Community Wealth Newsletter: July 2007

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to our latest www.Community-Wealth.org e-newsletter. This quarter we bring you three new developments:

  • We are pleased to announce our latest report: Linking Colleges to Community: Engaging the University for Community Development (PDF 1MB). University-community partnerships are becoming an important element in reinvigorating our civic life. Yet, overall, higher education remains a “sleeping giant” when it comes to strategically using its considerable resources to meet the challenges facing our communities. This report proposes a comprehensive strategy for foundations and others to leverage the $350 billion higher education industry for community benefit.
  • The Democracy Collaborative has entered into a partnership with the Cleveland Foundation to help develop the economic development component (PDF 140KB) of the foundation's multi-pronged initiative focused on the city's Greater University Circle neighborhoods. The initiative seeks to leverage the economic practices of local anchors (such as universities, hospitals and cultural institutions) to support community wealth building strategies.
  • We have also begun a partnership with the Leading Institute of Rutgers University and the Center for Public Leadership at George Washington University. Together, we will design and organize a workshop for mid-level planners and development practitioners that will debut this October in Washington, D.C. The program will include six full-day training sessions and three months of one-on-one executive coaching about the most challenging and relevant topics facing mid-level community building professionals.

I also wanted to bring to your attention two new features of the C-W.org website:

  • We've entered the blogosphere via our C-W Blog. Each week we post items about up-to-the-moment developments, breaking stories, new legislation, and more. If you know of something we should announce or feature, please send it along.
  • This month we unveil a new Community Wealth Building Toolbox. Our goal is to provide a starting point for practitioners seeking to implement community wealth strategies locally. Here you'll find manuals and other how-to materials. Combined with the links to support organizations in the different sections of our website, we hope these tools will provide a leg up for all of you who are initiating wealth building efforts in your communities. Please send us your own favorite tools so that we can include them in our toolbox.

As always, we have added dozens of new links, articles, reports, and other materials to the site. Look for this symbol to find the most recent additions.

University of MarylandTed Howard
Executive Director, The Democracy Collaborative

 

 NEW & RECOMMENDED:

Nation's Housing reportStudy Reveals 17 Million American Households in 2005 Spent Half Their Income on Housing
Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies' annual State of the Nation's Housing report found that a record 17 million American households (up from 15.8 million the year before) spent over 50 percent of their income on housing, a level that qualifies such households as “extremely cost burdened” (typically, for housing to be considered affordable it should cost 30 percent or less of income). In 13 states, including California, New York, and Florida, more than half of all low-income households applied more than 50% of their earnings to meet their housing needs.
report-jchs.pdf (6.5MB)

Asset Building Comes of AgeAsset Building Comes of Age
In a Spring 2007 article in the National Housing Institute journal Shelterforce, C-W.org's Gar Alperovitz, Steve Dubb, and Ted Howard examine growing efforts nationwide to integrate individual and community wealth building. Surveying innovative practices in a number of cities, the article explores the growing potential of across-the-board asset accumulation strategies that can more effectively benefit low-income communities. 
article-shelterforce.pdf (144KB)

Confronting Race & Building Equity in ClevelandConfronting Race & Building Equity in Cleveland
In a May 2007 report from the African-American Forum on Race & Regionalism, researchers from the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University, the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University, and PolicyLink adopt a wide ranging approach to issues of racial inclusion and economic growth in Cleveland. Using “equitable regionalism” as a framework, the study seeks to balance “in-place” approaches that focus on directing investment to low-income areas with approaches to better link residents of low-income neighborhoods with job opportunities beyond the neighborhood. Recommendations center in five areas: education, economic development, housing, transportation, and public health. 
execsum-johnson-et-al.pdf (4.2MB)
For full report, see, 
report-johnson-et-al.pdf (8.4MB)

 IN THE NEWS:

Worcester, MACommunity-University Partnerships Anchor Wealth Building in Worcester, MA
As detailed in a discussion paper sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Worcester has become “a living laboratory for university-community partnerships.” The city's University Park Partnership (UPP), led by Clark University, is seen as a national model. Clark's endowment investment has helped finance both improved K-12 schools and physical neighborhood revitalization. Other area colleges have also undertaken innovative approaches, including the College of Holy Cross, which has used loan guarantees to support affordable housing development, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which is building a multi-use facility (housing, office, retail, and lab) in a former brownfield site.
paper-marga.pdf (348KB)

Social Enterprise Study Sparks Debate
The Limits of Social Enterprise, a June 2007 Seedco Policy Center study, has generated considerable attention, including coverage in the Wall Street Journaland The Nonprofit Quarterly (link to article no longer active). Sparked in part by an internal examination of complications Seedco itself had in developing a social enterprise, the report provides a cautionary tale regarding the challenges of developing businesses that generate revenues while helping to fulfill a nonprofit's social mission. However, as Social Enterprise Alliance President Kris Prendergast (PDF 76KB) points out, such caution can be taken too far. After all, despite the difficulties, nonprofits that generate revenue are hardly new. As Prendergast notes, “universities and nonprofit hospitals are some of the most successful and long-standing social enterprises around.” 
report-kleinman-rosenbaum.pdf (976KB)

“Take Back America” conferenceESOPs Featured as Wealth Building Strategy at National Policy Conference
At the Campaign for America's Future “Take Back America” conference in Washington, DC (June 18-20), John Logue, founder and Director of the 20 year-old Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State University, delivered a presentation on the wealth building and job anchoring effects of employee ownership. To date, Logue's Center has helped generate or sustain 14,500 jobs in Ohio, as well as secure $349 million in equity for Ohio employee-owners. By creating similar centers in other states and integrating employee ownership into economic development strategies, Logue contends that similar results could be achieved throughout the country.
paper-logue.ppt (11.1MB)

New America Unveils 2007 Asset Policy Agenda
In April, the New America Foundation released its 2007 Asset Policy Agenda. Key policy priorities include support for children's savings accounts and a wide variety of other mechanisms to encourage savings (including for retirement and college), expand financial education, raise asset limits in public assistance programs to avoid forcing people to reduce their savings in order to qualify for aid, support microenterprise development, and strengthen protections against predatory lending, payday loans, and other “asset-stripping” practices. 
paper-boshara-et-al.pdf (292KB)

Strategic Corporate InitiativeReport Offers Vision of a Community-Based Economy
An oft-heard refrain is that anti-globalization activists are better at saying what they are against than what alternatives they favor. This report, coauthored by four activist non-governmental organizations, provides a framework for a 20-year agenda to redesign markets in ways that might protect common assets and redirect capital to meet community needs, while building countervailing community-controlled institutions that can enhance community rights.
report-marx-et-al.pdf (1.7MB)

Brookings Study Highlights the “High Cost of Being Poor”
Following up on a national report last year on a similar theme, this Brookings report focuses specifically on the high cost of being poor in the state of Kentucky. Not only are lower incomes themselves a constraint, but people with lower incomes face higher prices for the services they do buy. Among the added expenses faced by those making $20,000 or less a year in the state of Kentucky: car insurance, on average, costs the poor $384 a year more and cars of comparable quality $500 more. Low-income Kentuckians pay an average of $363 a year more in home insurance. They also receive less favorable rates for financial services and loans. To reduce these cost burdens, the study recommends developing financial services targeted for low-income residents and creating insurance pools that can help balance the scales. 
report-fellowes-et-al.pdf (6.8MB)

C-W.ORG INTERVIEWS WITH COMMUNITY BUILDERS:

Seema AgnaniSeema Agnani of Chhaya Community Development Corporation
Seema Agnani is founder and Executive Director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation, based in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded in 2000 to serve New York City's rapidly growing South Asian community, high land prices have forced Chhaya to innovate in its affordable housing strategy. Rather than developing new housing, the CDC has worked with City officials, architects, and homeowners to improve and legalize New York City's growing market (which now numbers over 100,000 units citywide) of “in-law” or “informal” housing. C-W.org interviews Agnani to get her perspective on current issues facing CDCs and the South Asian community, both in New York City and nationally.
interview-agnani.pdf (104KB)

 C-W CITIES:

Baltimore, MarylandC-W City, Summer 2007: Baltimore, MD.
(eighth in our continuing series of city profiles)
Once an industrial town with an economic base driven by steel processing, shipping, and manufacturing, Baltimore's economy increasingly centers on its “eds and meds,” most notably Johns Hopkins University and Hospital. Both the promise of anchor-led development as well as the threat of displacement for many long-time residents have led to a number of innovative community wealth-building efforts.

