The Willimantic Co-opARTive Fiesta in Connecticut held a Co-op Café in October of 2010, to bring together and tell the stories of cooperative leaders from the  region.  Speakers included:

• Margaret Atkinson, Green Mountain Spinnery (Putney, VT)
• Omar Freilla, Green Worker Cooperatives (South Bronx, NY)
• Jonah Fertig, Local Sprouts Community Cafe (Portland, ME)
• Kim Pinkham, Pioneer Valley Photovoltaic (western MA & central CT)
• Patricia Fernaud, Toxic Soil Busters (Worcester, MA)

Cooperative incubation work is now underway in the city, organized by the Cooperative Development Institute.  "The Connecticut Co-op Business Academy is a training and mentoring program for a collection of around 9 nascent and existing cooperative enterprises in or near northeast CT to usher them through a development process and help them to establish ties of mutual support among themselves. It is co-sponsored by the Willimantic Inter-Cooperative Zone, an emerging local co-op support organization co-founded by CDI Board Member Len Krimerman."  One of the participanting startups facebooks about it: First day of business class for the Steampunk Café. As prep for class #1, I had to watch three documentaries on worker cooperatives.