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• Co-op Hudson Valley provides investment capital for worker-owned cooperatives, community-owned businesses, and traditional business owners looking to sell to their employees. We work to ensure we lend to businesses that align with our values. We prioritize working with businesses that:

• Actively practice democratic decision-making, or have an intention to do so.

• Have equitable ownership among members, with the intention to grow membership.

• Include and center members of color, Black and Brown members, immigrants, and indigenous people, and/or focus on serving people of color.

• Include women and gender non-conforming members and/or focus on serving women and gender non-conforming individuals.

• Address a specific community need within the Hudson Valley.

• Create jobs and ownership positions, and creates meaningful and living wage jobs for its members.

• Are financially viable, or will be after an investment loan.

• No Credit Checks Instead of credit scores we use close relationships between local project stewards and potential loan recipients to establish a borrower’s reliability.

• No Personal Guarantees We will never ask you to back a loan with your personal assets.

• Repayment as a percentage of monthly profits Loan repayments are not a fixed monthly amount. Instead we agree upon a percentage of monthly profits, after workers have been paid. It might take time for the business to reach breakeven (cover all of your costs and have profit available to repay the loan), and that’s ok.

• Simple Interest Our interest rate is not compounding, so you never pay interest on interest.

• Ongoing Support Co-op HV is invested in the success of your business, we only succeed when your business does. We are partners in your success, and are here to support your business on an ongoing basis until the loan is completely repaid. Often times, businesses will continue to work with Co-op HV for further financing needs.

As a member of Seed Commons, Co-op Hudson Valley follows Shared Principles:

• Building cooperative, democratic ownership within communities Seed Commons aims to combat increasing inequality by moving resources to cooperatively-owned and democratically-controlled enterprises embedded in their communities. This ensures that the benefits of investment are widely distributed to more people, who in turn own and control these assets in ways that are accountable to their communities.

• Productive sustainability Investing the resources of Seed Commons into financially sound and sustainable business projects is the foundation of our work. Long term sustainability is key to achieving community self determination and economic independence. Productive sustainability requires careful assessment of potential projects, high-touch training and technical assistance in democratic structure and business fundamentals, and ongoing support after investments are made.

• Maximizing community benefit Seed Commons produces community benefit by increasing worker and community ownership, and supporting projects that address social, economic, and environmental justice. We accomplish this providing financing and technical assistance to local enterprises that distribute economic power as they distribute ownership.

• Radical inclusion Seed Commons seeks to be radically inclusive. This means that our cooperative lends and facilitates lending to people from communities that have historically been excluded from access to economic stability: black and brown families, women and non-binary people, immigrants and indigenous communities, low-income workers, and others who have faced the brunt of the extractive economy, deindustrialization, and systemic discrimination. This requires that technical assistance, key in assuring the success of investment projects, is provided to all projects to overcome historic lack of access to the resources that are prerequisites for successful enterprise.

• Non-Extraction Seed Commons strictly uses non-extractive financing. This means the repayment of loans comes only from an increase in revenues or profits stemming from our investment. Repayment will not be extracted from prior existing business assets nor the personal assets of those who make up the enterprise. Collateral will be restricted to items purchased with financing from Seed Commons.