 CONFERENCE REPORTS:

National Cooperative Business Association & Cooperative Development FoundationCo-op Association Sets Path For Creation of National Co-op Equity Fund
The National Cooperative Business Association and its foundation arm, the Cooperative Development Foundation, held their Annual Meeting on May 1, 2007. Among the highlights of the conference was a proposal to launch a feasibility study to create a national co-op fund that, in the mold of a socially responsible investment fund, would preferentially invest in cooperatives.
article-dubb-ncba-cdf.pdf (100KB)

ncbCo-op Bank Highlights Purchasing Co-op Struggle against “Big Box” Stores
Hundreds gathered at the annual meeting of the National Cooperative Bank held May 2, 2007, in Washington, D.C. The centerpiece of the meeting was a roundtable discussion, that included Stacy Mitchell, Senior Researcher of the Institute of Local Self-Reliance, and author of Big-Box Swindle and a DC hardware store owner who is also an active member of the Ace Hardware purchasing cooperative.
article-dubb-ncb.pdf (100KB)

 FEATURED WEBSITES:

City First EnterprisesCity First Enterprises (Washington, DC)
Founded in 1993, City First is launching a community land trust initiative that aims to create one of the largest community land trusts in the country. With $10 million in support from the District government, which will leverage $65 million in socially responsible investment funds supported by New Markets Tax Credits, the group plans to develop 1,000 units of community land trust housing. Ultimately, City First aims to develop a total of 10,000 permanently affordable housing units.
www.cfenterprises.org

Homeward BoundHomeward Bound (San Rafael, CA)
A project of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, the Community Investment Network provides information on issues ranging from Community Reinvestment Act ratings on banks, predatory lending policy debates, and financial educations programs, to community development policy and links to local community reinvestment coalition organizations across the United States. 
www.hbofm.org

nacedaNational Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations
Founded in March 2007, NACEDA brings together 15 state associations of community development corporations (CDCs), serving as a new national organization for the CDC movement. Goals of the new association include advocating for public policy to support community economic development at the federal level, providing peer-to-peer support and development for state association staff, and supporting the development of new and emerging state associations.
www.naceda.org

Social Venture NetworkSocial Venture Network
Founded in 1987, SVN is a community of leaders—company founders, private investors, and social entrepreneurs—who share a commitment to building a just and sustainable world through business. SVN's work aims to provide a forum where socially responsible businesses and innovative nonprofits can meet and address in commons issues of social and economic justice.
www.svn.org

Uptown ConsortiumUptown Consortium 
Founded in the summer 2003 by the leaders of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, TriHealth, Inc. and the University of Cincinnati, the Uptown Consortium illustrates how nonprofit anchor institutions can help build community wealth. To date, the trustees of the University of Cincinnati alone have allocated $100 million from the university's $1 billion endowment to support the effort. All told, Consortium investments for redevelopment, new construction and neighborhood improvements in Uptown Cincinnati have totaled over $400 million.
www.uptownconsortium.org

 



October 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We released the latest module in our Ownership Futures series with Common Wealth focused on a new paradigm for Intellectual Property (IP) and Research & Development (R&D). The report includes an overview of the current approach to IP in the US and UK, as well as a series of policy proposals that can help ensure a more equitable—and innovative—approach to R&D.
  • We published a new entry in our Elements of a Democratic Economy series is focused public ownership within the pharmaceutical sector.
  • We share developments in community wealth building from North Ayrshire, Scotland; Liverpool, England; Preston, England; and Northern Ireland.

September 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We join the growing call to "Reclaim Public Medicine for Public Health," signing onto a letter advocating for the transformation of the pharmaceutical sector. 
  • We share a recording of a panel we moderated at Netroots Nation 2020 focused on the growing momentum for public ownership, exploring how grassroots campaigns are working to advance alternatives to profit-centered corporations in finance, energy and housing. 
  • The Next System Project published the latest entry in Prescriptions for Economic Renewal series focuses on the opportunity to defund and demilitarize police departments

August 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We share a new resource from Fifty by Fifty compiling materials on employee ownership. The Employee Ownership Resource Center includes orientation readings for getting started as well as a directory of field building organizations, trade associations, technical advisers and consultants, cooperative development organizations, financial institutions, state employee ownership centers, and research resources.
  • We share a new landing page on Local Economy Preservation Funds, which would purchase ownership stakes in small and medium-sized enterprises, hold them during the COVID-19 crisis, and refloat in the recovery.
  • We share developments related to building out a vision for a more democratic and reparative economy, as well as examples of COVID-19 recovery plans grounded in community wealth building

July 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We release a new guide for asset managers and impact investors interested in employee ownership transitions
  • We publish a joint report with the People’s Policy Project and the Next System Project about how a federal takeover can start to meaningfully address the climate emergency and remove fossil fuel interests from the political equation. 
  • We share video content from our Community Wealth Building Summit, and a revised definition of Community Wealth Building 

June 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We share Owning Our Future After COVID-19, a five-point plan that outlines how we believe our work can help lay the groundwork for a more democratic, sustainable, and reparative economy.
  • We release a new joint report by The Democracy Collaborative and the UK-based think tank Common Wealth on new approaches to ownership and control of the digital infrastructure that underpins the 21st-century economy. 
  • The Next System Project launched a new and ongoing symposium on proposals for systemic interventions to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. 

May 2020

This month's developments include:

  • The Next System Project recently released a new report, co-authored with Oil Change International, The Case for Public Ownership of the Fossil Fuel Industry.
  • Executive Vice President Marjorie Kelly and Research Director Thomas Hanna recently proposed the creation of Local Economy Preservation Funds in an op-ed for Next City
  • We share a new book from the Transnational Institute, co-published by The Democracy Collaborative and numerous other international partners, chronicling the global advance of municipalization

April 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We release a new white paper, jointly authored with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES): Owning the Future: After Covid-19, a new era of community wealth building
  • We share our recent work to address the COVID-19 crisis, including joining the campaign to push for a Green Stimulus 
  • We hosted an online roundtable about history of nationalization in the US, the demands currently on the table, and what we need to know in order to make sure nationalization is used to move us in the direction of a more democratic economy

March 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We reflect on the importance of bold policies to build a more democratic economy in response to COVID-19
  • We announce the Fund for Employee Ownership's first aquisition, Cleveland-based Berry Insulation, which will now be on the path to transition to employee ownership

February 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We announce the launch of a new project with Common Wealth focused on democratic public ownership
  • We realease a new Anchor Communications Toolkit
  • We published the first set of resources in a lcollaboration with Cooperative Energy Futures focused on leveraging the Green New Deal to expand energy democracy
  • We relaunched our website, democracycollaborative.org

January 2020

This month's developments include:

  • We release a new report focused on the intersection of employee-owned and mission-led businesses, finding that these enterprises outperform their peers on social and environmental outcomes.
  • We publish an article focuisng on wins for the democratic economy in 2018, highlighting polices and initiatives related to public banking, worker co-ops, and community land trusts.

