Manager's Corner:
The Katrina Cooperative Recovery Fund
by
Lexa Juhre
Rebuilding
community food systems in Katrina’s wake
Honest Weight
is working with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to support
small
farmers’ long-range recovery by donating to the Katrina Cooperative
Recovery Fund.
In its September meeting, the HWFC Board of Directors decided to extend
the
fundraising campaign through the end of 2005, and voted to match all
donations dollar
for dollar, with a fundraising goal of $10,000 or more.
Coops
Helping Coops
Established
by the Cooperative Development Foundation, the Katrina Cooperative
Recovery Fund
will forward contributions directly to farmers, individuals and
cooperative
businesses in the rural areas of Alabama,
Louisiana and Mississippi
affected by the storm. CDF will take no administrative fees, passing
100% of
the funds raised to those directly impacted by the hurricane, working
with organizers
from the Land Assistance Fund to identify where the need is greatest.
Helping
Small Farmers
Agricultural
communities have been severely disrupted. Small family farmers have
lost their
homes, farm buildings, equipment, seed and crops in the storm.
Facilities owned
by the federation and its member cooperatives also sustained heavy
damage.
Transportation networks have been interrupted and the Crescent City
Farmers Market
in New Orleans, an important outlet for
Mississippi
farmers, was
completely destroyed. In addition to coordinating immediate relief
efforts, the
federation will be instrumental in rebuilding the infrastructure and
organizing
recovery efforts using self-help cooperative principles, such as
developing
housing cooperatives and worker-owned cooperatives for clean-up,
rehabilitation
and construction efforts.
Overview
of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land
Assistance Fund
The Land Assistance
Fund’s primary objective is to assist black southern farmers to hold on
to
their land through cooperative land-based economic development and by
developing a community- based food system. They offer a comprehensive
roster of
programs and services, including farm management training, technical
assistance
with sustainable agricultural practices, assistance with debt
restructuring, legal
assistance, cooperative marketing efforts, cooperative business
development,
and advocacy and coalition building. Their membership includes 19
community development
credit unions and more than 12,000 African-American farm families
working in more
than 35 agricultural cooperatives. Building on the joint efforts of the
Federation of Southern Cooperatives and the Emergency Land Fund, the
pioneer
organization in black land retention, the Land Assistance Fund has deep
roots
in the civil rights movement. Understanding that successful community
development involves making progress through alternative practices
while
advocating for public policies that embrace and institutionalize those
alternatives, the federation has lobbied at the local, state and
national
levels to assist black farmers and develop persistently poor rural
communities.
Honest Weight is proud to do its part in supporting this recovery
effort.
Donations will be accepted at the registers through the end of
December, or you
can contribute online through the Cooperative Development Foundation’s
website:
www.cdf.coop. For more
information
about the work being accomplished through the Land Assistance
Fund, check
out their website at www.federationsoutherncoop.com.
For contact information on a variety of grassroots groups
organizing
Katrina relief and recovery, take a look at http://katrina.mayfirst.org.
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