A purchasing cooperative is a collection of various businesses and organizations that pool their purchasing demand to receive better prices from suppliers and/or service providers. For example, a group of organizations get together and notice that all of their copier bills are increasingly higher than normal. None of them are happy with their current rate, so they decide to negotiate directly with their supplier for better pricing and terms. What they negotiate collectively  provides more benefits than if those organizations procured services on their own.

As we close out the year, the Community Purchasing Alliance Cooperative is taking stock of all we’ve accomplished together and gearing up for what’s ahead. The CPA Network has continued to strengthen its foundation, deepen its collaboration across CPA DC, CPA MA, and PowerUp OH, and demonstrate what’s possible when community institutions choose coordination over isolation.

On November 5th, 2025, 130+ CPA co-op leaders convened at the Festival Center to celebrate our collective work together over the past year. Our DC Annual Meeting gave us a front-row seat to what democratic ownership and collective problem-solving looks like in action.

Throughout the evening we hammered home our theme (along with fans clacking): our co-op has “boots on the ground.” What does that mean to us? It means that members are deeply rooted in our communities, practice enduring mutual aid and know how to weather a storm. We believe that even if things get harder, even if there are more layoffs, more budget cuts, more instability… we are still stronger if we are in it together.

This year’s CPA MA Annual Meeting was our second yearly gathering as a new cooperative of organizations and supporters building power through our collective spending. But it was also more than that. Together, we created a space to celebrate the power of “we.” From the moment attendees arrived at the historic Trinity Church Boston, the energy was electric. Conversations flowed easily, old friends reconnected, and new partnerships began to form.