December 2019

This month's developments include: 

  • We release the first issue of System Change, a magazine that brings together stories from the growing movement to build a more democratic economy.
  • We share The Case for Community Wealth Building, a new book co-authored by Vice-President for Theory, Research and Policy Joe Guinan and Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy at the University of York Martin O’Neill.

November 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We release a new report: A History of Nationalization in the United States, 1917-2019.
  • We announce a new commitment from 14 health systems that are part of the Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) to invest $700 millionto address the economic, racial, and environmental resource disparities that impact community health outcomes.
  • We share the Jobs for All Manifesto, which TDC has signed, joining many other organizations working for racial and economic justice in calling on our political leaders to enact a federal job guarantee and ensure that everyone who wants to work can have a living-wage job.

October 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We share coverage of the Healthcare Anchor Network in the New York Times, and developments related to Modern Healthcare’s Social Determinants of Health Symposium
  • We announce two new fellows, Dominic T. Moulden, Senior Fellow for Community Organizing & the Democratic Economy in the African and Latinx Diaspora, and Dr. Obery Hendricks, Distinguished Senior Fellow for Faith, Power, and the Democratic Economy
  • We share a new infographic on Democratic Employee Ownership Funds, and coverage of the inclusion of this policy into Senator and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently released a plan for “Corporate Accountability and Democracy”

September 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We share two new transformative proposals that drive equity and affordability in the critical sectors of medicine and housing: Medicine for All and a National Homes Guarentee
  • We announce the launch of the Anchor Learning Network, a three-year commitment from over 30 universities to implement anchor strategies that leverage their core business practices to build community wealth
  • We share developments in the field of employee ownership

August 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We announce the launch of our Climate and Energy program which will build on our existing work in these areas and focus on the intersections between a just transition and the development of a democratic economy
  • We share a new report from the Health Foundation on the role of the NHS as an anchor institution, drawing on lessons learned from the Healthcare Anchor Network
  • We share coverage and interviews about our latest book, The Making of a Democratic Economy

July 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We announce the release of our new book, Making of a Democratic Economy, authored by co-founder and president of The Democracy Collaborative, and Marjorie Kelly, Executive Vice President and author of The Divine Right of Capital and Owning our Future
  • We share three reports that offer important new insights and suggestions on how we can develop democratic public ownership
  • We release Public Finance for the Future We Want, co-published with the Transnational Institute (TNI), the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the Tellus Institute, Change Finance, Focus on the Global South, Fairfin, and the MOBA Housing Network

June 2019

This month's developments include

  • We share coverage about Inclusive Ownership Funds (IOFs), which would require corporations to place a percentage of shares into a trust operated on behalf of workers
  • We release the Index of Systemic Trends,  a series of economic, social, and environmental indicators that demonstrate the need for systemic solutions to the problems we face
  • We share developments related to employee ownership from Fifty by Fifty, and updates from this spring's Healthcare Anchor Network convening 

May 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We release two new reports: Anchor Collaboratives: Building Bridges with Place-Based Partnerships and Anchor Institutions and Mission-led Employee-owned Firms: The Best of the Best. 
  • We highlight the work of The Democracy Collaborative in the May 2019 special issue of In These Times magazine, “Getting to Zero,” which features an article on the need for democratic public control of electric utilities
  • We share the latest installment from our Elements of the Democratic Economy series and a resource on scaling worker cooperatives
  • We welcome Michellene Davis, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of RWJBarnabas Health, to The Democracy Collaborative’s Board of Trustees

April 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We release two new reports: Building Resiliency through Green Infrastructure: A Community Wealth Building Approach and Right To Own: A Policy Framework to Catalyze Worker Ownership Transitions
  • We discuss the growing  transatlantic exchange of bold proposals and ideas around building a democratic economy
  • We share a new video about community wealth building and employee ownership

March 2019

The month's developments include: 

  • We release a new report, Energy Democracy: taking back power. Authored by Research Associate Johanna Bozuwa, the report examines both the benefits and challenges of publicly owned energy utilities and the steps needed to bring about energy democracy
  • We share about developments in community wealth building from Preston, England
  • We highlight the work of the Healthcare Anchor Network, and an upcoming symposium on the social determinants of health 

February 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We share the latest edition of the Metropolitan Universities Journal, published by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities and guest edited by The Democracy Collaborative’s Manager of Higher Education Emily Sladek, focused on the Transformative Power of Anchor Institutions.
  • Research Intern Marie Therese Kane authored a blog post on the opportunity to connect student fossil fuel divestment campaigns to community investment strategies
  • We release a new entry in the "Elements of the Democratic Economy" series on Worker Cooperatives, and a new policy proposal for the creation of a Community Ownership of Power Administration

January 2019

This month's developments include:

  • We share developments related to employee and community ownership, including an op-ed from Executive Vice President Marjorie Kelly in Fast Company, an article on the role of regional cooperative bankds from Research Fellow and Founder of the Real Economy Lab Jules Peck, and developments from our work with anchor institutions 
  • We release a new installment of our CW City series: San Diego, California

December 2018

This month's developments include:

November 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We release the latest publication in our Community Wealth Innovators Series, An Indigenous Approach to Community Wealth Buildingauthored by Stephanie Gutierrez, co-founder of Hope Nation LLC.
  • We celebrate the launch of the Fund for Employee Ownership, a groundbreaking new investment strategy launched by the Evergreen Cooperative Corporation to expand the reach of employee ownership throughout Cleveland and Northeast Ohio 
  • The Next System Project recently released a new paper on the Community Reinvestment Act, providing a historical analysis of the legislation and a framework for a next system of community reinvestment.

October 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We share developments from The World Transformed (TWT) in Liverpool, England and share some of The Democracy Collaborative's writing on the Labour Party's bold agenda around democratic ownership
  • We highlight our Elements of the Democratic Economy series and our Anchor Collaborative Webinar series

September 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We release a new report Community Control of Land & Housing,  as well as a new series, "Elements of the Democratic Economy"
  • The Next System Project published a new report Taking Climate Action to the Next Level, which outlines a bold climate agenda including quantitative easing for the planet, public ownership for energy democracy, and anchor strategies for the energy transition.
  • We celebrate the passage of the Main Street Employee Ownership Act, the first law in support of expanding employee ownership to pass Congress since 1997. 

August 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We highlight the latest issue of Renewal which features the growing transatlantic dialouge on community wealth building
  • We share recent developments around further building a transatlantic learning and action network between our organization and like-minded colleagues in Europe, and recent press pieces highlighting some of this work 
  • We share a report back from our Anchor Collaborative Convening 

July 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We welcome Ronnie Galvin as The Democracy Collaborative's Vice President of Engaged Practice
  • We co-hosted the the inaugural convening of the Higher Education Anchor Mission Initiative with  the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities
  • The Next System Project released a new report, authored by Research Director Thomas Hanna, on preparing a policy for public ownership rather than bailouts the next time there is a financial crisis
  • We co-produced a new documentary video with the Laura Flanders Show that provides an in-depth look at the community wealth movement underway in Preston and elsewhere in England

June 2018

This month's developments include:

  • The Democracy Collaborative convened two powerful gatherings of leaders who are working to leverage anchor institution resources to catalyze inclusive, economic development: the inaugural Anchor Collaborative Convening and the two-year old Healthcare Anchor Network’s bi-annual gathering
  • We release the latest installment in our Community Wealth Innovator series,  "Embracing an Anchor Mission: ProMedica's All-In Strategy"
  • Fifty by Fifty launched a new series on the intersections of employee ownership and environmental sustainability

May 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We announce the expansion of Evergreen Cooperative Laundry (ECL), one of the worker-owned enterprises that is part of the Evergreen Cooperatives
  • We welcome Matthew Brown—one of the pioneering voices advancing the Preston Model in England—to The Democracy Collaborative as a Senior Fellow for the Promotion of Community Wealth Building
  • We release the latest in our CW City Series: Birmingham, Alabama 

