited to work with student entrepreneurs. The lab intern can educate customers about snail ecology. 3. What are some potential challenges and how can your team address them?

1. CoFED FTC p. 1
Regional Organizer Fellowship
Training Companion
And so begins your journey building the food justice and cooperative movements with
CoFED as one of the first Regional Organizer Fellows.
To train and support you as a champion of these movements, our goal as the CoFED admin
team is for you as Regional Organizer Fellows (aka, “RO Fellows” or simply “ROs”) to gain
the knowledge and skills you need to become qualified organizers.
This training companion is a tool and reference for you to engage, facilitate, and support
student teams starting and running cooperative food enterprises on campuses. It presents
our program, curriculum, and best practices for leadership and enterprise development.
On the Fellowship journey, this training companion is your point of departure. And along
the way, the majority of your training comes through hands-on experience, and your
most valuable insights will come from getting the work done. We view training as making
unconscious competencies – the skills and knowledge we own but might take for granted
– accessible to others. And because CoFED workers care for and support one another, this
companion offers guidance rather than instruction. In other words, we will make the path
by walking and talking together, learning and sharing as we move forward.
This training companion is protected for public benefit under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

2. CoFED FTC p. 2
This training companion is layered in
sections like an onion, and you will
cry tears of joy over its simplicity!
First, the idea captures the idea behind CoFED in terms of its origins and the
vision, mission and values, and impact. This frames the work of developing
student leaders as well as food co-ops in a systematic, effective way. This
motivates the job for Regional Organizer Fellows, an outline of your role and
responsibilities in carrying out this work as well as expectations for performance
and results. These three layers explain how your job and the work achieve
CoFED’s mission. This leads to the skills you will develop and use. The toolbox
contains links to essential tools and documents. The glossary defines key terms.
Last but not least, the acknowledgements give thanks and credit where due.
1. the idea
origin and vision
mission and values
impact
2. the work
student power
telling y/our story
organizing builds power
asking powerful questions
power maps
3. the job
your role
your responsibilities
i ) cultivating relationships for
movement building
ii ) facilitating student team progress
iii ) supporting your peers, assisting
the organization
expectations
cultivate quality relationships
bring your full self
membership
network benefits
consulting services
4. skills
community organizing and leadership
communication
interaction
engagement
cooperative development
two types of co-op development:
clubs and enterprises
team/organizational evolution in 3 phases
the school year as a 4-part cycle
drawing lessons from experience
5. toolbox
working with student teams
planning and management
reporting, supporting, and evaluation
6. glossary
7. acknowledgements

3. CoFED FTC p. 3
the idea
What are some images and
impressions that come to mind
as you read this section? Take a
few moments to note them.
origin and vision
CoFED literally hit the road as a road
trip up the Pacific coast in 2010 by
a few recent college graduates to
explore student co-ops on campuses.
These students were part of a group
at UC Berkeley that had successfully
protested a corporate fast food chain
from moving into their student center
by proposing an alternative – their own
student-run grocery store selling “real
food” (see glossary) to the campus
community. Like other (but not all)
student teams in their situation, they
reached out for advice and learned
valuable lessons from awesome, like-
minded people and initiatives.
The road trip was the first step toward
building a self-sustaining network and
training program. The vision emerging
was to empower student teams to
learn and share from one another
across the continent in shifting their
campus culture and building their own
career future by starting and running
a food co-op. This drew inspiration
and energy from groups such as the
Flaming Eggplant Café at Evergreen
State College, founded as a pair of food
trailers in 2007 before moving into a
permanent location, to the Maryland
Food Collective, initially a sandwich line
in 1975 and now a full-service cafeteria.
Soon after the road trip, CoFED
launched as a national nonprofit with
grassroot allies and support from
Michael Pollan, Bill McKibben, and
many others. In 2010, we convened
several dozen stakeholders for our
first strategic planning session, setting
goals for the next 2 years. And in
2011, we recruited a volunteer cohort
of Regional Organizers. 2012 saw
our first full-time staff, elected Board
of Directors, and a second cohort
of Regional Organizers. Highlights
among student teams include raising
start-up capital, securing spaces for
cafés and grocery storefronts, and
getting out of the red. The first café we
supported from its inception opened at
Northern New Mexico College.
Now, in the summer of 2013, CoFED
runs a network and training program
that supports nearly 30 student teams
starting or operating cooperative,
sustainable food ventures, and we’re
conducting a pilot program to support
healthy food access and enterprise
development training at community
colleges. We hired our first Executive
Director, increased our program staff,
and expanded our membership and
mentors network. And, we hired our
third cohort of Regional Organizers as
part of our “Fellowship” program.
The idea for a fellowship emerged in
January 2012. And in January 2013,
reflecting on challenges CoFED
faced in systematic, effective work
and the need for emerging talent
in the cooperative and food justice
movements, we decided to evolve
our Regional Organizer program to
provide early-career experience and
professional development to aspiring
future leaders – that’s you! We did
so by improving training, increasing
support, developing more valuable
resources, and recruitin more mentors.
We expect that you and your fellow
Regional Organizer “Fellows” (not to
be confused with “fellas”) will engage,
facilitate, and support student teams
with great success.
Today, our vision is clearer than when
we began. We see a powerful, self-
sustaining network of young leaders
with diverse backgrounds and skill
sets. These leaders are committed
to creating thriving cooperative
food enterprises. They organize and
nourish the people and communities
involved, and they confront all forms
of oppression that exploit and harm
the food system. Students working
in these projects develop their own
agency and are empowered to create a
more cooperative, localized economy
rooted in social justice. We believe
this is a uniquely educational and
transformation experience.
Before diving into the training, it’s important to set the context by introducing
you to how the idea for a Regional Organizer Fellowship program came
about. This section introduces you to CoFED as an organization in a
movement – its origin and vision, mission and values, and impact.
1.

4. CoFED FTC p. 4
In working towards our mission, we strive for these values:
Along with our mission statement, these values shape
why and how we exist. They guide how we work together
internally and how we express our work externally.
Through campus food co-ops, students find their
community and their future career. And by the time
students leave school, they have valuable skills to continue
this work almost anywhere – especially if they demonstrate
leadership by building bridges for new champions in a
team capable of thriving even further. With this approach,
the annual challenge of turnover becomes our opportunity
for developing leaders and co-op enterprises.
Over time, members of student teams graduate to take
leadership positions in CoFED or elsewhere, CoFED
regional organizers move on to work in cooperatives
and food justice, and mentors and allies bring value and
validation to these young leaders in the cooperative and
food justice movements. With your help, their vision
becomes CoFED’s vision.
mission and values
Our mission statement, the main purpose for our organization, is:
CoFED cultivates a sustainable, community oriented culture
through college campuses. We support and equip emerging
leaders to become active owners of thriving, cooperatively-
run food enterprises.
impact
Our impact is how our vision, mission, and values makes
a positive difference in reality. CoFED networks and trains
students starting and running cooperative food enterprises.
Our program invests in two connected efforts: developing
future leaders in the food justice and cooperative movements,
both students and Fellows, and developing cooperative food
enterprises on campuses.
Campus food co-ops in almost any form begin shifting values
in society at-large. Here, students gain an ‘acquired taste’
for food justice and cooperation, many for the first time.
Every person brings their knowledge, skills, and passions to
their peers. Together, they learn about inclusivity and anti-
oppression as fundamental to their success as a collective.
Through creative consensus-building as a team, they
reconcile mission statements and profit margins. And they
have fun making friends, making food, and forming their
identity around their work. Each café or grocery storefront
is a literal and figurative ‘space’ (and each food truck is a
‘vehicle’) for this meaningful, lasting experience. Clearly,
this work is about much more than organizing, starting, and
running food co-ops.
Think of real-life examples where each of
CoFED’s values enhanced your work & life.
Highlight one or two that matter
most to you and share them.
Memorize the mission statement, recognize
your understanding of it, and practice sharing it.
Using colloquial, conversational terms, explain
to a peer why you’re working with CoFED.
Then, try doing it in less than 20 seconds!

