Cooperatives

Facing Consolidation, Communities Open Their Own Grocery Stores

August 27, 2023 Kennedy Smith, Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Create! Community Control, Cooperatives, Food and Agriculture, Grocery Stores, Public ownership

When the longtime owner of Hometown Foods in tiny Conrad, Iowa announced in 2019 that he was closing the community’s only grocery store, some residents quickly mobilized to buy the business and keep it open. A few of them pooled their money to buy the building; one bought the fixtures; another bought the store’s inventory. They then approached Andy Havens, who owns two small grocery markets in nearby towns, about managing the store. He agreed to do so – and he is now gradually buying out the initial investors.[1] Like Conrad, a growing number of towns and cities recognize that access to fresh, healthy food is a basic human right – and a civic responsibility.

D.C.’s Street Vendor Regulations Formalize The Informal

August 22, 2023 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. Create! Cooperatives, Governance, Local Economy, Mutual Aid, Street Vendors, Washington D.C., Worker Rights and Jobs

Informality often makes something beautiful. A rapper freestyling. A jazz musician improvising. A drag queen lip-syncing. Their organic, in-the-moment, uncodified nature is a huge reason they captivate and excite. Street vending is supposed to be the informal version of commerce. In this country, lawmakers and law enforcement have made attempts to codify street vending, and usually it gets pretty ugly, pretty quickly. Maybe this summer in Washington, D.C. will be the start of something different. After years of street vendor-led organizing, earlier this year D.C. Council Members unanimously passed legislation overhauling the District’s street vendor regulations.

Manifesto For Wholesome Cooperation: A Sociocratic Perspective

August 21, 2023 Sofa Coop Circle, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, New Economy, Sociocracy, Solidarity Economy

Sociocracy and cooperativism stem from the premise that humans thrive as social animals. Quite possibly, cooperation acts as our most characteristic trait as living beings. We need each other. No human effort, made by a lone individual, succeeds. Since the dawn of our species, we have engaged in cooperation, and we're still figuring out how to do it best. We could certainly do it better than we are now, and sociocracy sheds a light on the way forward. Sociocracy (also called dynamic governance) means governance by the socios: those who associate together. In other words, if you join, if you participate, you get to have a voice in decision-making.

How To Create A Debt Co-Op To Take Back Your Student Loans

July 15, 2023 Salish Sea Cooperative Finance, Erika Lundahl and John Beatty, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Education, Student Debt, Washington

The day we refinanced our first student loan, four debt cooperative members met for coffee and eggs at a greasy spoon at 8 a.m. to prepare the paperwork. Together, we all went to the bank, got the cashier’s check, printed the letter, and put it in the mail, and it was elating. So elating, in fact, that residents of downtown Seattle looked concerned as four grown adults let out shouts of joy outside a perfectly average post office after doing a seemingly simple task. But the task was anything but simple—and we had done it together. Like an untold number of ideas throughout human history, the nuts and bolts of what would become Salish Sea Cooperative Finance (SSCoFi)—a cooperative built to address the student debt crisis—were hammered out over nachos and beer.

Solidarity Economics – A Path Away From Capitalist Exploitation

July 9, 2023 Institute For New Economic Thinking, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Resistance Report Cooperatives, Finance and the Economy, New Economy, Solidarity Economy

Professor Jessica Gordon-Nembhard explores the potential of cooperatives and solidarity economics as pathways towards economic democracy and justice. Drawing on historical examples from the civil rights movement and the Knights of Labor in the 1880s, Nembhard demonstrates how cooperative economics can counteract the exploitation inherent in capitalist systems. She underlines the importance of communal ownership and shared decision-making as mechanisms for wealth redistribution, arguing that such models can liberate communities from economic exploitation.

What Ohio’s Co-Op Evangelists Learned From Spain’s Union Co-Op Network

June 21, 2023 Cinnamon Janzer, Next City. Create! Cooperatives, Mondragon, Ohio, Unions

For his 91st birthday three years ago, Bob Moore, the namesake behind the ubiquitous Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods brand, surprised his employees during a celebration of his 91st birthday. He unveiled an Employee Stock Ownership Plan that, as of April that year, turned his roughly 600 employees into co-op owners of a company that generated more than $50 million in annual sales in 2018. While Bob’s Red Mill might be one of the most high-profile examples of an employee-owned business in the U.S., it’s far from the only one—especially in Ohio. For more than a decade, Co-op Cincy has been working to both create new cooperatively-owned businesses and help current businesses transition to co-op models across the greater Cincinnati area.

