Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This is part 2 of an interview with Graham Mitchell, of Co-operative Care Colne Valley. He’s part of a group starting a social care co-op in the Colne Valley, West Yorkshire, and they’re also building a toolkit / step-by-step guide for people to start a social care coop in their own community. I’m interested in how this toolkit can help grow the cooperative social care sector.
Part 1 is here: youtube.com/watch?v=q11rfOo08F4
Here’s an introduction to co-operatives: lowimpact.org/lowimpact-topic/co-operatives
and here’s an intro to ‘community’: lowimpact.org/lowimpact-topic/community
Here's a link to a transcript of the interview, with links to organisations mentioned in the video: lowimpact.org/national-network-social-care-co-ops-graham-mitchell-part-2
We’re interviewing key players in the new economy, to:
a) bring their work to a wider audience
b) try to find ways to co-ordinate their efforts
c) stimulate debate
d) help to build the new economy.
Here’s what we mean by new economy - lowimpact.org/lowimpact-topic/new-economy
Lowimpact.org: lowimpact.org
Co-operative Care Colne Valley: https://www.valleycare.coop
Highlights
1. One of the reasons we wanted to do this replication toolkit / handbook was that we could see there’s a lot of work involved. I’ve helped set up a co-operative greengrocers – a simple retail business that was much easier than this. This is on another level.
2. We want to develop that body of knowledge, so that it can be a useful resource for others wanting to do the same thing. The idea of a care co-op in a box – so that other people don’t have to make the same mistakes.
3. There’s a lot of common sense in co-operative, community-based, relatively small organisations caring for people, and to have a lot of these organisations dotted around all over the place, networked together, so that you’ve got economies of scale, but with the human scale and local accountability that small size can give you.
This is part 2 of an interview with Graham Mitchell, of Co-operative Care Colne Valley. He’s part of a group starting a social care co-op in the Colne Valley, West Yorkshire, and they’re also building a toolkit / step-by-step guide for people to start a social care coop in their own community. I’m interested in how this toolkit can help grow the cooperative social care sector.
Part 1 is here: youtube.com/watch?v=q11rfOo08F4
Here’s an introduction to co-operatives: lowimpact.org/lowimpact-topic/co-operatives
and here’s an intro to ‘community’: lowimpact.org/lowimpact-topic/community
Here's a link to a transcript of the interview, with links to organisations mentioned in the video: lowimpact.org/national-network-social-care-co-ops-graham-mitchell-part-2
We’re interviewing key players in the new economy, to:
a) bring their work to a wider audience
b) try to find ways to co-ordinate their efforts
c) stimulate debate
d) help to build the new economy.
Here’s what we mean by new economy - lowimpact.org/lowimpact-topic/new-economy
Lowimpact.org: lowimpact.org
Co-operative Care Colne Valley: https://www.valleycare.coop
Highlights
1. One of the reasons we wanted to do this replication toolkit / handbook was that we could see there’s a lot of work involved. I’ve helped set up a co-operative greengrocers – a simple retail business that was much easier than this. This is on another level.
2. We want to develop that body of knowledge, so that it can be a useful resource for others wanting to do the same thing. The idea of a care co-op in a box – so that other people don’t have to make the same mistakes.
3. There’s a lot of common sense in co-operative, community-based, relatively small organisations caring for people, and to have a lot of these organisations dotted around all over the place, networked together, so that you’ve got economies of scale, but with the human scale and local accountability that small size can give you.