5. CoFED FTC p. 5
the work
This section explains how CoFED works towards our mission. Drawing on a wealth of
organizing theory and practice from our experience, it explains the nature of student
power and how we build it generally. After Section 3 introduces the job itself, Sections 4
and 5 offer specific skills and tools, including useful frameworks to guide you in this work.
student power
History is full of world-changing events moved forward
by student power. The free speech movement in the 60’s
stemming from protests at UC Berkeley is perhaps the
most famous story of all. It is less known that South
African students organizing since the 50’s for divestment
against apartheid was a major weapon in prompting
international action to end it decades later. Today, students
campaigning for campus divestment from fossil fuels are
poised to win dozens of pledges. As a Regional Organizer
Fellow with CoFED, your role revolves around student
power in the context of student-led food co-ops.
telling your story
How might we build a better future for food and the
economy? What does that look like, and how does it
unfold? Who are the main figures, and what are their roles?
CoFED is telling a story to many audiences, including
new and familiar students, food justice and cooperative
mentors, donors, media, and more. This involves you
telling your own story.
Storytelling often has a moral at its heart. The “moral of
the story” is an expression of why certain values are right,
and it becomes clear at a defining moment of choice for
the main character. According to Marshall Ganz, a United
Farm Workers organizer in the 60’s who later advised
Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, stories
require a certain narrative structure for their morals to
have an effect. Specifically, stories require an articulation of
the challenge, some sources of hope, and a path forward.
In organizing, storytelling ultimately becomes a matter
of creating a larger narrative for individual stories which
guides how we learn to take action and reflect collectively.
As an organizer, knowing your story, students’ stories,
and CoFED’s story is vital because it creates common
understanding of the power at hand and how it can make
a difference. The story of your own path leading up to
becoming a Regional Organizer Fellow answers important
questions about why you do this work. One way or another,
your story will come out in the course of interacting with
others. The culmination of our work involves students
running lasting co-ops, but the process of organizing and
developing a food co-op is enriching in itself and a major
part of the story for students, RO Fellows, and others.
Intentionally making connections between your story and
others is essential to effective organizing because bringing
these stories together building student power.
2.
Students may ask, “How can I do good work for
food justice?” or “Who is CoFED and why do you
want to help me?” or even “What will it take for my
team to listen to each other?”
Come up with responses to these questions using
vivid anecdotes and compelling explanations. Try
framing them within CoFED’s larger narrative.

6. CoFED FTC p. 6
organizing builds power
Organizing is a process involving people, their stories, and a shared narrative. It
should be clear by now that organizing is more than scheduling activities!
We define organizing as developing the leadership of people in a community in
order to build relationships and power with them for the goal of moving the world
as it is toward the world as it ought to be.
We define power as the potential to create change using our collective abilities
and assets. Power can be built and used in good or bad ways. There is power
“with” people, and then there is power “over” them.
In working towards CoFED’s mission, we have come to uphold certain organizing
principles to build and use power for good:
• ROs train their replacements.
The ideal outcome is for you to teach students what you know so that they
might succeed you as a future RO Fellow!
• CoFED puts the student perspective first.
The rich and diverse population of students and teams are the primary
source of the on-the-ground local knowledge in the network.
• Students take the center of our education.
In our efforts developing leaders and co-ops, we work in service of
students bringing their visions into reality.
Think of scenarios in which individual,
organizational, and cultural power works either
“with” or “over” others.
Then, imagine how the organizing principles above
might encourage the use of power “with” people.

7. CoFED FTC p. 7
asking powerful questions
Organizing is best grounded in deep listening. And to direct your efforts, you
must ask powerful questions, the kind that tend to travel far and wide from their
origin, prompting people to talk and listen to one another.
The questions you ask as part of early and ongoing dialogue with a student team
will enhance your working relationship. Because students might not think to ask
for help, you can and should be proactive by posing powerful questions.
Like the students themselves, you’ll want a better understanding of long-term
vision, near-term goals, and needs from CoFED and the network. Student re-
sponses to these questions reveal opportunities for training and support with
other teams regionally or nationally because problems and solutions can be iden-
tified and figured out collaboratively. Chances are high that another student team
has successfully worked through that very issue in interesting ways. (Note that
key questions you might ask students and others are implicit in the tools we’ve
created; see the appendix to learn more.)
According to the tradition of “appreciative inquiry,” there are 3 dimensions to
consider in asking questions:
Construction – how the question is built, shaping its power to provoke
thoughtful exploration and creative thinking.
Scope – the domain for effective action in a larger system, where interest
meets experience.
Assumptions – the beliefs in language, implicit and explicit. Forward-looking
questions that assume we can learn from action and imagine possibilities are
generally more powerful than those that look backwards to place blame for a
fix-it approach that continues the course.
Imagine a student team dreaming of starting a café that only sells chocolate-covered snails.
A student named Chloe emails you in September, introducing the idea and explaining the
team has a recipes as well as connections to the campus food services manager, a snail
ecology lab intern, and the Fine Dining Club president. She believes her team can open and
turn a profit in eight months, and asks you for help finding seed funding.
How would you approach this situation? With a partner, come up with questions you
would ask and responses you might get.

8. CoFED FTC p. 8
power maps
Much like power naps, power maps can quickly refresh your perspective.
Power maps are used in trainings with individual teams to view the connections
and resources they have access to in terms of power and influence. They provide
a clear snapshot of the relevant people, assets, and institutions and the nature of
relationships that connect them. The best power map is one that minimally yet
sufficiently represents the situation. This makes it easier to create a strategy and
goals for action.
Power maps are introduced here because they answer powerful questions, and they
can literally illustrate the work you’ll do with CoFED. If you have basic information
about a situation, and you can draw shapes and lines, you can create a useful power
map using the following steps:
1. Describe the situation as a challenge or opportunity facing a particular
group or community
2. Select a target that the group or community must influence to benefit
from the challenge or opportunity
• Targets are individuals making major decisions or holding power and
are often affiliated with a group or institution
3. Using creative, strategic, and thorough brainstorming, compose a list of
people associated with the target
• For each person, describe the nature of their association with the target
• Circle the people on that list you know
• If you know someone through a connection, add that person to the list, too!
4. On paper, draw the target as a shape and all other people you listed around it
• Use different shapes to represent the target, allies, and opponents
• Write names group or institution affiliations next
5. Then, draw arrows to illustrate relationships between all entities
• Use dashed or double lines to indicate the degree of influence with the target
• Use arrowheads to indicate the direction of influence to the target
6. Finally, assess your map and devise a course of action to influence the target
Draw a power map of the student team keen on a cafe selling
chocolate-covered snails. You may introduce other imaginary
people and information to make the map more realistic.
Present your map to a peer and explain how it aids your
perspective as a Regional Organizer Fellow. Then, discuss any
strategic plans it inspires for you and the student team!

9. CoFED FTC p. 9
Your position is central to CoFED as a whole.
Regional Organizer Fellows carry out CoFED’s most
significant work on the ground in student leadership and
enterprise development, the two main outcomes of our
program. CoFED also makes its impact and realizes its
vision through the efforts of RO Fellows. Workers in the
administrative team contribute mainly by providing training,
support, and other functions that enhance, empower, and
enable RO efforts. Members of the Board of Directors
guide and govern the organization as a whole. The Board
is composed of six student representatives, one from each
region, and five advisors from the relevant backgrounds and
professions. The Board is majority students and has a strong
voice on behalf of the larger student network.
Before detailing aspects of your role and responsibilities, it
is important to emphasize that they are rooted in work with
student teams but go far above and beyond. Your professional
development is both an opportunity for you and vital for
CoFED as a learning organization. This involves working with
a small team in a fast-paced environment where your ideas
and input are valued, as articulated at the end of this section.
You’ll build skills and knowledge in all of the key areas
outlined in the following section. You’ll have exposure to
consensus decision-making and non-violent communication
and anti-oppression in action. And as part of your ongoing
training and support, you’ll have time and space to think
about personal commitments and goals, receive stipends to
attend relevant food and cooperative conferences, and form
connections to mentors and partner organizations.
the job
This section focuses into the job itself. It explains the nature of your
role and the structure of your main responsibilities, and it clarifies key
expectations for doing the work and for bringing our full selves to CoFED.
It concludes with membership, network benefits, and consulting services.
engage, facilitate,
& support
train & support
guide & govern
Board of
Directors
Admin Team
Regional
Organizer
Fellows
Pacific
Northwest
California
Midwest
Northeast
Mid-Atlantic
Southeast
replacerepresent
3.

10. CoFED FTC p. 10
your role
The RO Fellows’ role is to build and utilize a “solidarity
network” of students and allies that comes together to
empower student teams. This mainly involves interactions
with students in teams, mentors who support you and the
students, and other allies in the region and nationally as
well as your CoFED co-workers!
Students are your primary focus.
This involves your direct, one-on-one connections to
student teams (in-person meetings, campus visits, calls,
and email) and multi-directional connections among
many teams (regional retreats and convergences, national
summits, team-to-team and region-wide calls, national
webinars, regional and national newsletters and other
correspondence, and everyone’s favorite: social media). In
terms of your capacity and ability, you’ll do best to invest in
teams that show promise and demonstrate commitment.
Typically, each Regional Organizer Fellow has worked
closely with 5-7 teams and loosely with a handful of other
teams around the region. This will inevitably include a
mix of new start-up teams and groups running clubs or
enterprises that are relatively established.
Mentors and allies help you as well as the students.
Many individuals in cooperative, food justice, organizing,
and beyond bring value and validation to student clubs and
enterprises as well as you as Regional Organizer Fellows.
Many past CoFED workers have benefited in their work
and their own professional development from them as
mentors. As mentors, these individuals commit to light,
occasional support in the form of a few short calls or brief
emails, generally less than 2 hours per month. If a little
extra guidance or assistance is needed when working with
students, mentors may be able to lend expertise in areas
ranging from cooperative structure to food sourcing to
event planning. Mentors also act as professional coaches
to RO Fellows as young leaders in this movement. They
can also provide professional development opportunities,
insofar as the RO is able to make further connections in
the field, and can work more closely with a few mentors to
find guidance and inspiration for their work and careers.
Administrative staff do their best to connect fellows with
CoFED alum and other allied organizations to provide
more networks and tools for movement building.
your responsibilities
Everything about the job flows smoothly once you
understand your three main responsibilities.
The first responsibility, cultivating relationships, is a matter
of engaging individual students as emerging leaders. The
second, facilitating progress, is a matter of empowering
students and their teams with networking and consulting
to reach their goals and succeed in their cooperative food
ventures. These two responsibilities are interdependent
because quality relationships are fundamental to students
utilizing insights they gain! They also parallel because
developing leaders in teams and developing projects
into enterprises happen simultaneously. The third,
supporting students by supporting your peers, assists
CoFED in helping learn and share with others so we can
bring our whole selves to this work. Taking these three
responsibilities together, you will organize students
and develop them as leaders through the experience of
successfully starting and running their campus food co-op.
You can summarize your main responsibilities in three
words:
• engage
• facilitate
• support
i ) cultivating relationships for
movement building
The purpose of cultivating relationships is engaging with
students and teams in order to connect them to the food
justice and cooperative movements through CoFED, where
they have opportunities to develop as leaders.
You will develop skills in community organizing and
leadership (a word you may be hearing a lot this year!).
Here are several important goals for cultivating
relationships:
• Engage with students, grow and deepen relationships
with individuals and teams, between CoFED and
student leaders, and among student leaders,
mentors, and others
• Orient all efforts to serve the movement that
members are building, rather than the organization
that our membership is supporting, especially in
sharing visions and goals among teams and lessons
from successful and failed efforts