April 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We release our annual impact report, highlighting the work we did in the last year to build community wealth and advance a more democratic economy
  • We share developments in community wealth building from Newark, NJ
  • We share President Ted Howard's remarks about the linkages between inequality, climate change, and the increasing imperative for systems change from his keynote to the Environmental Funders Network in Cambridge, England

March 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We share several new community wealth building developments, including the launch of the Owíŋža Quilters Cooperative, the first business in a social enterprise strategy to create jobs and build community wealth on the Pine Ridge Reservation
  • We announce the Anchor Collaborative Convening, which will convene anchor collaboratives from cross the country to share lessons learned and best practices
  • We share a new one-pager outlining the 8 Basic Principles of Community Wealth Building

February 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We announce the launch of the Higher Education Anchor Mission Initiative, a new partnership with the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) to advance the adoption of anchor mission strategies across higher education
  • We share developments around cities promoting community wealth building in the UK and in Rochester, NY
  • We release a new infographic on the Preston Model 
  • We release a new entry in our CW City series: Tacoma, WA

January 2018

This month's developments include:

  • We share a new resource democratic ownership models that helped inform a recent policy report from the UK-based Institute for Public Policy Research
  • We highlight a growing initiative around anchor institution support for community wealth building in Miami, Florida
  • We discuss developements in employee ownership across the U.S.

December 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We share our top publications from 2017 and discuss developments in community wealth building over the last year, including the launch of the Healthcare Anchor Network; innovations from Preston, England; new work from the Next System Project on energy democracy; developments in employee ownership, and more. 

November 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We discuss pathbreaking community welath building strategies emerging in Preston, England.
  • We discuss developemnts around hospitals and the role they can play in catalyzing community health
  • Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly was recently interviewed inYes! Magazine about The Democracy Collaborative’s work supporting Fifty by Fifty
  • We feature a new C-W City: Nashville, Tennessee

October 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We release a new report, Higher Education’s Anchor Mission: Measuring Place-Based Engagement by Senior Associate Emily Sladek
  • We discuss Democracy Collaborative President & Co-Founder Ted Howard's recent trip to England and developments around community wealth building in the UK
  • The Next System Project also published a new report from Laura Flanders on the importance of alternative ownership of media

September 2017

This month's developments include:

  • The Next System Project re-launches its website and a new podcast
  • We release the Anchor Mission Playbookprepared by Rush University Medical Center (RUMC), which details the process that RUMC developed to better align their institutional resources—namely hiring, purchasing, investment, and volunteer base—with community health and well-being.
  • Ted Howard and Gar Alperovitz author a new article, After the Storms: Defeating Trumpism, Rebuilding America

 

August 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We provide an update on our work with three different peer learning cohorts of anchor institutions: the Healthcare Anchor Network, the Anchor Dashboard Learning Cohort, and the CFLeads Family Economic Security Action Alliance.
  • The Next System Project recently co-published a report with the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) on solutions to address inequality
  • Executive Vice President Marjorie Kelly authored an op-ed about supporting employee ownership as an alternative to corporate tax incentives as a way to build local wealth

July 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We discuss city-level innovations in Richmond, Virginia and Newark, New Jersey
  • A recent article in Forbes highlights Fifty by Fifty’s report Impact Investing and Employee Ownership
  • We release the latest installment on our latest  Community-Wealth.org blog, a post from Democracy Collaborative Fellow and social enterprise expert Jenny Kassan
  • We release a new city in our CW City series: New Haven, CT

June 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We publish a new book from Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz
  • We release new report on Opportunities for Impact Investors to Scale Employee Ownership
  • The Democracy Collaborative launched the Healthcare Anchor Network, a group of more than 30 health systems working to improve community well-being by building inclusive and sustainable local economies

May 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We welcome Valerie Piper as the new Vice President of Engaged Practice at The Democracy Collaborative.
  • Executive Vice President & Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly and Chief Financial Officer & Director, Employee Ownership Programs Jessica Bonanno were honored by the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations with fellowships to further their research on employee ownership. 
  • In an article in The Nation, Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz, Next System Project Executive Director Joe Guinan, and Research Director Thomas Hanna put forward the idea of “quantitative easing for the planet,” in which the government would buy out fossil-fuel companies in order to keep unburnable carbon in the ground. 
  • The Next System Project announced six winning original essays from the 2016 “What’s Next?” essay contest. 

April 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We redesigned our Rolling Back Inclusion tracker
  • Democracy Collaborative President and Co-Founder Ted Howard and Democracy Collaborative co-founder and co-chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz contribute an op-ed to the Chronicle of Philanthropy  about how funders can invest in he new “laboratories of democracy” to support innovative and scalable, local and regional wealth building models.
  • YES! Magazine published an article that discusses efforts by two of the health systems featured in our Hospitals Aligned for Healthy Communities toolkit series
  • We release a new policy brief from the Next System Project, authored by Democracy Collaborative fellow Ellen Brown, founder and president emeritus of the Public Banking Institute, that explores alternative ways to fund and finance the rebuilding of America’s infrastructure. 

March 2017

This month's developments include:

February 2017

This month's developments include:

  • We launch our Rolling Back Inclusion tracker, which will monitor the state of critical community development programs and how they are affected by the new administration
  • We release two new publications that suggest ways to begin these conversations in your community: Jacksonville’s Community Wealth Building Roundtable, by Michelle Barth, details how a city-led convening unfolded in Jacksonville, Florida; and Sparking the conversation in your community, by Justine Porter, provides insights from a “Do-It-Yourself” convening process in Poughkeepsie, New York.

December 2016 & January 2017

This month's highlights include:

  • We release the third toolkit in the Hospitals Aligned for Healthy Communities toolkit series on Place-Based Investing
  • We publish the forty-first in our Community Wealth Cities series on Dallas, TX.
  • We share learnings from our December event Advancing the Anchor Mission of Healthcare
  • Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz contributed articles to TruthoutThe Nationand Medium 
  • Evergreen Cooperatives is featured in Smithsonian Magazine and in the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt museum’s exhibit By The People: Designing a Better America

November 2016

This month's highlights include:

  • A post-election statement from The Democracy Collaborative, emphasizing our commitment to continue to develop, implement, and project a powerful alternative that builds wealth and strengthens democratic life in communities across the country – with no one left out.
  • A summary of President & Co-Founder Ted Howard's keynote from Chicago Anchors for A Strong Economy’s inaugural conference, Driving Collective Impact through Anchor Collaboratives.
  • A new video from our Hospitals Aligned for Healthy Communities toolkit series on inclusive, local sourcing

October 2016

This month's highlights include:

  • We launch our new toolkit series, Hospitals Aligned for Healthy Communities, produced with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and designed to help hospitals and health systems build community wealth through inclusive hiring, investment, and purchasing.
  • We release of our latest report, Strategies for Financing the Inclusive Economy, which highlights tools for financing cooperatives as well as other broad-based ownership models such as employee stock ownership plans and municipal enterprise.
  • new working paper from The Next System Project was prepared as a framing document for the “After Fossil Fuels: The New Economy” conference held at Oberlin College in early October, at which our co-founders Gar Alperovitz and Ted Howard spoke.

September 2016

This month's highlights include:

  • Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly contributed an article to The Hill describing how broad-based ownership models can help reduce income-inequality.
  • Senior Fellow Steve Dubb contributes a post to Shelterforce’s Rooflines blog in which he discusses universities’ growing interest in anchor institution strategies.
  • Journalist Jay Walljasper recently published a story in On the Commons magazine about a social enterprise endeavor led by Native American Natural Foods (NANF), a participant in our Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building, a program to promote social enterprise and community ownership in Indian Country.

