Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF) is a national loan fund and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides financing for cooperatively owned small businesses and housing.
"Co-ops are an economic model that includes ownership from more than one person," says Angela Dawson, communications director for
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund in Minneapolis.
Editor's note: Lund spent 15 years as the executive director of the
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF) and is currently a business consultant who specializes in working with cooperatives and other small businesses.
Espinoza, whose LEAF organization participates with Minneapolis-based
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund and other groups to finance cooperatives and employee ownership programs, said similar "ground up" development efforts are visible in several parts of the country.
Brandon Failing, resident member of Bennett Park Cooperative in Moorehead, Minn., notes: "Ultimately, the residents joined together and created this cooperative, but it was through the guidance of NCF (
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund) that we were able to make things happen."
* The Cooperative Service Award went to Margaret Lund, former executive director of the
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF) in Minneapolis, Minn.
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF), founded in 1978 in Minneapolis, issues loans to producer, worker and consumer cooperatives in 11 states of the Upper Midwest.
Instead of packing up and looking for another home, the residents of Sunrise Villa--with the help of
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF)--got organized and became Minnesota's first manufactured home park cooperative.