Written by Natalie Locke, Associate Director of Aynah
Day 1: A friend and I took the long route to Chicago. Long route meant a stop in Viroqua, WI, which is home to one of the seven grocery co-ops in the country that participate in the P6 program. We were able to get a tour of Viroqua Food Co-op’s P6 programming, as well as sample some local P6 craft soda! It’s totally inspiring to see the national program that Seward Community Co-op created spreading wings and taking off around the country (#minneapolispride). It was also inspiring to meet folks on day one who were so eager to share what they’re working on cooperatively in their community. It bodes well for future Aynah programming.
Day 2: Busy day! Woke up at Koinonia House, which we were connected to through friends in Grand Aspirations and the USA Cooperative Youth Council (#youthempowerment). Drove to the opposite side of Chicago to meet with Brian Van Slyke of the Toolbox for Education and Social Action who is working with Aynah on collaborative cooperative education curriculum. Nothing like an in-person meeting to make you realize how they’re 1000x more productive than a series of video calls(#facetoface). Then on to Lansing, MI. Arrived in time for a quick dinner and then the Spartan Global Development Fund meeting at Michigan State University. Spartan Global was Aynah’s draw to this area and they didn’t disappoint. Six enthusiastic students showed up for some riveting (albeit long-winded) conversation about how to create power with a group instead of power over a group. And one of them offered me a couch for these few days!
Day 3: Woke up for a morning meeting with the student president of Spartan Global and unpacked some excellent partnership ideas related to ways that Aynah can support their microfinancing of cooperatives abroad. An afternoon exploration of East Lansing led me to the East Lansing Food Co-op and to Moosejaw, which is local recreational gear store that supports co-ops through a 15% discount to co-op members (#newsocks)! I also stumbled upon a co-op sticker on a pole on a median in the middle of a cross walk (#stealthco-ops).
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ay 4: Exploration of Ann Arbor (#nomeetings)! Lots of reconnaissance for a potential Aynah trip here someday, though. We’d have loads of visits to choose from including the People’s Food Co-op, Zingerman’s Deli, and the University of Michigan’s Inter-Cooperative Council. Not to mention co-op support at bookstores and cherry shops (Yep! Cherry shops!). Maybe we could even go a cooperatively run scavenger hunt for all the fairy doors in town (#Aynahsurprise)? Visiting places in advance certainly gives me a confidence boost when I think about leading trips with students to these places.
Day 5: Started the day with the wonderful Paulette Stenzel, professor of cooperatives, fair trade, and sustainability at Michigan State University. She’s the advisor for Spartan Global in addition to the MSU chapter of Students Today, Leaders Forever. She’s also a total gem. We dreamt together about co-op development in East Lansing, all the folks I’ll meet with next time I visit, and elaborated on partnership potential for Spartan Global and Aynah, among other things. Paulette was fuel for my drive to Richmond, IN, home of Aynah’s Earlham Chapter. On the agenda for the evening: A three-hour meeting to plan for our upcoming trip to Costa Rica. As always, the students out-run me and I’m ready to crash at the end of the night (#feelingold).
Day 6: Workshop day! 12 students show up to Rose City Coffee Co-op (#CoFED) for games and conversation about cooperatives, testing out my education model that puts emphasis on interaction and body movement. Wanna start a cooperative movement? You better start moving! How do we create cooperative culture when we’ve been socialized to compete, to be individualistic, to form hierarchies? We play games to re-socialize! We pulled each other’s fingers, tied each others shoes, leaned on each other, and laughed together. This is cooperative education in action. For more on my inspiration for embodiment in education, check out this inspiring writing by Minneapolis-based social justice consultant, Heather Hackman. (Scroll down to ‘Training Tidbits’ for the part on ‘Remembering the Body.’
Day 7: On the seventh day, I drove across Indiana. There really isn’t much to say about that.
Day 8: My morning meeting with a graduate student from China started with some confusion about two buildings having the same name (#outoftowner). She’s inspired by Aynah and wants to come on our trips and build capacity for a chapter at Purdue. This felt like the kind of capacity building that we’re looking for – international connections and inspired students. I spent the afternoon at Greyhouse, an affiliate of Greymob, catching up on emails. It was the founder of Greymob, Jason Tennenhouse, that made connections for us at Purdue. It was through two degrees of separation from him that I ended up meeting with the graduate student (#networkingFTW). From the window of Greyhouse, I could see this beautiful mural in creation. It can’t possibly have been coincidence. Then I drove to Madison, WI.
Day 9: Got up for Anne Reynolds’ Cooperatives class, where I gave a five-minute introduction to Aynah through games and gathered some interested students’ names. Then Anne and I shared ideas, resources, and dreams for youth empowerment and cooperative education. She introduced me to the education resource Dr. Pop, which reminds a bit of Reweave, at least in terms of its use of online resources to provide education around the big issues that matter most. Inspired and rejuvenated, I bought some cheese curds and drove home, thinking:
There is incredible power in face to face interactions. The message of “you matter enough that I want to see your face,” the ability to feed off of each other’s energy towards common vision, the connection that comes from physical touch, a handshake or a hug. The deeper bond that is formed from an in-person meeting leads to a more sustainable working relationship, for which there is no replacement. At the root of Aynah’s success as a start-up non-profit are the relationships we’ve built. This outreach tour was an intentional investment in relationships, new and old, and I hope it becomes a regular part of our programming.
Aynah 