About MCDC

Charity Schmidt

As a cooperative development specialist at the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, Charity provides technical assistance to start-up co-ops and facilitates outreach efforts to cooperators and community-based organizations. She coordinates the work of the Madison Cooperative Development Coalition (MCDC), the City of Madison’s funded initiative to form worker cooperatives that address income inequality and racial disparities by creating living-wage and sustainable jobs. She takes pride in creating spaces for co-op education and coordination, building relationships between entrepreneurs and community organizations, and contributing to community-driven economic development in Madison.

Charity earned masters degrees in Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies, and Sociology from University of Wisconsin-Madison. She taught classes on social theory, sociology of race and ethnicity, and American contemporary society at Madison College and UW-Madison. She has published work in topics ranging from diversity in and access to service learning, sociology in action beyond the university, and the crisis facing bee colonies. She serves on the Board of MadWorC, the peer to peer network of Madison worker cooperatives, the Board of Worker Justice WI, which builds collective worker power through training, labor rights education, collective action and community engagement, with an emphasis on interfaith involvement, and the Board of the Association of Cooperative Educators (ACE), which united cooperative researchers, educators, practitioners, and developers primarily across Canada, United States, and the Caribbean, and the Board of Shared Capital Cooperative, a lending and investment fund for co-ops. When she’s not working, Charity likes to kayak, play pool, listen to spooky podcasts, or just relax in her garden.

Contact: charity.schmidt@wisc.edu

Courtney Berner

Courtney joined the University Of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives in 2011 and served as a cooperative development specialist until assuming the role of executive director in January 2018. As the executive director, she develops courses, conferences, and other educational programs and works closely with the Center’s faculty director on the Center’s strategic direction. Courtney teaches a course on cooperatives at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that focuses on the role and management of cooperatives, cooperative groups, and collective action.

Courtney has provided support to new and established cooperatives of all types and in a range of industries including agriculture, grocery, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and forestry. Her areas of expertise include business development, cooperative finance and governance, and innovative uses of the cooperative model. Courtney writes and speaks frequently on the cooperative business model and recently co-authored Coordinating Farm Labor Across Farms: A Toolbox for Diversified Farmers and Farmworkers with Farm Commons.

Prior to joining the Center, Courtney worked at the Worldwatch Institute, an independent research institute devoted to global environmental concerns. Courtney holds an M.S. in agroecology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and bachelor’s degrees in biology, French, and environmental studies from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. Courtney served on the Willy Street Grocery Co-op Board from 2013-2016 and currently serves on the Wisconsin Economic Development Association’s Board.

Contact info: (608) 890-0966 or cberner@wisc.edu