What does growth have to do with Concern for Community, one of the cooperative principles? Aside from the bare legal structure, what really distinguishes cooperatives is that they operate based on a set of principles – seven of them. Some principles, like Democratic Member Control (involvement), become more of a challenge as the co-op grows. But growth can also facilitate other principles, like the seventh - Concern for Community. And it is this last one that helps me understand how a simple neighborhood business lawyer can be so passionate about one of the largest consumer food cooperatives in the country.
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