A project of the Center of Southwest Culture that works to support healthy indigenous Latino communities, The Cooperative Development Center, or CODECE, builds cooperative businesses in the areas of organic agriculture, affordable housing and cultural tourism. CODECE advances the idea that the cooperative and communal models are an integral part of Native American life and have been an established form of working together for the common good among Nuevo Mexicanos for several centuries. To date, CODECE has helped create five co-ops and identified six other opportunities to form co-ops. As a next step, a small portion of profits from all co-op income will go to create a Sustainable Economic Development Fund, the parameters of which will be determined by a committee of co-op employees.