October is Co-op Month: Funding Cooperative-Led Solutions, RMFU Co-op Center awarded $494,000 for Rural Cooperative Development

2025 has been designated the International Year of Cooperatives, with the theme “Cooperatives Build a Better World.” This global recognition underscores how cooperatives help build wealth, meet social, economic, and ecological needs, and strengthen local power. Now in October, we celebrate Co-op Month—a time to spotlight the cooperative business model, which emphasizes people over profit, democratic control, and community resilience. Cooperatives are not just businesses, they are member-owned organizations that keep ownership and decision-making local, helping communities build lasting solutions and stronger businesses. When you use co-op services, you’re directly investing in your community’s local economy.

Director of the RMFU Co-op Center, Sandra Baca, “this October, the RMFU Cooperative Development Center team is grateful to share that we have been awarded a $494,000 USDA Rural Cooperative Development Grant allowing us to continue investing in rural cooperative businesses across Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. This infusion of additional funding allows us to invest more dollars into our projects and drive these co-op businesses into operational stage.”

We also value the tireless advocacy efforts of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, National Farmers Union, Cooperation Works!, US Federation of Worker Co-ops, and National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA/CLUSA), who organized and advocated to ensure these funds were released and used as intended—for rural cooperative development. While cooperatives have consistently proven to be powerful economic drivers—especially in rural areas—federal support remains limited. As Alex Stone, Executive Director of CooperationWorks! explains in Nonprofit Quarterly’s article, “The Case for a Co-op Mutualist Fund: Why Co-ops Should Invest in Themselves” (Oct. 1, 2025), “Cooperatives offer communities a vital tool to build collective wealth; meet social, economic, cultural, and ecological needs; and boost local power. Yet federal support for cooperative business development is limited.

The RMFU Co-op Center commits to Building a Better World and invites you all to join us at the pre-convention Thursday, November 20, for co-op hour. Learn more about our goals and projects in 2026, meet some of the contractors who will be helping carry out this work, and ask how we can help further your business idea. To learn more about the profound impact that cooperatives have made in our country read the 2025 Cooperative Impact Report, we recommend the Cooperatives Build Lasting Value, Stability and Resilience, and Common Types of Cooperatives sections to start. You can find the Impact report here or by scanning the QR code.

This funding strengthens our commitment to building a better world through cooperative-led solutions—supporting local ownership, democratic decision-making, and resilient communities. As we celebrate Co-op Month and the International Year of Cooperatives, we reaffirm our dedication to empowering rural economies through the cooperative model.