11. CoFED FTC p. 11
• Weave inspiration and education into relationships
with students through direct coaching, events, and
broader network connections including mentors and
other allies
• Create strong relationships with mentors and allied
organizations to facilitate further development of an
expert knowledge base and support system to guide
the student movement
Key activities you’ll carry out to reach those goals include:
• Conducting as many quality site visits as possible to
campuses to meet with individual student teams
• Conducting a series of movement-building events
through the year
• Co-creating a mutually-agreeable action plan with
each team
• Maintaining contact with students in-person and
through phone and email
• Maintaining institutional memory about each team in
team profiles and running notes
• Appearing at public forums such as conferences and
celebrations and other networking opportunities
• Connecting with and network together regional
Mentors Network and other allied organizations
ii ) facilitating student team progress
The purpose of facilitating student team progress is to
empower students to realize their collective vision for their
cooperative enterprise. This consists of delivering member
benefits in meaningful, lasting ways.
You will develop skills in cooperative development and
food business at all stages of student team evolution.
The goal here is to make your best efforts in service of
students making their dream become a reality on their own
terms.
Key activities you’ll carry out to reach that goal include:
• Providing guidance for each team as they evolve their
vision for their project
• Providing support for teams as they go about
implementing their action plans
• Connecting student teams to other CoFED workers
for business skills and systems trainings
• Connecting student teams to relevant resources and
local consultants and facilitating trainings
• Delivering CoFED’s member benefits to student
teams and encouraging them to consider
membership
iii ) supporting your peers,
assisting the organization
The purpose of supporting students by supporting your
peers is to improve CoFED’s institutional capacity and
infrastructure, and to foster worker ownership of CoFED to
meet individual and collective interests and needs.
You will develop skills in anti-oppression teamwork and
nonviolent communication, asking powerful questions,
and other talents that foster and facilitate listening and
learning.
The goal here is to lift up your coworkers, build capacity,
and nurture a healthier, more sustainable organization.
Key activities you’ll carry out to reach that goal include:
• Participating in peer support and education with
other workers
• Preparing for and occasionally facilitating all-staff
calls, care & support calls, and other calls
• Discussing activities and accomplishments regularly
as well as reporting them at the end of each month
• Conducting self- and peer-evaluations and reviews
with workers every three months
• Working on at least one committee (governance,
finance, visioning, personnel, programming, or
development)
Finding an appropriate balance for RO work on matters
not directly related to students is actually a critical area to
improve RO work overall. The responsibilities to engage
and facilitate are obviously the highest priority for the RO
Fellows, whereas participating in support and professional
development with other workers is an ongoing process.
Getting your work done is the primary way to support your
peers, hands-down! Beyond that, you can support your
peers and your own efforts in significant ways. CoFED’s
overall health and growth owes a great deal to the time
and effort we invest in supporting peers and serving on
committees. Participating in worker meetings and calls as
well as committee work increases how informed and aware
you’ll become of what’s going on, building overall trust and
identity within CoFED, and providing constructive ways
for RO Fellows to engage with and be empowered within
organizational structure and policy. Similarly, participating
in discussions or working on various projects provides
avenues for meaningful opportunities for applying and
developing more complex skills.

12. CoFED FTC p. 12
expectations
cultivate quality relationships
First, the core expectation is that we build and strengthen
quality relationships with student teams.
A simple indicator we use to evaluate quality relationships
is the number of “utilized insights” they enable. You’ll know
you’ve been successful in making an impact through your
organizing wherever a student team applies a lesson they’ve
learned from being involved in CoFED.
To meet and exceed this expectation – that is, to build
and strengthen quality relationships through which
student teams utilize insights – you will have to use good
judgement in carrying out the activities to engage, facilitate,
and support.
Becoming an effective organizer means improving your
judgement through action and reflection. You (and your
peers) might ask, Was there sufficient registration at
events or visits you conduct? Has there been appropriate
participation among members of a team beyond the
liaisons? At the end of the day, are students enjoying their
efforts and celebrating small, sweet successes?
bring your full self
Second, a general expectation is that everyone brings their
full self to the work and has the full respect of others.
We recognize that everyone has their own unique style,
and we view organizing as a matter of both style and
substance. Self-expression is encouraged and diversity
is celebrated wherever it connects your work to CoFED’s
mission. Bringing your whole self helps you prioritize your
responsibilities as well as carry out activities to fulfill them.
The expectation of bringing your full self also relates to
evaluating performance. Evaluation is based on how you’ve
performed on the work you planned to do for student
leadership and co-op enterprise development. Everyone is
accountable to fulfilling their responsibilities in alignment
with co-workers and the organization, and everyone ought
to feel comfortable communicating their needs. The
goal is mutual understanding and compassion. In any
situation where it becomes difficult or challenging to carry
out activities, or any time a need gets miscommunicated,
workers ought to feel safe and secure asking for support or
care.

13. CoFED FTC p. 13
membership
We’ve reduced and summarized the value we can offer to
the teams we work with and who join CoFED as members.
Our member benefits are categorized into network benefits
and consulting services. These categories parallel the RO
Fellow’s main responsibilities of cultivating relationships
and facilitating student team progress. RO Fellows offer
these services with the support of administrative staff.
This section is intended for you to understand and
internalize them so you can communicate what CoFED
offers and, with training, deliver on them with competence
and confidence. As you tell your story in a way that explains
why you do this work and listen to students share theirs,
elements of network benefits and consulting services can be
introduced. It is essential to present the “value” of CoFED
and the rationale for joining membership not in terms of
fees for services, but in terms of solidarity in a movement
of peers, supporters (that’s you, the Regional Organizer
Fellow!), mentors, allies... and future students, too.
network benefits
cooperative principle #6,
“cooperation among cooperatives”
CoFED unites people who believe in a better future through
cooperatives, sustainable food and agriculture, and student
empowerment. Becoming a member of CoFED means
participating in a network of students, mentors, and CoFED
workers that are actively sharing ideas, learning lessons,
and forming powerful relationships to make this movement
thrive. These cooperative enterprises not only add value
in tasty nutritious food, but also in the relationships that
connect us within our communities and with other coopera-
tives. Here are some of the network benefits CoFED pro-
vides to students:
• Access to “The Share” of best practices, templates,
and policies uploaded by students nationally.
• Access to resources CoFED has developed, such as
“How to Start a Food Co-op,” “How to Operate a Food
Co-op,” and other helpful guides and video tutorials.
• Access to student team profiles through our website.
• Events to build regional identity and national solidarity
networks: summer retreats, regional convergences,
winter summits, and casual gatherings and 25% off
registration price for events.
• Access to publicity and outreach through our
communications platforms; online social media,
newsletter, email blasts, etc., and assistance with
strategic communications to grow your presence in
your community.
• Access to CoFED’s Mentors Network, advisory
board, partner organizations, cooperative business
development centers, and other allies.
• Facilitated networking and communication as directed
by the teams: blog, shared event calendar, listserv,
conference calls, regional newsletters, etc.
• Interning with CoFED to earn academic credit and/or
work on co-op projects.
• The Co-op-to-Co-op Exchange: peer-mentoring calls,
webinars, skillshares, and in-person co-op tours
• Nominate, vote, and/or serve as a student member on
CoFED’s Board of Directors.
• Participation in recruiting, interviewing, and hiring
your RO Fellow with the admin team’s support.
consulting services
cooperative principle #5,
“education, training, and information”
Students are capable of anything they set their mind to!
However if a student team ever wants more guidance
through our resources or ongoing support through
challenges or major steps, you and other Regional
Organizer Fellows are only a phone call away and can even
visit to talk in person or facilitate a workshop. Creating an
action plan can also generate a clear view of how student
teams intends to make progress with CoFED’s support so
that they know what services and resources to develop and
how to deliver them appropriately. Our consulting services
provides the education, training, and information to start
a cooperative venture or to improve an already thriving
enterprise. As examples of what students might request
support in, below are topics that CoFED workers and/or
CoFED’s professional network have assisted with.