August 2016

This month's developments include:

  • We release Conversations on Community Wealth Building, a new book that features over 30 interviews conducted by Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb with leaders in the field of community wealth building.
  • The Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio receive national news attention from The Nation, PBS Newshour, U.S. News, and The Huffington Post.
  •  We add another community wealth interview to our website, featuring activist and practitioner Elandria Williams of the Highlander Research and Education Center and Democracy at Work Institute.

July 2016

This month's developments include:

  • Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly, Manager of Community Development Programs Sarah McKinley, and Associate of Community Wealth Building Research and Strategy Violeta Duncan contribute an article to the U.K.-based journal Renewal in which they outline the tenets of community wealth building and a vision for a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
  • A recent article in The Progressive discusses growing political interest in democratizing the economy and highlighted the work of Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz.
  • We welcome author, attorney, activist, and former candidate for California State Treasurer Ellen Brown to the The Democracy Collaborative team as a Fellow. Ellen is a founder of the Public Banking Institute.
  • As part of The Next System Project, we publish an article by Erik Lampmann on the importance of building LGBTQ justice into conversations about system design, as well as an essay from organizer Jennifer Bryant on a Washington DC-based cooperative that exemplifies Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s vision for a cooperative solidarity commonwealth
  • The Next System Project co-hosts a webinar on energy democracy in conjunction with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Local Clean Energy Alliance, Cooperative Energy Future,
    Alliance for a Green Economy, and the Sierra Club, and releases a new animation on David Bollier's proposal for "commoning" to change the current system.

June 2016

This month's developments include:

May 2016

This month's developments include:

  • The Next System Project teach-ins were recently held at the University of Washington Seattle, the University of California Santa Barbara, and the University of Texas-Arlington.
  • The Next System Project Co-Chair and Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz and Next System Project Director of Special Initiatives Ben Manski discuss the past, present, and future of the Teach-In movement in an op-ed published in Truthout, while Acronym TV and Counterpoint Radio feature interviews with Next System Project Teach-In Coordinator Dana Brown.
  • The Next System Project announces a national essay competition, calling for proposals on systemic alternatives. Winning essays by college undergraduates, graduate students and non-students are eligible for $5,000 prizes.
  • Our Co-founder and author of The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb Gar Alperovitz contributes an article to Salon that unravels the myths behind the United States' decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.
  • The Guardian features our Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly in a article on incorporating democratic ownership into the design of financial institutions.
  • The Next System Project Co-Chair Gus Speth and MIT's J. Phillip Thompson note the current opportunity to align civil rights and environmental movements to create deep systemic transformation in an article for The Nation.
  • Our Director of Strategy Development and Operations Jessica Bonanno gives a keynote address on community wealth building at the Poughkeepsie Community Wealth-Building Summit in Poughkeepsie, New York.

April 2016

This month's developments include:

  • We released a report, Rochester’s Market Driven Community Cooperatives Corporation. It was repared on behalf of Mayor Lovely Warren of Rochester, New York, and includes a feasibility analysis and implementation plan for the creation of employee-owned businesses in targeted low-income neighborhoods.
  • We inaugurated the Next System Project’s new teach-ins initiative with an exclusive interview with Noam Chomsky, in which he speaks about his campus activism experiences and his vision of a just society. We also released a re-cap of the Madison, Wisconsin and New York City teach-ins and watch as well as a highlights video from the New York City teach-in.
  • The Next System Project also interviewed Riane Eisler, historian and president of the Center for Partnership Studies, about her vision for building an economy rooted in equity, democracy, and nonviolence.
  • Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb recently published an article about the opportunities for community wealth building in Detroit in the Journal of Law in Society. Steve’s writing is also featured in the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies’ (BALLE) newly developed Shared Ownership Toolkit.
  • Communications Director John Duda appeared on Baltimore’s WYPR Radio, where he discussed worker-owned cooperatives.
  • In openDemocracy, Executive Director of the Next System Project Joe Guinan and Director of Research Thomas Hanna documented historical and contemporary experimentation with municipal enterprise in Britain in the United States in the context of the British Labour Party’s increasing focus on democratization and decentralization.

March 2016

This month's developments include:

  • The Next System Project reaches a landmark first anniversary: we host the first Next System Project Teach-ins in Madison, Wisconsin and New York City, release a new curriculum on system change, publish four new papers on alternative systemic models, release a new video on economic democracy, and published several new articles and interviews.
  • We share the release of a Stanford Social Innovation Review article authored by Nick Tilsen, Executive Director of Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, in which he discusses how philanthropy can better partner with Native American communities to support economic revitalization.  
  • Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb, along with other participants in the Learning/Action Lab, discussed our ongoing work at the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Portland, Oregon.
  • Sarah McKinley gives a webinar presentation as part of the Community Builders Webinar Series, which showcases developers, planners, and community leaders working to create stronger communities and diverse economies in the American West.
  • We welcome new Research Associate Jarrid Green and Research Assistant Emily Sladek to our team.

February 2016

This month's developments include:

  • We recap our Cities Building Community Wealth gathering, which brought together mayors, leaders of city economic development departments, philanthropy, and community advocates for a discussion on creating more inclusive cities.
  • Next month, the Next System Project will host its first Teach-Ins in Madison, Wisconsin (March 3-6) and New York City (March 10-12).
  • Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder & Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz contributed an article in The Nation, discussing how interesting experiments around democratized ownership and regionalism can be scaled up to build a new political economic system
  • We discuss recent developments in New Haven and other cities across the country that demonstrate a community wealth building approach taking root. Executive Vice President & Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly discusses this further in an Aspen Institute panel
  • Democracy Collaborative board member and President of the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (WRAG) Tamara Copeland authored an op-ed for The Chronicle of Philanthropy about the need for philanthropy as a field to address racial inequity. In a blog post for the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb similarly notes the imperative of combatting disparities and highlights opportunities for impact investors to play a constructive role.
  • We congratulate India Pierce Lee, Program Director for Neighborhoods, Housing, and Community Development at the Cleveland Foundation for her recognition as an innovator in Cleveland

January 2016

This month's developments include:

  • On January 29 we will host Cities Building Community Wealth gathering, held in partnership with the CUNY School of Law Community and Economic Development Clinic and the Surdna Foundation. 
  • We are pleased to release a new paper, Broad-Based Ownership Models as Tools for Job Creation & Community Development, authored by Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly, Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb, and Community Wealth Building Research and Strategy Associate Violeta Duncan. 
  • In a recent newsletter, Raymond Baxter, Senior Vice President of Community Benefit, Research and Health policy at Kasier Permanente, shared The Democracy Collaborative’s most recent report Can Hospitals Heal America’s Communities? To learn more about this publication, tune into the Dialogue4Health webinar on January 27, which includes Manager of Healthcare Engagement David Zuckerman and Vice President of Total Health Partnerships at Kaiser Permanente Tyler Norris as presenters.
  • The Next System Project published a conversation between Kate Diedrick of Solidarity Research Center and Atlanta-based community organizer “Mother” Mamie Moore, in which Moore discussed her background as an activist and the importance of community control in fostering transformative change.
  • Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gar Alperovitz delivered a speech on “Community Wealth in the Age of Cooperation,” which was also livestreamed on Bloomington Community Radio’s Standing Room Only. 
  • The Democracy Collaborative is now hiring. We are seeking an experienced Research Associate for our research department as well as a Research Assistant to work closely with Gar Alperovitz. Find more information, as well as application instructions, on our website.

December 2015

This month's developments include:

  • The Democracy Collaborative released a new healthcare white paper co-authored with a Vice President of Kaiser Permanente.
  • We launched the Next System Project’s Teach-In initiative, an endeavor to bring a profound debate and discussion on the Next System to colleges and universities nationwide.
  • We are excited to announce a New York City convening focused on our most recent report, Cities Building Community Wealth.

