Supporting cooperatives across Minnesota
CoMinnesota is a cross-sector program of CoNorth, serving cooperatives of all types across Minnesota, providing resources, training and education, and networking opportunities for cooperative members across all cooperative sectors. This program works to advance the cooperative movement and expand awareness of the cooperative business model, make connections to resources, and foster collaboration for positive change.
CoMinnesota History
In 2024, CoNorth adopted CoMinnesota as a program of the organization. For over a decade prior, CoMinnesota had operated as a volunteer-led collective, serving as a grassroots vehicle for connecting cooperatives across sectors and championing the cooperative model throughout Minnesota.
In its new chapter as a program of CoNorth, CoMinnesota aspires to be the state’s central hub for cooperation—amplifying the work of cooperative organizations, fostering cross-sector relationships, and advancing shared ownership values statewide. CoMN brings together practitioners, advocates, and partners from across housing, food, finance, labor, energy, and beyond to grow the cooperative movement and support education, policy development, and innovation.
As a cooperative development center, CoNorth sees the growth and vitality of CoMinnesota as essential to our mission. CoMinnesota builds on a deep legacy of cooperative education and organizing at CoNorth — including our decades-long stewardship of the Traveling Cooperative Institute (TCI).
Building On A Legacy of Cross-Sector Engagement & Education: The Traveling Cooperative Institute
The Kris Olsen Traveling Cooperative Institute, or TCI, was created in 1997 by CoNorth (known then as Northcountry Cooperative Foundation) to develop and support local co-op leadership through affordable, accessible training for staff, board members, and aspiring cooperators.
Named after Kris Olsen, a pioneering leader in the natural foods cooperative movement, TCI honors his legacy as one of the first “co-op circuit riders”—traveling throughout the Midwest in the 1970s to support and organize new co-ops. Though Kris passed away in 1998, shortly after the first TCI sessions were launched, the Institute continued to reflect his commitment to cooperative values, peer learning, and regional solidarity.
TCI Impact Over the Years
From 1996 through the 2010s, the Traveling Cooperative Institute provided educational programming to housing, food, and worker cooperatives in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio. Highlights include:
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Board and staff workshops tailored to a wide range of cooperative sectors;
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Peer-to-peer learning exchanges facilitated by experienced co-op professionals;
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Youth co-op leadership training (2014–2018), where young people (ages 17–30) were trained to teach one another about cooperative business development.
TCI was largely supported through grants from the USDA’s Rural Cooperative Development Program, reinforcing CoNorth’s broader commitment to capacity-building across the Midwest co-op landscape.
Carrying the Torch Forward
While the Traveling Cooperative Institute is no longer active, CoMinnesota now carries forward this spirit of cooperative education and organizing—serving as a platform for connection, visibility, and shared learning among cooperators across the state.