14. CoFED FTC p. 14
For teams dreaming up a co-op, starting a cooperative
enterprise requires organizing, planning, campaigning,
fundraising, plus ongoing reflection and action.
• Group Visioning and Planning: When students are
just starting out, it’s sometimes hard to know what
first step to take. We can help facilitate groups finding
a common vision and crafting a plan to make real
change on campus. Student creativity has no bounds,
and we can offer guidance by sharing best practices
and histories of cooperatives in the CoFED network.
• Market Research and Business planning: Once
students find consensus around a vision, one of the
more nuanced tasks is creating a business plan. It’s
not complicated, but it can be intimidating the first
time. We’ll show you how to create a robust, profitable
business plan with a purposeful mission and the
community’s interest at heart.
• Cooperative Education as a Means to build a Team
and Community: What exactly is a co-op and why is
any team interested in starting one? What are the
benefits of a cooperative to a community? We can
paint the inspiregizing picture of how cooperative
efforts weave into a long history of struggle for a more
cooperative world.
• Working with College Administration and Corporate
Food Service Provider: Who are allies and what are the
roadblocks to organizing on campus? We can show
the power of “power mapping” college administration
and help problem solve how to get around roadblocks
like corporate food service providers.
For teams wanting to strengthen their co-op, improving a
cooperative enterprise requires analyzing governance, opera-
tions, finances, etc.
• Radical Cooperative Organizational Development:
Creating a good foundation for student teams is
necessary to function well for those participating.
All organizations need to think about systems of
accountability, organizational structure, internal
communication, and institutional memory. We can
help develop radical practices, procedures, and
policies around these issues to make student teams
happy and healthy.
• Meeting skills: Facilitation and Consensus Training:
Do students experience painfully long or purposeless
group meetings? Are people leaving the meeting
feeling drained and unhappy with the decisions made?
We can help by training on facilitation and meeting
fundamentals, as well as how to use effective and
inclusive consensus models as a decision-making tool.
Remember, consensus is a means, not an end!
• Menu Planning & Sourcing: Ready to really go local?
Having trouble keeping steady inventory? Is the weekly
soup not as enticing as hoped for? We have worked
in the restaurant biz and understand how to serve the
kind of food you want in your price range. We have
done sourcing research for teams in order to connect
them to new producers, distributors, and experts who
have their finger on the pulse on food in their region.
• Keeping Out of the Red: Budgeting & Pricing: Nothing
is more vexing than a loveable workplace that can’t
seem to make it financially sustainable. We can help
design systems to manage money and keep out of the
red.

15. CoFED FTC p. 15
skills
The main skills you need to do your job fall into two categories:
community organizing and leadership, and cooperative development
and food business. This section offers guidelines, frameworks, and
best practices for these two skill sets.
community organizing
and leadership
Some people appear to be gifted organizers and natural
leaders. They seem intuitive, versatile, and endlessly
responsive. One-on-one or in a crowd, they build power
with people effortlessly. In reality, organizing is a continual
learning profession for everyone. Even the most “natural”
organizers require ongoing training.
communication
Building and strengthening working relationships with stu-
dents depends on interpersonal communication, an art that
can be applied to all of your work. Your use of communica-
tion can make – or break – your connection. The following
are some best practices:
• Listen at least as much as you talk
• Be interested and appreciative by asking questions
• Be truthful and humble
• Know your competence and confidence
• Strive for clarity and simplicity
interaction
Interactions can range in scope and scale from emails,
phonecalls, and meet-ups to workshops and regional
gatherings. Below are key goals for interactions followed by
some best practices.
Your general goal is to create space where students feel
comfortable discussing challenges and announcing
successes with you, their RO Fellow.
• Pose questions and think of what can be learned
• Synthesize and feed back what you hear to verify
• Offer well-motivated recommendations
• Maintain constant, consistent presence in a pattern
students become familiar with
Prior to interaction, your goal is to know your audience.
• Consult your notes and check in with co-workers to
(re-)orient yourself to where the team is at
• Come up with straightforward intentions
· In face-to-face or phone conversations, start by
explaining your objective
· In email, compose concise, self-explanatory
subject lines
• Prepare and propose agenda item(s) ahead of time,
inviting modifications and additions
At the beginning of an interaction, your goal is to
communicate a sense of purpose.
• Do friendly, authentic check-ins so people become
included in the space
• Recognize action items as they emerge from
discussions and decisions
• If an action item is fair, frame it in an aspirational
and supportive way, e.g., “What can I do to make
[the action item] work?”
In closing an interaction, your goal is to communicate a
plan for what comes next.
• Do de-briefs to summarize actions agreed to
• Do genuine close-outs to leave the space with
appreciation and joy
• Make follow-ups within 2-3 days if possible, and
absolutely within a week!
4.

16. CoFED FTC p. 16
engagement
Many organizers begin by asking “How can we offer clear
opportunities for students to act on their interests?”
This section begins to answer that question with a
progressive flow for organizing, an evolutionary process
through which you develop student leaders.
We define leadership as taking responsibility for enabling
others to achieve shared purpose that lasts in the face of
transition and uncertainty. As said earlier, this is essential
for team sustainability and success, and for meaningful,
lasting experience in food justice and cooperation.
Engagement serves the express purpose of fostering
commitment with students. We constantly strive to do this
in an anti-oppressive and empowering way by “meeting
them where they’re at” along the way to becoming a leader.
Each action we take in organizing has a leadership value
for the student and CoFED.
Effective organizing depends on having a working
knowledge of the which students you work with are at
what level of engagement. Taking this student-centric
perspective prevents organizing tendencies that may
privilege the initiative (campaign, event, etc.) or effort
behind it (program, nonprofit, etc.) over the people. Here
are a few lessons learned to keep in mind:
• Some students want to be leaders to serve their
peers and build the movement more than others
• All students feel different commitment to action
• Most students mainly trust other students
• You can relate to students because you are still
similar to them and likely once had their perspective
• You will be pleasantly surprised with what you learn by
asking students why they are interested in the work
• Activate student leadership potential by having them
demonstrate and communicate it to the world –
classic show & tell
• Presenting a challenge or opportunity for students to
act attracts more than it repels
• Good work speaks for itself, and when students see
you demonstrate your commitment to them and
deliver on your promises, they will reciprocate!
• The full trajectory for students teams to establish
a sustainable student team takes 2-4 years, so
continuity is paramount
The training here is grounded primarily in a framework
called a ladder of engagement.
This framework takes a student-centric view of organizing,
which helps you stay accountability to your constituency, the
students.
The logic behind the ladder of engagement tool works as
follows:
1. The natural level of student commitment determines
your goal for engagement any level
2. Based on that goal, CoFED as an organization
provides certain opportunities for students to take
action with us
3. Engagement at each level creates an experience in
which students move to the next level of commitment
4. Various metrics aid assessment by indicating where
students are at and how they advance level to level
NEXT LEVEL
goal for engagement
INITIAL LEVEL
OF ENGAGEMENT
opportunity activities
student
commitment
student
commitment
experience