November 2015

This month's developments include:

  • The release of our latest report, Cities Building Community Wealth, written by Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow Marjorie Kelly and Manager of Community Development Programs Sarah McKinley. The report will be the centerpiece of a convening involving mayors, directors of economic development, scholars and practitioners on January 29 2016, co-hosted by the CUNY School of Law School Community and Economic Development Clinic.
  • The Next System Project released a collection of essays by Co-Chair Gus Speth entitled Getting to the Next System: Guideposts on the way to a new political economy. This second report in the Next System Project research series outlines the nature of system change, pathways forward, and a vision for a new American Dream.
  • Sarah McKinley and Ted Howard visisted St. Paul, Minnesota to meet with Nexus Community Partners, a community development intermediary in the Twin Cities focused on building community capacity. Building on The Democracy Collaborative's economic development framework, Nexus recently published a report about designing and implementing a community wealth building strategy for St. Paul's East Side.
  • Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb wrote an article for Shelterforce's blog Rooflines on the $1.2 billion social enterprise industry and delivered the keynote address at the North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) conference. Manager of Healthcare Engagement David Zuckerman was interviewed by Catholic Health World about strategies hospitals can take to strengthen their local economies.
  • The Democracy Collaborative congratulates our friend at Cleveland's Evergreen Energy Solutions (E2S) on their ranking in Fortune's list of the 100 fastest-growing inner city businesses.
  • We are also delighted to welcome several new staff members to our growing team!

October 2015

This month's developments include:

  • The Next System Project released their newest video, Transforming Cities, Changing the System. They also published an interview with the historian Jessica Gordon Nembhard.
  • We release our latest C-W Interview with community economics expert Michael Shuman.
  • Director of Special Projects Steve Dubb commented on the role of Community Development Credit Unions in an article in Yes! Magazine. 
  • President & Co-Founder Ted Howard spoke at the German Marshall Fund’s Bilbao Urban Innovation and Leadership Dialogues (BUILD) conference in Spain; Executive Director of the Next System Project Joe Guinan and Director of Research Thomas Hanna discussed public ownership in an article in openDemocracy. Thomas also opened a Pennsylvania Public Bank Projectconference and webinar at the University of Pittsburgh.
  • Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz delivered the opening plenary keynote address at the 2015 Social Capital Markets Conference (SOCAP), and published articles in Truthout, Yes! Magazine, and Al Jazeera. Gar also spoke at the 45th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference and on Boston public radio’sOpen Source with Christopher Lydon.

September 2015

This month's developments include:
  • Our latest report, Educate and Empower: Tools for Building Community Wealth, was profiled in Forbes magazine, Shareable, MassLive & Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). The Democracy Collaborative also hosted a webinar on practical strategies to empower residents to participate in community economic development.
  • Gar Alperovitz, co-founder of The Democracy Collaborative and co-chair of the Next System Project, published an article in the RSA Journal.
  • Gus Speth, co-chair of the Next System Project and senior fellow, was interviewed as a feature in the “Change Agent” series of the Great Transition Initiative, where he discussed his own environmental background and the goals of the Project.
  • Last month, Next System Project Executive Director Joe Guinan joined Social Capital Markets’ (SOCAP) Co-founder & Convener Kevin Jones and sociology Professor Juliet Schor to facilitate a twitter chat about the need for systemic change. 
  • Steve Dubb contributed to Shelterforce magazine’s Rooflines blog on the subject of converting businesses to employee ownership, and Ted Howard recently had the opportunity to talk with Equitable Opportunity radio about the role anchor institutions and worker cooperatives play in building a more inclusive economy. 
  • Thomas Hanna, director of research, and Marjorie Kelly, executive vice president and senior fellow, had articles featured by the Great Transition Initiative on public ownership & common wealth trusts.   
  • The Atkinson Foundation released two reports in their series on community wealth building initiatives in Toronta: The Prosperous Province: Strategies for Community Wealth. 
  • Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives' highly innovative home-buyer program for employees was recently featured in Yes! Magazine, and Green City Growers was profiled in Crain’s Cleveland Business for its rapid growth. 

August 2015

This month's developments include:

  • We release of our latest report Educate and Empower: Tools for Building Community Wealth.

  • In the New York Times, Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz and Research Director Thomas Hanna wrote about the prevalence of public ownership in the United States and how conservative states like Texas, Alaska, and Nebraska have embraced it as a means to provide social services and lower the public’s tax burden. 
  • In The Nation, Gar marked the seventieth anniversary of Hiroshima by challenging Americans to face the reality that the atomic bombings were not, in fact, a matter of military necessity. 
  • The Next System Project was cited in MintPress News and Gar discussed the effort on WBAI’s Building Bridges radio program and in an interview with Social Capital Markets (SOCAP). 

  • In a piece for Medium, Director of Communications John Duda emphasized the need to think critically about who benefits from solar energy development, highlighting institutions and policies that are building wealth in low-income communities and communities of color while at the same time creating a more sustainable energy system. 

  • The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) profiled The Democracy Collaborative and the work of BALLE Local Economy Fellow Steve Dubb.

  • Recommended reads: Capitalism for Everyone: Encouraging Companies to Adopt Employee Ownership Programs and Broad-Based Profit Sharing from the Center for American Progress; Realizing Possibilities of the Connected Economy from the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society; City Financial Inclusion Efforts: A National Overview from the National League of Cities; and Building Financial Capability: A Planning Guide for Integrated Services from CFED. 

  • Featured websites: Community Wealth Building, Metro Denver’s Economic Prosperity Network; and Racial Equity Tools

July 2015

This month’s developments include: 

  • We re-launch Community-Wealth.org website and release a new animated film explaining the community wealth building approach.
  • The Democracy Collaborative is hiring for the following positions: Office Administrator, Communications Associate, Special Assistant to the Co-Founder,and National Coordinator of Teach-Ins on the Next System. 
  • Gus Speth, Co-Chair of the Next System Project and a Senior Fellow with The Democracy Collaborative, speaks about the imperative of taking a systemic approach to confront the environmental crises facing us in The Leap. The Next System Project also released a new video featuring MIT Associate Professor of Urban Politics Phillip Thompson.
  • We congratulate our partners in the Northwest Area Foundation-funded Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building on several important milestones, as well as the Community Wealth Building Initiative for the launch of its first employee-owned company. 
  •  An article in New Start Magazine examines critical success factors in the development of Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives. Manager of Community Development Programs Sarah McKinley was interviewed in the Polish publication Magazyn Miasta (Cities Magazine).
  • Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz contrasts American and European urban challenges in City by City: Dispatches from the American Metropolis, a collection of essays co-published by the culture and politics magazine n+1
  • Recommended reads: Locking in the Promise to Buy Local from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Building Momentum from the Ground Up: A Toolkit for Promoting Justice in Policing from the The Center for Popular Democracy and PolicyLink; Increasing Financial Well-Being through Integration: Gaining and Sustaining Housing Stability from CFED; Land Banks and Land Banking: 2nd Edition from the Center for Community Progress.
  • Featured websites: Wellspring Collaborative; Future Economy

June 2015

This month’s developments include: 

  • We feature a short documentary about the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, a participant in our Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building. 
  • On May 20, we hosted the National Launch webinar for the Next System Project, moderated by Laura Flanders of GRITtv. We feature webinar panelists Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of PolicyLink, and Juliet Schor, professor of Sociology at Boston College, in two new videos from the Next System Project. 
  • The Next System Project is featured in Waging Nonviolence  and Treehugger. Research Director Steve Dubb discussed the trajectory of the new economy movement in Shelterforce magazine’s Rooflines. 
  • The Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz contributed an article to Al Jazeera, and draws on the Roosevelt Institute’s most recent report, Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy, written by Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz
  • Recommended reads: Cooperation among Cooperatives: Quantifying the Business Case for Credit Unions and Other CooperativesFilene Research Institute; Powerful Partners: Lessons from Community Foundations about Resident Engagement, CFLeads; Flexible Savings: The Missing Foundation for Financial Security and Economic Mobility,  New America; Austin Co-Op Summit 2015: Local Government Support for CooperativesDemocracy at Work Institute & Austin Cooperative Business Association
  • Featured websites: Ecotrust; Co-op Law

