Who we are

Cedar is a rural community with few programs and services for people with disabilities. Cedar Opportunities Co-operative (COCO) is a group of people with disabilites and their families and others who live in the Cedar area. COCO is working to improve the well-being of people with disabilities and improve the community as a whole by providing opportunities for full inclusion in Cedar. COCO is looking at all avenues for inclusion but particularly at opportunties for employment. People who work in paid employment generally have a better income, better health and more opportunties for social interaction than those who are underemployed.
Our idea is to start a coffee shop owned and operated by people with disabilities. The coffee shop will be centrally located in the small shopping area in Cedar. It will provide income, job training, and many opportunties for social interaction for its owners/operators. There are no other coffee shops in Cedar. So, the COCO Coffee Shop will also serve as a social hub for the entire community through its day-to-day business and through monthly evening coffee houses/music events. This will ensure that people with disabilities are very visible in the community and are connected to community events. Also it will give artists, artisans and musicians (with and without disabilities) in the area a place to showcase and sell their work. The coffee shop will be located near the local highschool and will offer on-going placements for highschool students with disabilities who want to do work experience.
The vision for the COCO Coffee Shop is a place where people with disabilities are valued members of their community, and a place where everyone comes together to celebrate the unique assets of Cedar.
Finally we hope that the lessons learned through the COCO Coffee Shop can be recorded and passed on to other communities and people with disabilities who would like to try a similar model.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

First Post

Welcome to our blog! This is our first foray into the public world with our vision of a Cooperative in our community whose goals you can see above. We encourage you to support us in a variety of ways and we'll let you know what those are in the days to come! Keep on reading here on a regular basis for news about our plans, our members and our community.
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