Commonwealth of Goods Organization 1976

File — Box: 1, Folder: 29

Identifier: Folder 29

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: In 1975 the Erie County Office of Manpower Resources under the jurisdiction of the Comprehensive Employment & Training Act (CETA), implemented and administered the Public Service Employment (PSE) program in Erie County. The purpose was to subsidize entry-level jobs in units of local government, school districts, public agencies, and in this case non-profit organizations; to provide transitional employment for the unemployed and disadvantaged residents in the area. The Institute for Community Services then, Edinboro State College sponsored the formation of the non-profit corporation "Common Wealth of Goods". The organization was a federation of cooperatives in Northwest Pennsylvania. It originated as a result of a research contract with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture which called for investigation into food prices. The intent for the research contract was to make the federation an independent entity of Edinboro State College. The Common Wealth of Goods was spread throughout North Western Pennsylvania, there were a number of cooperatives: What is considered to be "our" region is Region I, which includes Clarion, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Mckean, Mercer, Venango and Warren counties. More specifically, the co-ops were located in Meadville, Cambridge Springs, North East and Erie. The principal office and headquarters were located in the Edinboro Borough building.