Check out A Discussion Course on Co-ops. A great discussion guide for anyone thinking about cooperative efforts.

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• Who are we?
• What are some KDC projects?
• What services does the Keystone Center provide?

The Keystone Development Center was created in 1998 by an all-volunteer group of individuals, including one farmer and several working at various service organizations. All were devoted to cooperative and rural development in Pennsylvania. KDC was incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1999 with a mission to promote economic development in Pennsylvania’s rural and under-served communities through the utilization of the cooperative business model. KDC’s activities are designed to support the following goals:

• Provide quality locally-controlled technical assistance

• Coordinate existing cooperative development resource providers to reduce duplication of effort.

• Increase understanding of, and support for, cooperatives through education

• Provide access to financial assistance

KDC continues to be governed by a volunteer board of directors comprised of professionals in cooperative development and rural economic and community development. They are a hands-on board and regularly assist in KDC projects. The board currently includes the following organizations: MidAtlantic Farm Credit; Adams Electric Cooperative; Penn State Cooperative Extension; the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture; the Community Development Corporation of Butler County; the Center for Rural Pennsylvania; CoBank, and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. We also have a full time farmer on our board and an ex officio board member from USDA.

Past projects include the following:

• Worked with other partners to form and support a marketing cooperative of small to medium Pennsylvania food companies.

• Supported the formation of a cooperative of coffee-house owners. The cooperative is developing its own brand identity for coffee blends and supplies.

• Aided in the opening and running of an employee-owned cooperative market specializing in Pennsylvania grown/produced products.

• Joined with other cooperative development centers in the U.S. to form Woodworks whose mission is to transform private forestlands into a productive resource benefiting landowners, rural economies and the environment through locally based forest-owner cooperatives and associations

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Some of the projects we’re working on include helping the following groups

• beef farmers market their beef to local institutions.
• organic farmers in Lancaster form a cooperative to lower their aggregation and distribution costs.
• poultry growers with business planning for a processing operation.
• a small dairy cooperative market its cheese products more effectively.
• an energy cooperative in Philadelphia develop a biodiesel market.
• a fraternity purchasing cooperative with its strategic planning.

A list of clients is also maintained elsewhere on this website.

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KDC is a technical assistance provider that can help with all phases of setting up a cooperative.

Our services include:

• Feasibility studies
• Market analysis and business plan development
• Strategic planning and organization development
• Group facilitation and conflict resolution
• Links to other supporting organizations

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We gratefully acknowledge funding support for this website from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.