On Friday, there will be a talk in South Bend led by speakers from the Purple Porch Co-op and sponsored by Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns.

https://socialconcerns.nd.edu/events/food-thought-cooperatives-and-community-development

It’s notable that the Purple Porch Co-op is a “community-owned café, grocery store, and farmers market.” As the webpage states: “As a cooperative business, they rely on people of the community to purchase equity shares and shop the store and eat at the Cafe Max.”

It would be interesting to hear from these entrepreneurs about how the co-op was formed and how it has grown since. Their innovative business model also aligns with our class discussions about the overlap between traditional entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs.