From Northcountry Cooperative Foundation to CoNorth

As of July 14, 2025, Northcountry Cooperative Foundation is now officially CoNorth.

We’re excited to share this new chapter with you — not just a new name, but a renewed commitment to our mission of transforming lives and communities through cooperative enterprise.

So, why the change?

1. Clarity Matters
For years, we heard the same feedback from partners, residents, and community allies:

“Wait, are you a grant-making foundation?”
“Wow. Northcountry Cooperative Foundation – that’s a mouth full.”
“Sorry – is it Northcounty or Northcountry?”

While we’ve never been a foundation in the traditional sense, the word stuck around from our early days. As our work evolved — and as more people encountered us through our housing cooperative work, community meetings, or policy advocacy — the confusion grew.

CoNorth keeps the heart of our original name while being simpler, clearer, and more aligned with our identity.

• “Co” reflects cooperative, community, and collective ownership — the business model and values that drive everything we do.
• “North” grounds us in the places we serve: Minnesota and Wisconsin. It also captures something more intangible — a sense of direction, hope, and the forward-looking spirit we bring to every project.

2. We’ve Grown
In the last few years, our work has expanded in exciting ways.

• We launched CoNorth Loan Fund, a nonprofit lending arm that helps low-income and limited-equity co-ops access capital.
• We created CoNorth Homes, a mission-driven manufactured home dealership to help families purchase high-quality, energy-efficient homes in resident-owned communities.
• We began testing new models of developing cooperative housing — from redeveloping distressed properties into co-ops, to piloting new construction, ground-up manufactured home communities.

All of this builds on our long-standing work to support and preserve existing manufactured home communities through our Resident Owned Communities (ROC) program.

We’re happy to now have a brand that better reflects the innovation, vibrancy, and impact of the work we’re doing every day.

3. Our Mission Remains the Same
While our name and look has changed, our purpose has not.

We are still here to:

• Build power with residents.
• Preserve and create affordable housing through collective ownership.
• Help communities take control of their housing futures.
• Ensure working families, especially in rural and under-resourced communities, have access to safe, stable, and dignified housing.

4. Looking Ahead
This rebrand marks our 25th anniversary — a milestone made possible by the residents, co-op leaders, partners, organizers, lenders, and funders who have walked alongside us.

We’re grateful to be in this work with you. Here’s to the next 25 years and beyond!

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P.S.
Don’t forget to update your contact list with our new emails (firstname@conorth.coop).