17. CoFED FTC p. 17
level of
engagement
core framework;
culminates at 5
and starts with 1
student
commitment
student
interest in
CoFED’s
mission
and work
CoFED goal for
engagement
the scope of
intention for
organizing
opportunities
to act
what CoFED
present for
students to act on
actions
taken
corresponding
actions likely among
students
expected
experience
student mindset
likely to result
from engagement
metrics
measurements
indicating
performance
5) leadership leading develop talent,
recruit
replacements
coordinating
online presence,
organizing teams
efforts, fostering
regional identity,
recruiting new
members
leverages personal
relationships and
assets for CoFED
mission, takes
position as team
leader, Board
member, or Regional
Organizer
becomes fully
invested,
identified as the
face of CoFED,
influential in the
eyes of others
members recruited,
alumni joining as
workers,
→ interviews or surveys
evaluating knowledge,
skills, and attitude shift
4) membership owning deepen
commitment,
foster
responsibility
contributing
content for social
media or
newsletter or
blog, carrying out
team activities,
benefiting from
Regional
Organizer or
mentor, mentoring
peer teams
participates fully
in network, uses
training,
resources, and
connections for team
progress, makes
requests,
→ achieves goals in
action plan
→ pledges for
membership
becomes
inspiregized to
take major,
multipartaction
deliberately and
with intention
(not impulsively),
dedicated
to success,
recognized by
others
blog posts by students,
student-led peer
calls, studentled
workshops at events,
resource uploads,
student visits to peers
→ action plans
completed
→ membership pledges
3) community supporting earn trust,
secure
endorsement,
solicit
contribution
sharing social
media or
newsletter,
discussing with
peers or Regional
Organizer
initiates interaction
with
CoFED, utilizes
resources,
responds to
callstoaction,
attends events,
→ volunteers
information for team
profile
→ expresses interest in
action plan
becomes eager to
learn, passionate
about the
mission,
energized to take
lowcost/lowrisk
action on impulse
(less deliberately)
fav’d tweets, Liked
Facebook posts,
Facebook
posts or tweets by
students, email or
phone inquiries
to Regional
Organizer, event
attendees, webinar
attendees,action plans
created team profiles
on website
2) crowd following promise value subscribing to
social media or
newsletter,
exploring website
and wiki
consumes CoFED
online content,
views resources,
provides contact
info and connects to
social media,
starts/joins team
becomes
interested,
inspired by the
mission
website clickthroughs,
Twitter followers,
Facebook page fans,
newsletter subscribers,
resource downloads,
students in teams
clickthroughs,
1) audience observing attract
attention,
inspire initial
contact
incidentally
visiting website
or viewing social
media, hearing
word of mouth
views site, mass
email, or social
media, attends
team meeting or
RO visit or call
becomes aware,
informed
website traffic,
semitargeted
recognition
surveys counting word-
of-mouth
Read through the full matrix to understand the bottom-up flow with the RO Fellow
perspective. Then, read it through again from the student perspective.
Imagine scenarios in which you engage with two student types: the aspiring leader and
the casual participant. Come up with two separate stories for both students based on
their commitment, opportunities, actions, and experience through all five levels.

18. CoFED FTC p. 18
cooperative development
Starting and running food co-ops is nothing new. The
beauty is, each co-op is unique and makes up rich, diverse
population of teams in regions across the continent. There is
always more to learn. In CoFED’s efforts to create a network
and training program, we’ve experienced and reflected upon
many cases to guide your work in a systematic way. This
section presents the two types of co-op development, the 3
phases of team/organizational evolution, the 4 parts of the
school year cycle, and a method for drawing lessons from any
experience.
two types of co-op development:
clubs and enterprises
Student food enterprises in the campus setting grow much
more organically than most businesses (no pun intended).
This is because students typically begin organizing as a
club, whether or not the original intentions are to become
something more established, such as a full-fledged
cooperative enterprise.
CoFED has two core resources for RO Fellows to help student
teams to start and run cooperative food enterprises. These
are the Manual for Starting a Student-Led Food Co-op and the
Guide to Creating and Improving Your Operations Handbook.
This section summarizes their key points before discussing
the two types of co-op development, clubs and enterprises.
Start-up teams must make progress in four key areas: people,
plan, space, and money. Over the past few years, teams with
solid core groups have persevered and excelled, whereas
teams with less than fully committed and dedicated have
made mixed progress. Finding a free space or a location or
securing a promise for one significantly boosts the core group
in their organizing efforts. Developing a plan with market
research, a business model, and steps for implementation
ought to be the primary focus of their organizing. Raising or
receiving money is essential, but without the other keys in
place, it doesn’t add much momentum a team can use.
Operating teams must ensure four key dimensions:
operations, policy, governance, and programming. There are
key concerns and alternative approaches to succeed in each
of these, and every co-op should educated themselves about
what has been attempted by other teams in other contexts.
Importantly, team leaders and all members must be working
in alignment and with accountability to grow and thrive.
All initiatives have simple beginnings, with a core group
dreaming up an idea that captures peoples’ imagination.
Slowly but surely, the team must invest in five efforts:
1. Team and membership – the talent, systems, and
connections to local groups and CoFED
2. Pilot effort – the initial project (dinner event, buying
club, food cart/truck, café/deli, or grocery/market)
3. Vision – the future of their efforts and
long-term goals
4. Action – the organized and effective effort to
achieve the vision
5. Institutional learning – a practice of ensuring plans
and experience build to health and sustainability
As a club, many start-up teams run simple programming
to gain momentum such holding their meetings as
potluck dinners. The most valuable type of activity is one
that exercises all of the efforts above. Two of the most
popular and successful pilot efforts are dinner events
(dining co-ops) and bulk-buying clubs (purchasing
co-ops), which also make it possible to organize on
campus, gather information for a plan, build support,
raise funding, and implement something bigger.
However, it is important to recognize that these may
start as clubs, and they may persist as clubs. For
example, students at the Flaming Eggplant Café served
food from a pair of trailers for several years while
preparing to find and move into a permanent dining
space, whereas students at UW-Madison have been
operating a profitable and sustainable pop-up dinner
and lunch operation for several years with no intention
to go full-time. Clearly, both groups are important places
of learning and sharing lessons from the experience of a
student-led food co-op.
The concept of “progress” depends entirely on how the
team wants to develop their club into an enterprise,
if at all.

19. CoFED FTC p. 19
team/organizational evolution in 3 phases
CoFED helps students dream big and begin their start-up effort. As well, CoFED is a net-
work and training program that shares and learns from many successful and some strug-
gling businesses. All teams are in a continual state of change and growth; aspects of all 3
phases can be seen in any team/organization, no matter how evolved they are. Whether
the student team consists of a handful of dreamers in discussion, a budding start-up ini-
tiative, or a full-fledged group of workers running an enterprise, recognizing the stages of
development is essential to helping student teams make continual progress.
The following distinguishes the 3 phases of student-led co-op lifecycle:
“dream”
situation:
• the group and its leadership
form around a collective vision
motivation:
• own the idea and start!
necessities:
• passion and rigor for early
discussions
key concerns:
• too much talk, not enough walk
• lack of direction and action,
or conflicting directions and
paralysis
• core team founder(s) oppress
or fail to include new members
path forward:
• discover power in assets and
relationships
“do-ocracy”
situation:
• people choose their own roles
and take responsibility
motivation:
• get going already!
necessities:
• ample, simple work
with low stakes
key concerns:
• inefficiency through exclusion
or martyrdom
• complacency resulting from
lack of formal commitment
• burnout due to ineffectiveness
or over-commitment
path forward:
• recognize emerging strategy
that can be implemented
“democracy”
situation:
• the team works with a collective
vision for long-term success
motivation:
• stability, continuity, longevity
necessities:
• accountability – team members
understand and agree to taking
on individual responsibilities
• alignment – team members
reach mutual understanding of
expectations in working towards
their goals
key concerns:
• inadequate training and support
from leadership in preparation
for their departure
• insufficient definition of roles
and responsibilities
• ineffective participation in
committees and projects
• re-emerging do-ocracy!
path forward:
• leadership development at all
levels
As teams and organizations evolve, the goal is to move
beyond do-ocracy towards democracy without falling back!