May 2015

This month’s developments include: 

  • We release the public summary of our latest report, Healthcare Small Business Gap Analysis
  • We announce the establishment of Anchors for Resilient Communities (ARC), a partnership with Health Care Without Harm and Emerald Cities Collaborative.
  • The Next System Project is featured in The Nation, YES! Magazine and Orion Magazine. Articles in Grist and Next City  highlight The Democracy Collaborative’s work in Cleveland, Baltimore, and Rochester. The cities of Philadelphia, Toronto and Preston, England launch anchor-based community wealth building strategies. 
  • New C-W City: Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Recommended reads: Beyond Business as Usual: Putting Cooperation to Work in Austin, TXCooperation Texas; Our Kind of Town: A Financial Plan that Puts Chicago’s Communities First, The ReFund America Project, Roosevelt Institute; Successful Cooperative Ownership Transitions: Case Studies on the Conversion of Privately Held Businesses to Worker Cooperatives, Democracy at Work Institute and the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives; Exploring Economic and Health Impacts of Local Food Procurement, Illinois Public Health Institute and the Crossroads Resource Center.
  • Featured websites: Economics for Equity & Environment; Build Healthy Places Network

April 2015

This month’s developments include:

  • We launch the Next System Project and release the first Next System Project report, The Next System Project: New Political-Economic Possibilities for the 21st Century. On May 20 at 3 pm EDT, we will host a free webinar on the project.
  • We release a new report, Community Wealth Building in Jackson, Mississippi: Strategic Considerations, which identifies opportunities to build a cooperative economy in Jackson, Mississippi linked to anchor institution procurement.
  • On April 28, The Democracy Collaborative will co-host a webinar with Project Equity on their latest report, Business Conversions to Worker Cooperatives: Insights and Readiness Factors for owners and employees. 
  • C-W Interview: Emily Kawano, co-director of the Wellspring Cooperative Corporation, based in Springfield, Massachusetts.

March 2015

This month’s developments include:

  • We release our first annual impact report. 
  • In Nonprofit Quarterly, Democracy Collaborative Co-founder Gar Alperovitz discusses the growing wealth and income divide in the United States. Gar also co-authored an article with Senior Research Associate Thomas Hanna in YES! Magazine, in which they discuss net neutrality and community-owned broadband.
  • We announce that we will be working with the City of Rochester, New York to develop a plan to launch worker-owned cooperatives in partnership with local anchor institutions.
  • Politico Magazine highlighted the Evergreen Cooperatives and their role in the Greater University Circle Initiative in an article and video. 
  • Our report A New Anchor Mission for a New Century was cited by Laura Flanders in YES! Magazine; Peter Berliner, managing director of Mission Investors Exchange; and Gerry Roll, Executive Director for the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky.

February 2015

This month’s developments include:

  • We highlight the release of the Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO) Collective's free e-book, Scaling Up the Cooperative Movementco-edited by Democracy Collaborative Senior Research Associate Thomas Hanna. Additionally, Thomas’s blog on locally owned power in Nebraska was featured in Yes! Magazine. 
  • We congratulate our friends and partners at the Roosevelt Institute | Campus Network for receiving the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. 
  • Executive Director Ted Howard, Research Director Steve Dubb, and  Senior Research Associate David Zuckerman presented at the 14th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference. 
  • In Alternet, Senior Fellow Gus Speth describes the current state of “uneconomic growth” in America, highlighting several locally rooted business forms that can support a transition to a people-oriented economy. 
  • Community Development Associate Violeta Duncan describes community foundations’ transition from passive to active grantmaking in an article in Social Enterprise Canada

January 2015

Happy New Year and welcome to our January www.Community-Wealth.org newsletter. We start 2015 with the following developments:

  • Our most recent report A New Anchor Mission for a New Century was profiled earlier this month in Forbes magazine and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
  • In an Al Jazeera article, Democracy Collaborative Co-founder Gar Alperovitz argues for a guaranteed income to improve the plight of veterans and in a Truthout article Gar explores the challenges of structuring institutions of justice. Gar and the Collaborative are also cited in an article in Dissent magazine describing Reading, Pennsylvania’s rebuild Reading initiative.
  • We share the findings of the National Cooperative Business Association's exploratory journey (Democracy Collaborative Research Director Steve Dubb participated in the delegation) to learn about the conversion of state controlled enterprises into worker-owned cooperative in Cuba.
  • In December, our Executive Director Ted Howard presented at the Annual Learning Exchange of the Richmond based B-corp and CDFI, Virginia Community Capital. 
  • C-W Interview: Ed Whitfield, Fund for Democratic Communities

December 2014

This month’s new developments include:

  • The Democracy Collaborative highlights the accomplishments of this past year. We published four major reports and partnered with local leaders in communities around the country to design community wealth building strategies.
  • We look forward to 2015 and continuing our work on the Learning/ Action Lab for Community Wealth Building and The Anchor Dashboard Learning Cohort, along with a myriad of other projects, including the Next System Project.
  • We re-launch our web portal www.Community-Wealth.org early in the coming year.
  • We introduce our newest, C-W City:  Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Though one of the most segregated cities in America, residents in Milwaukee are working hard to promote economic and social inclusion.

November 2014

This month's new developments include: 
 
  • The Democracy Collaborative released a new report, A New Anchor Mission for a New Century: Community Foundations Deploying All Resources to Build Community Wealth.
  • We launched our Anchor Dashboard Learning Cohort, a group of universities that will work together to measure their impact in communities, and share results, challenges and successes.
  • Executive Director Ted Howard discusses the need for a new federal policy strategy to help cities leverage the economic might of their anchor institutions to benefit communities in the Center for American Progress’ TalkPoverty blog
  • Journalist Tanvi Misra discusses anchors as a place-based community revitalization strategy in The Atlantic’s CityLab.
  • In an openDemocracy article, University of Oxford political theorist Stuart White notes the role that community wealth building can have as a potential solution to widening inequality.
  • Fast Company magazine celebrates Thunder Valley Community Economic Development Corporation, a participant in our Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building from the Pine Ridge Reservation.
  • Democracy Collaborative Co-founder Gar Alperovitz contributed articles to Truthout & Al Jazeera and attended the Praxis Institute’s Economics of Sustainability Conference & La Montanita Co-op’s annual meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
  • C-W Interview:  José Corona, Executive Director of Inner City Advisors (ICA)

October 2014

This month's new developments include: 

  • We showcase our new animated video on the Cleveland Model and our entries to Naomi Klein’s new website Beautiful Solutions.
  • The Democracy Collaborative has joined the Mayor’s Office in New Orleans and the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA) in a major new initiative to build community wealth.
  • Mayor Alvin Brown of Jacksonville, Florida announced a new Community Wealth Building Initiative in Northwest Jacksonville to help connect neighborhood businesses to local anchor institutions.
  • Democracy Collaborative Senior Fellow and Co-Chair of the Next System Project Gus Speth has a new memoir entitled Angels by the River.
  • Democracy Collaborative Co-Founder Gar Alperovitz, writes on community ownership in the featured article in Shelterforce Magazine’s latest issue on work in America.
  • Research Director Steve Dubb has been named a BALLE Local Economy Fellow.
  • Steve Dubb and Research Associate Sarah McKinley participated on a panel about our Learning/Action Lab for community wealth building at the CFED Asset’s Learning Conference.
  • Burlington, Vermont Supports Local Ownership
  • Revitalizing Public Housing in New Orleans Offers Lessons for other Cities
  • Leaders Identify Pathways to a Sustainable and Inclusive Economy
  • Rental Market Speculation Disrupts Communities
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Commission to Build a Healthier
  • Toolbox for Education and Social Action