Driver-Owned Ride-Hailing App Is Putting Its Foot On The Accelerator

June 13, 2023 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. Create! Cooperatives, Gig Economy, Lyft, New York City (NYC), taxis, Uber, Worker Cooperatives, Worker Rights and Jobs

Sometimes the money’s good, sometimes not so good. Either way, Shaun Beckles loves the human aspect of working as a for-hire vehicle driver — getting to know fares even just a little in passing, gaining a glimpse into so many different lives over the course of a single shift. “I’ve always liked driving for the mere fact that you get to meet some interesting people who can connect with your passion, you’d be surprised,” says Beckles, now operations manager at The Drivers Cooperative. The driver-owned ride-hailing platform, which launched in 2021, is hitting some major milestones this year: It has a new app, it’s the official transportation partner for Juneteenth NY, and

A GreenStar For All

May 24, 2023 Emma Karnes, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Equity, Food and Agriculture, Grocery Coop

In my hometown of Ithaca, New York, GreenStar has been, for many, a symbol and a center of ethical food retail since its birth in the early 1970s. When its Bylaws were first written in 1971, the GreenStar operation consisted of Ithaca volunteers driving the 56 miles to Syracuse and back every Saturday morning, transporting healthy and local farm food which they pre-ordered and distributed to community members at just 5% wholesale mark-up. Today, the consumer-owned grocery cooperative boasts three stores across the city, servicing 12,000 member-owners and thousands of non-members who are also free to shop.

What Sweden Can Teach The US About Overcoming The Housing Crisis

May 21, 2023 David J. Thompson, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Finance, Housing, Sweden

The housing-supply crisis in the United States has most impacted low- to moderate-income households. And, while the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program plays a valuable role in increasing housing access for low-income families, there is no similar source for moderate-income households. Lacking a targeted funding scheme, the demand for moderate-income housing grows, yet the supply is negligible. There are loud voices demanding resources for moderate-income households, but there is not as yet an agreed-upon policy or viable funding format to meet that demand. Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives (LEHC) — a cooperative corporation that owns the entire site of the cooperative, including all the apartments and buildings on the site — could be a supplier of much-needed, permanently affordable housing for moderate-income households.

Why Is The Co-Operative Movement So Successful In Emilia Romagna?

May 16, 2023 Matt Hancock, Low Impact. Create! Cooperatives, Italy, Solidarity Economy, Worker Ownership

In a region of 5 million people, there are 4000 co-operative businesses, that employ 250,000 people – just under a quarter of the entire workforce. The co-op movement in ER goes back to the mid 19th century, with roots in the workers’ mutual aid societies, and many of the early ones are still strong today. It wasn’t a reaction to capitalism. The co-op movement developed alongside capitalism. There’s an entrepreneurial spirit, but also a propensity to do things together – creating associations, unions, co-ops, credit unions etc. There’s joint purchasing and lobbying, collective bargaining etc. There’s a sense that ‘we have to solve problems together’ rather than as individuals.

Worker Co-ops Fund Themselves, Solve Equipment Crisis

April 26, 2023 Dylan Hatch and Adam Trott, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, New Economy, Socialism, Worker Rights and Jobs

The espresso machine’s motor acted up on December 30th and completely failed three days later. Suddenly, all lattes and cappuccinos, critical to the income of any café, weren’t possible for the worker- and consumer- owned Flat Iron Coffeehouse Co-op. “This sudden loss of revenue was devastating” said co-founder and worker-member Larisa Demos. Everyday saw a 30% loss in sales and a noticeably different customer satisfaction level amid Flat Iron’s cozy, warmth-filled environment. Flat Iron re-opened in December of 2021 as a multi-stakeholder co-op in Bellows Falls, Vermont. “We weren’t sure who would assist us as a newer co-op,” said Demos.

Exploring Italian Social Cooperatives

April 11, 2023 Trebor Scholz, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Italy, New Economy, Solidarity

Last week’s seminar with guest speaker Professor Vera Zamagni explored the various forms of value generated by Italian social cooperatives. Zamagni, an expert in economic history, particularly in the field of Italian social cooperatives, outlined the history and current prevalence of cooperatives in Italy, which are active in multiple sectors, including retail, distribution, agriculture/-food, housing, credit, and the production of goods and services. She noted that cooperatives were strengthened in Italy following World War II as a result of a provision in the country’s Constitution that mandates assistance for cooperatives and small to medium-sized businesses.

Housing Crisis Pushes Once-Thriving Co-op Movement Back Into Spotlight

April 1, 2023 Paul Weinberg, The Breach. Educate! Cooperatives, Democracy, Evictions, Housing, Privatization

When Eric Tuck lost two jobs at separate times in the 1980s, the Greenhill housing co-operative where he lived provided emergency assistance to him and his family. First, Tuck was laid off from National Steel in Hamilton, Ont. Two years later, he was laid off again from Firestone Tire Factory, only six months after he’d taken the job. Tuck was the sole breadwinner back then, raising two young children with his partner. Thrown out of work, he was forced to go on unemployment insurance, which was not enough to supplement his lost wages. But his co-op came through—both times—with a subsidy to reduce his housing charge. The Greenhill co-op was more than just an economic lifesaver.

In Buffalo, A Medical Campus And Community Collaborate For Equity

March 5, 2023 Matt Enstice, Next City. Organize! Buffalo, Cooperatives, Equity, wealth inequality

“If you want our money, you’ll have to work together.” That’s essentially what The John R. Oishei Foundation told three separate anchor institutions when they asked for money to fund new buildings on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC). As Buffalo’s largest foundation, Oishei has quietly supported the BNMC from the beginning. But all along, there was one steady condition: The institutions had to collaborate. Funding requests from individual organizations would almost invariably be rejected. Any request had to come from the campus as a whole. Insisting that the institutions collaborate wasn’t a popular decision. But it was the right one.

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