Moriah Ma
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Research Mentor(s): Margo Dalal, Executive Director
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Detroit Community Wealth Fund,
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 2 (11am – 11:50am)
Breakout Room: Room 6
Presenter: 5
Abstract
A co-op is an entity designed to meet the common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations of its members. They are jointly owned and operated by their members who also benefit from the returns. In Detroit, the Detroit Community Wealth Fund has worked toward educating people who are interested in starting a co-op and providing them loans. In the past, it has been difficult for this organization to successfully have students come out of education programs and start a working co-op. Because of the pandemic’s limitations on face to face interaction, it has become difficult to hold these sessions in person, so one of the objectives of this study is to create a concise and informative educational guide that is easily accessible online. In this context, easy to follow worksheets and content that addresses each aspect of a co-op will be the best tools to teach the program. To see if this hypothesis that engaging materials will work best in the packet, I reviewed past curriculum materials and in-depth resources that cover all aspects of successful co-ops. The results showed that these materials would fill in any gaps of understanding and give the students a chance to practice engaging with the ideas. The final product showed that materials that focused on confusing topics such as business feasibility and marketing by using examples and templates are beneficial.
Authors: Margo Dalal, Moriah Ma, Rosie DeSantis
Research Method: Community Based Research