20. CoFED FTC p. 20
the school year as a 4-part cycle
A student team’s capacity for moving ahead is mediated by the year-in, year-out routine. This
also affects your ability to engage them and facilitate progress. Approaching each year as a cycle
keeps up momentum and builds on success. The following outlines the 4 parts and includes the
timing, goals, and actions to take with teams along the way.
1. organize individual student teams
timing: before and at the beginning of the school year
goal: help them find their collective vision and goals for the year
action: make contact with teams early and consistently and set up a routine
(re-)engage with team, noting any relationship with previous organizers
immerse yourself in the team context and observe
identify students who can and will serve as team liaisons
create or improve the team profile
find stakeholders and opportunities for support and accountability
(supervisors, courses, independent studies, etc)
2. connecting the region
timing: beginning to middle of the school year
goal: build solidarity by fostering regional identity
action: conduct site visits and calls, facilitate workshops
connect to mentors with relevant expertise for students and yourself
introduce student teams to their peers, mentors, and local allies
invest in teams committed to their project and interested in CoFED
encourage they build institutional knowledge in a form makes sense
(website or blog; group wiki; Google Docs; a place for meeting agendas/ minutes/ notes)
discuss membership with teams
share team goals, challenges, successes, and news of your own activities across the region
3. take action on projects
timing: middle to end of the school year
goal: build solidarity by fostering regional identity
action: execute on the action plan with each team
deliver on member benefits
4. secure success for next year
timing: beginning and before the end of the school year
goal: engage with emerging leadership
action: designate student team leaders/liaisons for the following year
propose, agree to activities for the summer

21. CoFED FTC p. 21
Remember that student team keen on chocolate-covered snails? It is now
Springtime and they’ve reached out again. Slowly but surely, the team grew
inclusively and now has happy, satisfied volunteers. However, they still can’t
find funding or figure out a business case for their café dream. Can you help
them draw lessons from their experience?
Review this section, consider the questions and responses you brainstormed
earlier in this training companion, and reflect on the facts in the case. Now, use
the method of what, so what, and now what to come up with new insights and
recommendations.
drawing lessons from experience
One of the most significant ways you can facilitate progress with a team is through reflection
and action, which can create waves of learning and sharing throughout the solidarity network.
Whenever discussing a challenging or announcing a success, try using the following steps to
generate useful insights:
• Look at the what what happened, and what did you think and feel about it?
• Find the so what what are significant patterns or themes that spark insight?
• Propose a now what what works well, what needs improvement,
and what’s possible for action?
The key value in this method is moving from causes or blame to lessons and possibilities. It is
helpful in collaboration with student teams, but also works well with fellow RO Fellows or as an
independent thought process. Finally, if students apply the lesson that emerges, consider that
“utilized insight” worth recording and sharing!

22. CoFED FTC p. 22
working with student teams
Many sections in this training companion double as
tools – the power map helps you illustrate situations and
plan strategies, the ladder of engagement guides your
work cultivating relationships, the two types of co-op
development distinguishes between clubs and enterprises,
the steps to drawing lessons from experience, etc. Read
through the training companion to find what’s useful for
you! The following are tools found elsewhere:
The team profile helps you capture the dream behind the
team and your work with them
This running document captures the concept, vision,
mission and values, campus context, organizational
structure, and financial performance for each team. This
is where you record meetings, minutes, and notes on
each team. It serves as a long-running, living document
of your work and progress, which helps you and teams
learn and share from experience cumulatively, without
problem-solving or explaining something from scratch.
The team action plan formalizes your working relationships
a student team
This form formalizes the SMART goals team members
will tackle, support and resources CoFED and
membership will provide, and the commitments to care
and cooperate. Each action plan acts as a contract for
each school term. It helps you work with each team and
help them make progress towards their goals. Evaluation
is also built into each action plan, to be conducted
between students and their RO.
The Regional Contact Directory helps you build a network of
individual students, mentors, and other allies.
This spreadsheet organizes all of the contacts that make
up your region. Each RO Fellow, with the support of
admin staff, works on their regional contact database to
help build and utilize the regional solidarity network.
The Regional Team Directory enables case management
with each student team.
Similar to the Regional Contact Database, this
spreadsheet is where we collectively store information
on teams, not individuals. The information ranges from
simple contact information to summary profiles, action
plans, etc.
The CoFED NationBuilder (cofed.nationbuilder.com)
platform organizes your organizing online and through
social media.
NationBuilder combines website, newsletter, social
media, contacts record, and donations into a unified
system. Our website is the public face to the world as
well as a place for student teams to show who they are,
where they’re located, and other key parts of their story.
Our social media allows us to communicate the efforts
of students and connect them to each other. Although
there is a modest learning curve to using NationBuilder,
it is built for groups that do organizing to augment
their abilities and streamline their efforts, right down to
follow-up alerts.
The Share (http://archive.cofed.org) keeps CoFED’s online
knowledge-base in a wiki.
It is a public repository of guides, general readings,
and other resources developed by CoFED, students,
and other organizations. Here is where we keep all
of our main curricular documents. In includes our
Manual for Starting a Student-Led Food Co-op, Guide
to Creating and Improving Your Operations Handbook,
Bulk Buying Club Guide, Networking Guide for Teams
and Community Co-ops, Sustainable Meat Sourcing
Guide, and the Financial Management 101, a prototype
online module consisting of a video workshop and
tutorial, exercises and reference documents, and other
resources such as pro-forma spreadsheets.
5. toolbox

23. CoFED FTC p. 23
planning and management
The Worker Wiki (http://staff.cofed.org) contains
links to current and past resources for Regional
Organizer Fellows (workshops models and lesson
plans, event planning tools, and a space for region-
specific resources) as well as administrative documents
(meeting minutes docs, the worker policy handbook,
various outreach materials).
The CoFED Google Drive contains a shared folder of
key documents for the entire organization. You’ll likely
create and get shared on many more documents related
to meetings, committees, events, et al, etc.
The RO Fellow work plan helps you prioritize your
responsibilities and schedule activities to fulfill them.
This is also a space where you can set goals for your
organizing and for your own growth and learning.
The Regional Organizer Fellowship job description
orients you to your role and responsibilities in greater
detail.
The breakdown of typical hours/week suggests how you
might plan out and schedule your time.
The annual programming timeline and regular meeting
schedule lays out weekly, monthly, and major events.
The reimbursement procedure and program budget help
you plan for travel and events as well as for professional
development, such as conferences, books, trainings,
office supplies, and possibly office space for work-trade.
reporting, supporting, and evaluation
The weekly e-check-ins help us know who’s doing what and
how we’re doing without a meeting.
The monthly worker reports and reflections help us share
recent accomplishments, upcoming activities, and needs
for care & support. This provides the basis for the monthly
worker report to our Board of Directors.
The Real Talk & Appreciation calls help create a space where
everyone on staff can give Real Talk & Appreciation for each
other. These are facilitated by an individual outside of but
closely affiliated with CoFED.
The Fellowship Program Dashboard helps track and
measure our performance. This spreadsheet displays key
metrics that help us measure our success and evaluate our
efforts, understand who we serve and how, and adjust our
programming.
The 360 evaluations and individual evaluations help offer
make use of feedback and reflection. These are the forms we’ll
use to evaluate our own work and each other’s work.
The student evaluations help include student perspective at
the close of each year about CoFED’s programming to share
with the CoFED team and make improvements over the
summer.
The exit interviews and transition-out process help those
leaving share feedback and reflection in a way that builds
a healthier, more sustainable organization, as well as
supporting the next incoming worker.

