Deb Trocha, ED at ICDC discusses Up and Coming Food Coop Conference

Everything Co-op with Vernon Oakes

August 10, 2023 Vernon interviews Deb Trocha, Executive Director at Indiana Cooperative Development Center (ICDC). Deb and Vernon discuss the Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference, "The River of Cooperation." The conference will be held at the InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront hotel, September 14 - 16, 2023. For the first time ever, the Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference will be held in a city that is home to multiple food co-ops. Conference organizers are excited to have five local food co-op hosts for 2023 including: Eastside Food Co-op; Mississippi Market; Seward Community Co-op; Valley Natural Foods Cities and TCCP (Twin Cities Co-op Partners).” Two notable points are: the Early bird rate has been extended to August 11, and the Hotel room block (see reduced rates), expires August 23, 2023. Deb Trocha joined the Indiana Cooperative Development Center (ICDC) in 2006 after serving as Executive Director of the Indiana Small Business Development Center. During that time, she worked with many different types of cooperatives, from food co-ops and food hubs, to housing, artists, agriculture, and early childhood education. She is committed to increasing awareness of cooperatives and is passionate about the cooperative business model’s ability to empower people and their communities. Under her leadership, ICDC promotes cooperatives as a vibrant model to address economic and social needs. ICDC provides start-up, management, and technical assistance to a wide variety of co-ops in agriculture, arts, childcare, education, energy, and housing sectors. ICDC also provides training opportunities designed to bring together groups of people involved in co-op development.