Dear Colleague,
Welcome to our latest www.Community-Wealth.org e-newsletter, with a new look for 2013. In this winter edition, we bring you a host of new developments and site features: - Today, February 8, The Democracy Collaborative and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT will release the findings of our case study: The Anchor Mission: Leveraging the Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth. The report focuses on the path-breaking Vision 2010 Program implemented in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio by University Hospitals. Over a five year period, the initiative targeted more than $1 billion of procurement locally to create jobs, empower minority- and female-owned businesses and create a “new normal” for responsible, community-focused business practices in the region.
- We’re excited to announce that the third business in Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperative network, Green City Growers, has planted its first crop of leafy greens. GCG will produce 3 million heads of lettuce and 300,000 pounds of herbs annually – while providing its worker owners with living wage jobs, no-cost health care benefits and wealth building through profit-sharing. The cooperative’s officialgrand opening is scheduled for February 25th.
- Democracy Collaborative staff continue to write and place articles on a number of important topics. Co-founder Gar Alperovitz argues that progressives at the state, county and municipal levels can further democratize wealth and power using a “checkerboard strategy.” Gar and Keane Bhatt of our research staff analyzed the reporting of the Wall Street Journal to demonstrate how the mainstream media underplays the importance of employee ownership. Our research director, Steve Dubb, recently wrote about the critical role anchor institutions can play in economic development.
- In December, Walter Wright of the Cleveland Foundation and I led a “Local First” webinar for our friends at BALLE. Our presentation explored how communities can engage anchor institutions to “buy local” and build community wealth.
- In the twenty-fifth of our continuing series of conversations with community wealth-building leaders, we interview Blake Jones, Co-Founder, President, and CEO ofNamasté Solar. Jones discusses the early stages of Namasté’s development, its current operations and structure, and the future of the solar industry and the green economy.
As always, we have added new links, articles, reports, and other materials to the site. Look for this symbol *NEW* to find the most recent additions. And don’t forget to view our regularly updated C-W Blog. You can also follow new developments on Facebook andTwitter.
Ted Howard
Executive Director, The Democracy Collaborative | 
In The Resilience Imperative: Cooperative Transitions to a Steady-State Economy, Michael Lewis of the Canadian Center for Community Renewal and Pat Conaty of Cooperatives UK, argue that climate change and its concomitant rising energy costs compel us to redirect our economic lives — using cooperatives, trusts and the social economy — locally and regionally. Highlighting innovative practices from across the globe, the book covers the “how-tos” of energy efficiency, low-cost financing, local food systems, affordable housing and land use reform, and democratic and cooperative ownership. 
Immigrant Worker Owned Cooperatives: A User's Manual provides detailed information to immigrant communities about how to create, finance, manage, and grow worker cooperatives. Penned by Minsun Ji of El Centro Humanitario and Tony Robinson of the University of Colorado, Denver, the manual gets into the nitty-gritty of organizing and managing a cooperative. 
The UN-proclaimed International Year of the Cooperative may have ended, but the international cooperative movement shows no signs of slowing down. In their newly released paper, Blueprint for a Co-Operative Decade, the International Cooperative Alliance lays out their “2020 Challenge,” which aims to position the cooperative form of business as the world’s leading model for economic, social, and environmental sustainability. 
Greening the Bottom Line, a report from the Sustainable Endowments Institute, highlights the role of green revolving funds — an energy-efficient financing mechanism that colleges, universities, and nonprofits have increasingly adopted as a means to fund sustainability initiatives in their buildings and operations. Authors Emily Flynn and Mark Orlowski show that the cost savings of these funds boost the bottom line for institutions while also replenishing the fund for investment in the next round of green retrofits, thus establishing a sustainable funding cycle. 
Good Jobs First and The Iowa Policy Project use statistical analysis to show how policies advocated by the American Legislatives Exchange Council (ALEC) have not only failed to produce positive economic results but have actually resulted in worse outcomes for states. Written by Dr. Peter Fischer, the report finds that ALEC’s proscribed policies to reduce or abolish progressive taxes, weaken unions, invest less in education and public services, and shrink the social safety net have led to economic inequality, wage suppression, income stagnation, and a sharp deduction in state and local revenue. 
This Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) report looks at what works (and what does not) in the green economy. Author Sarah White argues for a more coherent, cross-sectoral and broad-based approach to developing human capital and greening community economic development that is driven by equity, democratic participation, and sustainability. The report offers a number of possible interventions — highlighting best practices and lessons learned — that bring together workers, employers, industry and training systems in and out of typical clean energy sectors.
The Debt Resistors Operations Manual, put together by an anonymous collective of activists from Strike Debt and Occupy Wall Street, contains practical information, resources and tips for individuals dealing with indebtedness in the United States. Covering all aspects of the debt system — from personal debt to municipal debt — the manual shows how households, cities and countries are controlled by this systems. 
In this edition, we interview 
More than 500 people from over 70 universities and over two-dozen countries gathered at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania to discuss ways to better use university resources to build community wealth in neighborhoods and promote partnerships with public schools. Setting the tone of the conference, Ira Harkavy, Founder and Director of the Netter Center, opened by arguing that effective partnerships not only advance learning, but also strengthen democracy and improve the quality of life in cities around the world. 
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United) is a national organization dedicated to the needs of restaurant workers and committed to improving their wages and working conditions. ROC United engages in participatory research and policy work, employer negotiations, workplace justice campaigns, and leadership development to become the collective voice for low-wage restaurant workers across the country.
