Build Community and Tell Your Story!
POCA: Loving Yourself, Loving Your Community
So I went to a seminar on growing our co-ops. It was a beautiful enriching experience. It gave me
a new understanding of what POCA is and I wanted to share it with all of you.
If the problems of the modern world are
alienation
isolation
using people as means to achieve profits
…
we (coops) propose a different model
a different worldview
with our everyday actions.
…
Vibrant, successful community are our ends.
Because,
We are all lost without community,
because we are human beings.
AND
This is how POCA contributes to community:
Internationally by connecting to movements in the UK and other countries
Nationally by creating a viable sustainable future for acupuncturists (us!)
by creating a sustainable business model for acupuncturists
by creating a supportive professional community
by micro-lending that will enable access to the resources to open up
Regionally by creating regional communities that can do things together
Locally by each one of our clinics
We are actively creating vibrant communities around our clinics. Engaging and building
community.
This is a different model of engagement, we're not isolated acupuncturists, and people
aren't just patients.
And MUCH MORE!
We help each other envision the a better more connected future.
…
One way to help each other is by
Telling your story!
Change what is POSSIBLE
These are the stories I heard over the weekend and on POCA
The big ones:
Outpost food coop in WI with three store locations, kiosks a hospitals that provides food with 17,000 coop members. They are thinking about 4th store location and kiosk in YMCA wellness complex
Working Class Acupuncture with three clinics doing over 900 treatments a week with a total of 39,332 treatments 2012 in portland, OR one of the places in the country with number of acupuncturists.
The ones in small places:
Viroqua food coop: in a city of 4300 with 800 members running out of 920 sq ft store. Now has
2800 members out of county of 30,000.
Jade Community Acupuncture in city of 27,000 running out of 500 sq ft one punk avg 120-140 patients per week about 6000+ patient visits a year.
Share our solutions, our inspirational ideas for the future.
Success creates more vibrant communities. A better future for all of us.
So Participate in POCA!
(patients, acupuncture students, acupuncturists, CA punks, Clinic owners, organizations, other
coops, EVERYONE!)
-Join POCA (ask your friends, siblings, spouses, kids, parents to join!)
-Post on the forums (including just fun stuff)
-Write blogs (tell your story as a patient, a volunteer, a student, an acupuncturist, a clinic owner, a member)
-Tell others about POCA
-Donate to POCAtech
-Go to POCAfest and party with us!
-Volunteer for POCA
You don't have to own a clinic, work at one, or have one even close to you!
POCA exists because of you, your membership, your forum posts, your blog posts, your stories.
Love yourself by Loving community!
Author: Jade Fang
Opened Jade Community Acupuncture in July of 2009. Loving the CA experience. Love being a part of the community. It's my first time being in business by myself, so writing about the roller coaster ride it is being a first time businesswoman. Have some marketing experience, love to help people with their marketing. Really appreciate the community of support with CAN! Everyone's helped me so much!
“If the problems of the modern world are
alienation
isolation
using people as means to achieve profits
we (coops) propose a different model
a different worldview
with our everyday actions.”
Couldn’t be better said. Thank you.
Jade- I always love it when you post on the blog. <3