Social Entrepreneurship and Social Movement Learning: A Reflective Account of the History of the TPSS Food Cooperative

Abstract

The Problem

Numerous generational and satisfaction surveys for the past several years have consistently highlighted that millennials want meaningful work and make a contribution to society. Unfortunately, most organizations, especially for-profit ones, do not offer even one of these criteria, no less both. Social entrepreneurship captures the desire for both millennial goals.

Unfortunately, people with the vision and creativity to make a contribution to their community or society at large lack both the social movement learning (SML) and human resource development/organization development (HRD/OD) skills to grow and direct the organization once it gets off the ground. So it dies, or ends up focused more on “the business” aspect of the mission rather than the social aspect of the mission.

The Solution

There was a social movement in the world of work that emerged during the 1970s and 1980s before the term social entrepreneurship was in use. It was called the food cooperative (co-op) movement. What has reemerged in the past decade under the banner of social entrepreneurship, such as organizations that support fair-trade practices, or collect food waste and turn it into compost for community gardens, or develop learning tools for disabled children, can learn lessons from the co-op movement of the 1970s. This article will present an account of one such food co-op and what was learned from the experience of the co-op’s growth for the past 35 years that can benefit both current and future social entrepreneurships. The article will end with a discussion focused on how SML and HRD/OD can keep today’s social entrepreneurship on the path of providing meaningful work and contributing to society.

The Stakeholders

HRD/OD specialists, adult and community education specialists, social entrepreneurship leaders, nonprofit and community leaders, and business incubators.