2022 Rural Fellows—Co-op Development
Pascaline Niyonshuti
Author
08/08/2022
Added
13
Plays
Description
Student and Community Fellows talk about the community development projects they worked on with the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center during Summer 2022.
Searchable Transcript
Toggle between list and paragraph view.
- [00:00:00.493]Hello, I'm Pascaline Niyonshuti Arafura Entone working
- [00:00:04.770]with Nebraska Cooperative Development Center at UNL.
- [00:00:09.030]Nebraska Cooperative Development Center assists groups
- [00:00:12.300]and communities who are exploring
- [00:00:15.000]or have developed a cooperative business.
- [00:00:18.870]It was an amazing experience working
- [00:00:21.570]with community cooperatives
- [00:00:23.430]and Shalla my supervisor,
- [00:00:25.290]who provided great guidance and support.
- [00:00:28.860]With Cindy, I visited those community cooperatives
- [00:00:32.250]in Hay Springs, Stapleton and Edward.
- [00:00:36.480]I interviewed people who are
- [00:00:38.580]on the board as well as the cooperative members.
- [00:00:44.310]I'm Cindy Holden,
- [00:00:45.300]a Development Specialist working statewide
- [00:00:47.340]with the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center.
- [00:00:49.980]When Pascaline joined our NCDC team
- [00:00:51.960]as a Rural Futures Fellow this summer,
- [00:00:54.000]it was an exciting opportunity for us
- [00:00:55.860]to add another element to our work.
- [00:00:58.110]For me, it was the ability to have someone else with me
- [00:01:01.110]when I visited the cooperative grocery stores
- [00:01:03.240]we had worked with.
- [00:01:04.320]In June, we visited stores in Elwood,
- [00:01:07.530]Stapleton and Hay Springs, Nebraska.
- [00:01:10.410]Our visit to Hay Springs was particularly exciting,
- [00:01:13.680]as we were able to join the community
- [00:01:15.390]for the one year anniversary of the opening
- [00:01:17.550]of the Farm to Family cooperative grocery store.
- [00:01:20.340]Pascaline spent time connecting with board members,
- [00:01:22.890]residents and employees,
- [00:01:24.900]asking them what the co-op meant
- [00:01:26.550]to their community, why they were members,
- [00:01:28.860]and if appropriate, why they were not members.
- [00:01:31.770]The information gathered will be used
- [00:01:33.510]by the Farm to Family cooperative board
- [00:01:35.610]as they evaluate the current success of the store,
- [00:01:38.190]begin planning for their future success,
- [00:01:40.830]including increasing membership.
- [00:01:43.563]I enjoy listening
- [00:01:44.617]to how cooperative is benefiting the community,
- [00:01:48.030]including creating jobs in the community,
- [00:01:50.640]supporting local produce,
- [00:01:52.380]bringing people together and improving people's wellness
- [00:01:56.940]where they now have groceries in their community
- [00:01:59.394]and don't have to travel about 40 miles away to get
- [00:02:03.390]to the nearest supermarket for groceries.
- [00:02:08.250]I work case studies for those community cooperatives,
- [00:02:11.460]we're focusing on the motivation part.
- [00:02:14.100]So other communities can learn the benefit
- [00:02:17.100]of your cooperative on community development.
- [00:02:21.570]Hi, I am Charlotte Narjes,
- [00:02:23.610]a Rural Prosperity Nebraska Extension Educator
- [00:02:25.950]and the Associate Director
- [00:02:27.210]of the Nebraska Co-op Development Center.
- [00:02:29.340]I work statewide.
- [00:02:30.810]Pascaline's work is important to NCDC.
- [00:02:33.570]Grocery stores are an anchor institution
- [00:02:35.820]in our rural communities.
- [00:02:37.200]As one store is shared, the grocery store is the heart
- [00:02:40.290]that keeps small rural communities like ours alive.
- [00:02:43.410]The case studies that Pascaline has written
- [00:02:45.540]capture a community's motivation
- [00:02:47.430]for selecting the cooperative model.
- [00:02:49.920]This will be very valuable in sharing
- [00:02:51.720]with other communities exploring how to form their store.
- [00:02:55.110]The case studies will also be available
- [00:02:57.150]on the NCDC website and shared nationally with our peers.
- [00:03:01.980]Also, I enjoy volunteering
- [00:03:04.140]with Buy Fresh Buy Local,
- [00:03:06.270]the east campus Discovery Days
- [00:03:08.160]and Farmer's Market with Margaret.
- [00:03:10.470]It was an amazing opportunity,
- [00:03:13.440]where we are doing a taste test
- [00:03:15.630]for the green garden harvest produced by Mikey
- [00:03:20.280]I'm Margaret Milligan, Program Coordinator
- [00:03:22.170]for Buy Fresh Buy Local Nebraska,
- [00:03:24.120]a program of the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center
- [00:03:27.360]that focuses on locally grown food.
- [00:03:29.850]And I was happy to have Pascaline volunteer
- [00:03:32.070]with Buy Fresh Buy Local at the farmer's market.
- [00:03:34.890]Events like these where we make meaningful connections
- [00:03:37.650]to the public are crucial to our program's mission
- [00:03:40.830]of expanding the market for locally grown products.
- [00:03:44.370]At the market we shared resources
- [00:03:46.380]and conducted a taste test as a part
- [00:03:48.540]of the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant.
- [00:03:51.780]Over 200 youth and adults sampled a recipe
- [00:03:54.780]that featured local produce.
- [00:03:57.150]They were then asked to rate how well they liked it
- [00:03:59.550]and received a recipe card.
- [00:04:01.920]Pascaline assisted with the setup of our booth,
- [00:04:04.740]preparation of taste test samples,
- [00:04:06.840]and engagement with the crowd.
- [00:04:08.730]By the end of the day, she had many conversations
- [00:04:12.300]and learned about market goers preferences
- [00:04:15.750]while assisting in our program's mission of outreach.
- [00:04:21.420]Throughout this experience,
- [00:04:22.950]I have developed communication, listening,
- [00:04:26.070]and interpersonal skills.
- [00:04:28.710]These are the skills that will enhance my next steps
- [00:04:31.950]into graduate school and my future career as well,
- [00:04:35.670]where I'll be connecting with people and definitely writing.
- [00:04:41.520]Pascaline worked remotely throughout the summer
- [00:04:43.800]and I appreciated her sense of responsibility
- [00:04:46.320]and desire to make a difference.
- [00:04:48.000]She was a self starter
- [00:04:49.230]and needed to research the cooperative model.
- [00:04:51.780]Our team quickly learned Pascaline's strengths
- [00:04:54.030]and she ours,
- [00:04:54.863]as together we worked through the team's cultural profile.
- [00:04:58.200]This is one of the tools used
- [00:04:59.730]by the Rural Fellows program to introduce team members.
- [00:05:02.640]We plan to continue using this tool.
- [00:05:06.060]Lastly, I was able to see other parts of Nebraska,
- [00:05:10.230]such as Sandhills during my trip to Hay Springs.
- [00:05:14.130]Thank you.
The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!
You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.
Log in to post comments
Embed
Copy the following code into your page
HTML
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%; overflow: hidden; position:relative; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex-grow: 1;"> <iframe style="bottom: 0; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; border: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%;" src="https://mediahub.unl.edu/media/19706?format=iframe&autoplay=0" title="Video Player: 2022 Rural Fellows—Co-op Development" allowfullscreen ></iframe> </div>
Comments
0 Comments