FAQ

Co-op U is for teams of two or more with a specific vision for a cooperative business who are ready to dedicate serious time (4-7 hours) each week for the duration of the program to plan it, and likely more time after to get it off the ground.

This is unlikely to be everyone who wants to eventually start a co-op! In fact, there are earlier steps teams often find important to pursue before joining an incubator program like this one. You can take a look at our Steps for Starting a Cooperative Workplace document for a general outline of these steps along with how Cleveland Owns can support you along the way!

We're always available at info@clevelandowns.coop to point you in the right direction for your co-op development dreams!

If you need to a class, yes, we can provide accommodations for making it up. We'll share with you a recording after every session and the materials used. You'll also need to have at least one other person on your team, so ideally that person can help fill you in, but if you both need to miss it we will try to schedule a make up session with you (our ability to do so depends on all of our schedules).

Just note that a major benefit of Co-op U is the experience of taking it alongside other startup co-ops and receiving feedback from each other, so for the best experience we recommend not planning to miss more than 2 classes.