24. CoFED FTC p. 24
6. glossary
anti-oppression
CoFED believes in addressing power relations that prevent people from achieving a just and fair
world. We are committed to deepening everyone’s understanding of systems of oppression, histo-
ries of dispossession and silencing, and genocide. We do this through our work engaging, facilitat-
ing, and supporting students creating literal and figurative spaces on campus where they experience
and explore liberatory, democratically-based work and life. Listening to teammates and creating
access for a plurality of voices is a powerful way to use these power relations.
For more on anti-oppression, get to know our friends and allies at AORTA (www.aortacollective.org), a collective of
educators devoted to strengthening movements for social justice and a solidarity economy.
cooperative, cooperative values, and the 7 cooperative principles
A cooperative*, as defined by the ICA**, is as an autonomous association of persons united volun-
tarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-
owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
The cooperative values, according to the ICA, are: self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality,
equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical
values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
The co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice. They
are:
1. Voluntary and Open Membership
2. Democratic Member Control
3. Member Economic Participation
4. Autonomy and Independence
5. Education, Training and Information
6. Co-operation among Co-operatives
7. Concern for Community
The ICA website (http://bit.ly/19DBEmY) defines these principles in greater detail.
The Madison Principles at CooperationWorks! (http://bit.ly/11eBXyY) are also worth exploring.
*The ICA (International Co-operative Alliance) has served as the apex organization for cooperatives since 1895. They
convene terms and definitions on cooperatives and the cooperative principles.

25. CoFED FTC p. 25
leadership
Taking responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose that lasts in the face of
transition and uncertainty.
organizing
The process of developing the leadership of people in a community in order to build
relationships and power with them for the goal of moving the world as it is toward the
world as it ought to be.
power
The potential to create change using our collective abilities and assets.
“real food”
According to the Real Food Challenge*, “‘Real Food’ is food which truly nourishes producers,
consumers, communities, and the earth. It is a food system, seed to plate, that fundamentally
respects human dignity and health, animal welfare, social justice, and environmental sustainability
... ‘Real Food’ is a holistic term to bring together many of these diverse ideas people have about
a values-based food economy ... The Real Food Challenge has developed an innovative Real Food
Calculator, which provides in-depth definitions of “real food” and a tracking system for institu-
tional purchasing. With this tool, “real food” is broken down into four core categories: local/
community-based, fair, ecologically sound, and humane. You can use the Real Food Calculator at
http://bit.ly/13q6S7Y and view the Real Food Wheel at http://bit.ly/1bX0AG9.
*Real Food Challenge (www.realfoodchallenge.org) is a national nonprofit organizing to improve campus dining
solidarity network
Solidarity means the unity generated when people come together around a common cause. In
CoFED, a solidarity network refers to the workers, students, and allies that empower students
teams. Your role as a Regional Organizer Fellow is to build and utilize a solidarity network comes
together to empower students teams

26. CoFED FTC p. 26
acknowledgements
7.
Danny Spitzberg, CoFED Lead Trainer and Co-Director, wrote this Fellowship Training Companion in the
Summer of 2013 as the culmination of developing the Regional Organizer Fellowship program.
Organizing is a rich process and a richer tradition. This training companion benefited from review of
CoFED’s own efforts over the past few years as well as lessons and materials from the following sources:
AORTA (aortacollective.org), Bill de Blasio (pubadvocate.nyc.gov/organizing-toolkit), Buildthewheel.org
(buildthewheel.org), California Center for Cooperative Development (cccd.coop), Catalyst Project
(collectiveliberation.org), Center for Civic Partnerships (civicpartnerships.org), CDS (cdsconsulting.coop),
KU Community Toolbox (ctb.ku.edu/en/dothework), CooperationWorks! (cooperationworks.coop),
Cultivate.Coop (cultivate.coop), DAWN (dawn.coop), Food Co-op Initiative (foodcoopinitiative.coop),
Grassroots Policy Project (strategicpractice.org), Leading Change Netowrk (leadingchangenetwork.com),
Marshall Ganz at Harvard University (isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k2139), NASCO (nasco.coop),
New Organizing Institute (neworganizing.com), PYE Global (pyeglobal.org), Real Food Challenge
(realfoodchallenge.org), Research for Organizing (researchfororganizing.org), Ruckus Society (ruckus.org),
Student PIRGs (studentpirgs.org), Teach-in.coop (teach-in.coop), The Future Project (thefutureproject.org),
and Training for Change (trainingforchange.org).
This final product would not have come together as it did without many friends and allies offering their
stories, guidance, and feedback. Their experiences and voices were vital in creating this tool and resource
for future CoFED workers. Danny gives sincere thanks to the following people:
Clara Baker – CoFED Board member and former member of the Big Spoon Dining Co-op
Lauryl Berger-Chun – CoFED Northeast Regional Organizer
Tyneisha Bowens – former CoFED Northeast Regional Organizer
Christine Cordero – National Training Program Director at the Center for Story-based Strategy
Brent Dixon – CoFED Board member and founder at the Cooperative Trust
Steve Dubb – CoFED Board member and Research Director at the Democracy Collaborative
Eli Evans – CoFED Board member and former member of the Flaming Eggplant Café
Erin Fenley – graphic designer at erin-fenley.net
Gabriel Harp – design ecologist at Genocarta
Amy Hess – former CoFED Northwest Regional Organizer
Anna Isaacs – CoFED Organizer Coordinator and former Northwest Regional Organizer
Esteban Kelly – member of AORTA Collective
Nina Mukherji – Director of Programs at the Real Food Challenge
Ron Patiro – founder at own.coop
Eric Recchia – CoFED California Regional Organizer
Jake Schlacter – Program Director at the Food Co-op Initiative
Matt Steele – former CoFED Mid-Atlantic Regional Organizer
Megan Svoboda – CoFED Operations and Communications Manager
Ian Temple – Imagination Director at The Future Project
Shaydanay Urbani – former CoFED Board member and former director at the UCLA SFC
Cecily Upton – Co-Founder and VP of Programs at FoodCorps
Jake Waxman – Trainer at the New Organizing Institute and the Leading Change Network