Cooperatives have significantly contributed to the U.S. economy since the independence from the U.K. due to their financial and non-financial impact on the entire system. They represent the 1% of the USA GDP with more than 133.5 billion in income. There are four sectors in which their results emerged in a particular way:
• Commercial sales and marketing (farms, groceries, arts and crafts co-ops)
• Social and public services (healthcare, housing, childcare, education, transportation)
• Financial services (mutual insurance, cooperative finance, credit unions)
• Utilities (water, telephone and electricity facilities)
A particular kind of co-ops are the food cooperatives, joining people working together for better food, stronger communities and healthier food. They have a great impact on the society, economy and environment in their
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They started a business in the Park Slope neighborhood (Brooklyn, NYC) called Part Slope Food Coop. The founders choose to create a cooperative because they “felt like [they] were growing into a society where there weren’t enough people working together”.
As we can read in the Mission Statement, PSFC is a member-owned and operated food store, born with the purpose of offering to the consumers an alternative to commercial profit-oriented business. The co-op strives to be responsible, ethical and sustainable.
If we analyze the juridical aspect of this initiative, we must consider the New York State Cooperative Corporation Law which incorporates the PSFC as a general non-stock cooperative corporation (art. 1 of the Bylaws of Park Slope Food Coop, Inc. amended as of 31.03.2015). The further meaning of being a cooperative is that the primary objective is not to make profits for itself (or to pay dividends), but to provide the members the services/quality/prices they couldn’t otherwise