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Starting point: Understanding of how cooperatives can democratize society and economics

Organizing strategy: Focus on one community, Davis, California and issues of food, housing, energy, communications, while developing funding relationships with a broad spectrum of local, regional, national and international sources

Tools: Targeted loans and investment

Outcomes: Without ever abandoning a local priority, identify Davis as a go-to location to test out the potential for new models of cooperative development.

Primary resources: community.c00p/twinpines/index.html

David Thompson went from a Regional Director of the National Co-op Bank to leading a private non-profit, when he took the helm of an existing organization to focus on cooperative development in Davis, but with many other extensions. Each project was treated with respect, and that became as much of a modality as cooperative ownership and member involvement.

Housing projects were knitted into the fabric of the town: congregate housing for the elderly, student housing, affordable units included in every design, energy efficiency, an appreciation for the local environment.

The profusion and integrity of projects over three decades is a monument to what intelligent leadership can accomplish when mated with the proper structures and systems.