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Being an organizer of a startup food co-op can feel overwhelming. Some weeks the challenges feel too big, your list of questions just keeps growing, and you feel isolated by your leadership role in the process. FCI’s FREE Peer Learning Groups have been an invaluable resource for more than five dozen startups since they launched in 2020! In fact, 97% of participants said they felt it was important for startup co-ops to participate in an FCI Peer Group.
Our Peer Learning Groups connect cooperators who are in similar stages of development to meet monthly for one hour to learn, discuss, and build community with their peers. Each group is facilitated by a co-op development expert, and each monthly learning topic is chosen with group input, based on their unique needs.
- The groups are for all startup food co-ops that are working toward opening a cooperatively owned brick-and-mortar grocery store
- Whether your co-op is just getting incorporated or has hired its general manager and is planning to open soon, we have a Peer Learning Groups that will be the right fit for your co-op’s stage of development
- Our 2025 FCI Peer Learning Group will meet once a month, January – October
Open enrollment for our 2025 FCI Peer Learning Groups has ended.
Enrollment for our 2026 Peer Learning Group cohort will open in August of 2025. If your startup food co-op would like to join a Peer Learning group sooner than 2026, email us at jq@fci.coop to let us know, and we’ll work with you to see if there is a group that matches your co-op’s level of development and/or community characteristics that has room for one more.
LEARN MORE about the program here:
Questions? Email JQ Hannah at JQ@fci.coop
“FCI Peer Learning Groups represent Unity! These Learning Groups allowed Little Africa Food Cooperative to take the information learned during these sessions and create strategy and build upon the lessons learned. If another peer had a better process and we could benefit from that process, the information was always shared!”
“The peer groups not only offer key insight on critical topics for start-up food co-ops, but they also foster a strong community between others who are going through the same challenges and build a network of support as we work to develop cooperative grocery stores to meet our own communities needs.”