Cooperatives

A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) is an association of persons who join together to carry on an economic activity of mutual benefit. Cooperatives are inspired and defined by common principles and values.

Davis is a "City of Cooperatives." There are over 30 cooperative organizations in Davis and possibly another 20 in Yolo County, which are cataloged at www.community.coop/davis. Co-op are often categorized by who makes up their membership: producers, consumers, those sharing purchasing, or others. Davis hosted the 2010 West Coast Co-op Conference.

Among these cooperatives are a number that are housing cooperatives, where the members/owners are consumers of shelter (and, sometimes, shared meals). Housing cooperatives in Davis provide housing for everyone from students to seniors. Whether it be students, seniors, families, cohousing¹, limited equity housing cooperative and mobile home parks there is a co-op for you. Cooperative organizations are a major contributor to the economic and social health of Davis and the county. Cooperatives operating in the county do over one billion dollars in business and services a year.

Occasionally, Wiki Editors will capitalize an O, as in [sic] "Co-Op"; there is no reason in grammar or logic for this error.

The Davis Cooperative Community Network (DCCN) is an organization with representatives from a number of cooperative communities around town. It seeks to solve common problems facing cooperative communities, and help cooperatives share information and stay in touch.

DCCN and N Street Cohousing also run Start Cooperative Housing workshops to help people create cooperative households. The demand for living in cooperative communities is much larger than the supply, so DCCN and N Street want to help seed new cooperative households.

Cooperatives in Davis:

• CoALA(formerly studyspot) www.studyspot.org
• The Artery
• Cernio Technology Cooperative
• Cooperative Housing
  • Fraternities
  • Glacier Circle Senior Community
  • Homestead Co-op
  • Muir Commons
  • N Street Cohousing
  • UCD Student Co-ops
    • Agrarian Effort
    • Davis Student Co-op
    • Pierce Co-op
  • Pacifico Student Cooperative Housing
  • Solar Community Housing Association
    • J Street Co-op
    • Sunwise Co-op
    • The Domes
  • Sororities
• Credit Unions
  • Golden 1 Credit Union
  • Travis Credit Union
  • USE Credit Union
  • Yolo Federal Credit Union
• Davis Food Co-op
• Pachamama Coffee Cooperative
• Yolo Wool Mill Wool Scouring Co-op
• The Davis Bike Collective
• Davis Makerspace
• Third Space Art Collective Davis Roots
• (seems to be more of an angel investor liason service, not a coop)

Dissolved/departed cooperatives, formerly in Davis:

• Art-is-Davis Art Coop
• Davis Cooperative Bookstore
• Davis Cooperative Cable (television)
• The Flatland Food Collective²

2007-02-03 10:35:47   It's a testament to Davis' true cooperative nature that all of these co-op's already had wiki pages by the time this global Cooperative page was put up! —JoRo

2009-01-04 16:35:35   Be careful of coop housing. I lived in the coop housing that used to in russell/la rue park at parkview circle (I think they are sororties now). IT is much better living in the dorms as a first year student, if they don't offer you a space, go to another school. Most of the people at the coop are not representive of the general population, they are basically people that nobody else wanted to live with. One guy tried to start a fight with me for no reason, and some other person tried to make friends with me was totally nuts and wouldn't stop bugging me. Of course I'm sure many others had a better experience, but I think anyone transfer or freshman is better off doing the first year in Dorms and then living with friends. —billybop

Footnotes

1. There are no cooperatives that operate cohousing in Davis. People in cohousing are very cooperative by inclination, but they don't jointly-own and democratically-control their dwellings.
2. People in collectives are very cooperative by inclination, but as of yet the ones in this collective don't jointly-own and democratically-control their economic enterprise. Perhaps they will become a cooperative.