How many co-ops can claim they were founded directly out of the Civil Rights movement? Or that they prevented a crisis predicted by government statisticians? The Federation of Southern Cooperatives has demonstrated that level of leadership throughout its 55-year history, and Shared Capital is proud to support their operating model through our work together.
The Federation is a cooperative association of black farmers, landowners and cooperatives all around the South, with a focus on cooperative economic development, land retention, and advocacy. Today, the federation represents 20,000 individual families through 75 cooperatives and community-based groups.
Executive Director Cornelius Blanding shared his experience with the Federation. “We’re the only African American organization—or any organization—focused on cooperative development and land retention through organizing co-ops and maintaining the land base.
He also shared lessons from past movement leaders. Some are obviously central to the co-op’s mission. Like the words of E. W. Steptoe, a voter registration volunteer, farmer, and early leader of the Federation, whose words continue to ring through the years:
“Our cooperative is like the railroad station in our community. It will be here, even if the trains don’t come anymore and somebody far away decides to pull up the track, we will still have our cooperative in our community because we built it ourselves.”
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