Announcing the PACA Build Track 2022-23 Program
Our Study Circles program is growing! For the first time ever, this year PACA is hosting a second-year track within our flagship Study Circles program. This second-year track, entitled the Build track, is available to two groups from our 2021-2022 Study Circles program. With the support of PACA staff, the chosen groups will receive six months of collaboratively-designed Technical Assistance (TA), in order to continue to develop their cooperative idea.
In this year’s Build Track, groups will spend time building the bedrock of their cooperatives by studying and investigating the necessary “Steps to Start-Up”, working through visioning and values-aligning exercises like the Business Model Canvas, and having conversations with groups doing similar work, in efforts to ground their work in curiosity and sharing. They will also participate in workshops on topics like governance and democratic decision-making, finances, legal considerations, and building and sharing power with community.
We are thrilled to announce that Kensington Corridor Trust and The NESTT (a collaboration between Bartram’s Garden, Woodland Academy, and Greater Philadelphia Health Action) are our two Build Track participants this year! Kensington Corridor Trust will be exploring the creation of a worker-owned and community-led food co-op, while The NESTT will explore a cooperative within their nature-focused center for early learning and family support.
We are thrilled to announce that Kensington’s Corridor Trust’s project for a Food Co-op for Kensington which will focus on worker ownership – affordable, nutrient-rich, and culturally relevant food options – and community directed. The NESTT’s project will be for “a nature-focused center for early learning and family support”. These two groups will journey forward, alongside us, in the first-ever Build Track. Our work together kicked-off this October 2022 and will last through April 2023.
We are already looking forward to the second year of the Build track, which will be available to groups who have graduated from our Study program. For more information the Study track, check out our main program page here:
We look forward to keeping you updated on what the Build Track groups foster and learn.
Yours in Cooperation,
Corey (Build Track Facilitator)
Amethyst (Study Circles Program Manager)
and the entire PACA Staff Collective