On June 19, 2024, the United Nations General Assembly voted to approve a resolution designating 2025 the second International Year of Cooperatives. The theme, Cooperatives Build a Better World, highlights the enduring impact of co-ops and credit unions as essential solutions to today’s global challenges, and leaders in advancing the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development, which concludes in 2030. A plan of action for “people, planet and prosperity,” the agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are critical to our common future. Together, co-ops and their members are building a more inclusive economy, addressing climate change, and strengthening food security.
The Neighboring Food Co-op Association was a leader in celebrating the first International Year of Cooperatives in 2012, and our core vision is as relevant as ever as we work to build a thriving co-operative economy, rooted in a healthy, just and sustainable regional food system and a vibrant community of co-operative enterprise. Together, we are supporting the shared success of our food co-ops, increasing our impact on food security and sustainability, and engaging in policy advocacy to build a better future for everyone.
We are also working with other co-operatives and credit unions to help raise awareness. For example, we partnered with our friends at Cabot Creamery Co-op and Organic Valley, two dairy co-operatives that bring together farmers from across the Northeast, to spread the word that Farmer Co-ops & Food Co-ops Build a Better World, TOGETHER! Look for this message on posters (printed by the co-operative printshop Collective Copies) at your local food co-op and in regional publications.
As we face many challenges to our common future, there is growing recognition that co-ops create lasting solutions. Co-operatives are also innovators, enabling people to work together to provide themselves with products, services, and employment. From farmer co-ops to food co-ops, worker co-ops to credit unions, housing co-ops to energy co-ops, co-operatives are also more common than you might think. The International Co-operative Alliance estimates that a billion people worldwide belong to co-ops. And here in the U.S., an estimated 1 in 4 Americans are members of a co-operative or credit union — or both!
Every day, co-operatives enable people around the world to help themselves and strengthen their communities. Let’s take the opportunity presented by 2025 to celebrate our history, tell our stories, and present a vision for the future that offers hope and inspiration — and Build a Better World, Together.
Learn More and Take Action!
- Check out our Resolution on the IYC and download template to introduce a resolution for your co-op Board of Directors.
- Download our template for an IYC Proclamation to introduce in your local town or city.
- Help spread the word by applying to use the IYC Logo on your website, e-news, and social media, and link to this webpage.
- Visit the official IYC Webpage to download a communications toolkit, tell your co-op’s story at stories.coop, and find more ideas for action: https://2025.coop.