“Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives” Launches Public Appeal

“Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives” Launches Public Appeal
Inventive New Resource Turns to the Public to Raise Funds and Awareness

NORTHAMPTON, MA—The Toolbox for Education and Social Action (TESA) recently launched a fundraising and awareness campaign for its newest initiative, Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives, using Kickstarter (http://kck.st/CoopolyGame).

TESA, a worker-owned publisher of educational resources for social change, is seeking to raise $8,800 by October 2 to cover the costs of producing Co-opoly. Furthermore, this fund-raising campaign will support the creation of free educational resources to go with the game, and a national tour of Co-opoly that will promote the cooperative movement. Since the campaign launch on August 2, more than 80 people have backed the project on Kickstarter and several organizations have signed on as sponsors. In fact, TESA is now working with the Las
Indias Cooperative Group to translate Co-opoly into Spanish as well as Portuguese, and to make the game a part of their national cooperative campaigns in Uruguay, Spain, Argentina, and Portugal.

Co-opoly has already been featured at a number of conferences, including the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy, where it was a major success. Participants have called it “fun and engaging” and “a great teaching tool about how to build and sustain” cooperatives. In the coming months, Co-opoly will be showcased at events around the United States in order to build momentum for the International Year of Cooperatives.

Co-opoly is a creative and exciting educational game that teaches participants about the growing co-op movement. In the game, participants learn about the benefits, challenges, and workings of the cooperative world, and discover how the co-op model can strengthen communities and organizations. “Players make tough choices while putting their teamwork abilities to the test in order to cultivate the skills needed to participate in a co-op”
said Brian Van Slyke, the game’s creator. “Co-opoly is a game of skill and solidarity, where everyone wins or loses together.”

TESA will start selling the game in November in time for the United Nations Declared “International Year of the Cooperative.” They are also developing free educational resources that can be used alongside of Co-opoly in order to make it a more dynamic resource.
By looking to the cooperative movement and its supporters for help, TESA is following a tradition of cooperatives turning to their communities for assistance in launching ambitious and important projects.

What: The cooperative movement is gaining an innovative new resource; a fund-raising effort is underway to support this initiative.
When: Now through October 2, 2011
Who: Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives and The Toolbox for Education and Social Action
More information:
Co-opoly (including an overview video): http://coopolygame.com/
The Toolbox for Education and Social Action: http://toolboxfored.org/
Kickstarter: http://kck.st/CoopolyGame

Contact: Brian Van Slyke, 708-707-1784
info@coopolygame.com