Two Harbors, Minnesota lies on a beautiful stretch of state highway in Northern Minnesota about 120 miles from the Canadian border.  With a population of about 3,300, it is home to about a third of Lake county’s 10,700 residents, spread across 2,991 square miles. It is a challenging place to run a business, especially if that business involves driving in and around vast stretches of state and national forest, caring for people in their homes. But it is also a place where the in-home services provided by caregivers are desperately needed. Cardinal Comfort Care Cooperative was launched in 2023 with one-time funding from the State of Minnesota, designed to increase job quality for the caregiving profession in the state, through the development of worker-owned cooperatives.

Cardinal was fortunate to have an experienced individual at the helm from day one.  Executive Director Susie Rosette used the state grant funds to help convert her small owner-operated hospice agency into a full-service home care agency, now employing more than 20 caregivers. Rapid growth helped the cooperative be able to pay members a living wage plus a share of profits.  But growth also challenged the cooperative’s finance and governance systems, which were more suitable for the family-owned business that Cardinal used to be, rather than the new cooperative it had become. Assistance from the FJWO helped co-op members to improve financial systems and formalize board decision-making. With the backing of a $50,000 line of credit from the FJWO, the cooperative had the means to move confidently into the private pay market to expand its business even more. An additional $55,000 term loan helped them launch Red Bird Transportation, a Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) service to help clients get around town, and travel to the population center of Duluth for medical and other appointments. Since its founding only a few years ago, Cardinal has become one of larger worker-owned home care cooperatives and Rosette has become known as an outspoken and effective advocate at the state level for both caregivers and cooperatives.