September 2014

This month's new developments include: 

  • The Democracy Collaborative released a new report, Policies for Community Wealth Building: Leveraging State and Local Resources. 
  • The Washington Post published an article describing Richmond, Virginia’s newly established Office of Community Wealth Building. New Republic article explored how cooperatives can support a green economy and a Yes! Magazine article focused on how land trusts, worker ownership, and public banking can help reduce inequality.
  • Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times and appears in a joint interview with economic geography scholar David Harvey, conducted by Journalist Laura Flanders of GRITtv.
  • New Report Outlines Emerging Best Practices in State & Local Policies to Build Community Wealth
  • Federal Commitment to Higher Workforce Standards Reduces Inequality
  • Communities Address Racial Inequity through Investment in Local Food Systems
  • Healthcare Institutions Invest Locally to Build Sustainable and Healthy Communities
  • The Road So Far: Penn Leaders Recount Path to Building an Anchor Mission
  • Participatory Budgeting Project
  • Impact Investing Policy Collaborative

August 2014

This month's new developments include: 

  • The Democracy Collaborative has just re-launched our organizational website
  • The Democracy Collaborative discusses the value of women-owned cooperatives like Cooperative Home Care AssociatesSi Se Puede! Women's CooperativeWe Can Do It! Inc.; and Beyond Care Childcare Cooperative.
  • The Democracy Collaborative is delighted to welcome Jessica Bonanno to our staff as a Community Development Associate. 
  • Echoing Green Fellow Hilary Abell, offers insight into cooperative development and particpates in an interview with Laura Flanders of GRITtv.
  • C-W Cty: Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Guide Outlines Strategies to Sustain Community Assets
  • Workforce Development Leaders Examine the Potential of Sector-Based Stategies to Uplift Low-Income Workers
  • Communities Rebuff Zero-Sum Subsidies and Embrace Regional Equity
  • Credit Unions Obtain New Sources of Capital through CDFI Certification
  • Federal Communities
  • Economic Hardship Reporting Project

July 2014

This month's new developments include: 

  • The Democracy Collaborative is pleased to share our latest report, Building Community Wealth: An Action Plan for Northwest Jacksonville
  • Democracy Collaborative co-fonder Ted Howard discussed best practice approaches for measuring the impact of anchor institutions in a webinar hosted by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). He also moderated a plenary panel at CleanMed 2014 on the Cleveland anchor institution framework
  • Research Director Steve Dubb’s Leveraging the Power of Local Institutions presentation at the American Independent Business Alliance’s 2014 Go Local, Grow Local conference is also available
  • Working with the Northwest Area Foundation and Native American community development leaders from across the northwestern United States, The Democracy Collaborative recently wrapped up the first year of our Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building”
  • enior Research Associate Thomas Hanna and Andrew McLeod of Collective Seeds Consulting Cooperative guest edit Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO)’s blog series, Scaling-Up the Cooperative Movement
  • C-W Interview: Ai Jen Poo
  • Guide Outlines Strategies to Sustain Community Assets
  • Philanthropic Organizations Seek to Expand Social Impact
  • Report Outlines Agenda to Increase Financial Service Access in Communities of Color
  • Latino and African American Homeowners Face Continued High Levels of Underwater Mortgages
  • National Resource Network
  • The Working World
  •  Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz spoke on the keynote panel at the New Economy Coalition’s Commonbound Conference and gave the closing keynote address at the American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • Action Plan Outlines Strategy to Builid Community Wealth in Jacksonville, Florida

June 2014

This month's new developments include:

  • We are pleased to announce the release of our latest report, Worker Cooperatives: Pathways to Scale.
  • Our Executive Director, Ted Howard, will participate in a plenary panel on “Cleveland’s Anchor Institution Framework” at the CleanMed 2014 national conference. He will also discuss best practice approaches for measuring the impact of anchor institutions in a free webinar.
  • Former Democracy Collaborative researcher, Thad Williamson, will soon begin his new job as Director of Richmond, Virginia’s Office of Community Wealth Building, the first office of its type in the nation.
  • Our co-founder, Gar Alperovitz, contributed a chapter on the new economy to the Worldwatch Institute’s State of the World 2014: Governing for Sustainability report. Gar expanded on his vision of a cooperative and community-sustaining economy with Editor Scott Gast of Orion magazine.
  • Paper Offers stakeholder Financing Approaches to Keep Wealth Local
  • Book Oultines Shared Vision for a Sustainable Future
  • Financial Institutions Support Healthy Communities
  • Impact Investing Bolsters Community Wealth Building Enterprises
  • Southern Grassroots Economies
  • Stakeholder Health

May 2014

This month's new developments include:

  • Join us on June 5 for a free webinar on “Measuring the Shared Value of Anchor Community Engagement,” hosted by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. 
  • Democracy Collaborative co-founder Ted Howard spoke at the City of Memphis’ 2014 Neighborhood Redevelopment Conference on “Building Healthy Communities from the Inside Out.”
  • Ted Howard delivered the keynote address on “Closing the Wealth Gap: the Community Wealth Building Paradigm” at the German Marshall Fund’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities National Network Workshop in Cleveland.
  • Our research director Steve Dubb presented on anchor institution strategies and equitable development for a PolicyLink webinar and at the 25th anniversary conference of the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development.
  • Steve and research associate Dave Zuckerman were featured presenters at the MedStar Health Roundtable at Georgetown University.
  • Dave and research associate Sarah McKinley discussed impact metrics for anchor institutions at the Community-Campus Partnership for Health Conference along with David Perry of the University of Illinois, Chicago and Leif Elsmo of the University of Chicago Medical Center. 
  • In its newest Field Guide to Investing in a Regenerative Economy, the Capital Institute outlines Cleveland’s Evergreen model.
  • In a DiversityInc interview, Orlando Santaella, a worker-owner of Evergreen Energy Solutions, talks about the transformative role that Evergreen has had on his life.
  • Co-founder Gar Alperovitz presented a keynote address at the Social Transformation through Social Innovationconference,
  • Gar discussed the merits of a guaranteed minimum income in this CNN article and appeared in a featured video on Upworthy.
  • Gar also questioned the assumption that economic growth is universally good in a recent Al Jazeera America article.
  • A free download of The Democracy Collaborative's chapter "Economic Democracy", featured in the new anthologyAchieving Sustainability: Visions, Principles & Practices, is now available.
  • Democracy Collaborative senior fellows Marjorie Kelly and Joe Guinan and senior researcher Thomas Hanna each contribute chapters to a new free e-book,Democratic Wealth: Building a Citizens' Economy.
  • Income Inequality Rises in Every State Across the Country
  • New Sectoral Employment Initiatives Broaden Opportunity for All
  • Speculative Finance Endangers Environmental and Economic Sustainability
  • Trade Unions and Worker Cooperatives Unite
  • A Practical Playbook
  • Roots and Branches

April 2014

This month's new developments include:

  • Last month in Jacksonville, Florida, The Democracy Collaborative, the Office of Mayor Alvin Brown, and the Interfaith Coalition for Action, Reconciliation and Empowerment organized a day-long Community Wealth Building Roundtable.
  • The City of Chicago and six area anchor institutions have joined the University of Chicago to launch the Chicago Anchors for a Strong Economy (CASE) initiative and Ted Howard presented opportunities to incorporate anchor strategies into New Orlean's Prosperity NOLA plan at the Strong Cities, Strong Communities Bootcamp, hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. 
  • The Democracy Collaborative participated in an American Hospital Association sponsored webinar as well as the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s annual conference to discuss strategies for hospitals to promote health through economic development and community investment.
  • Shared ownership models received widespread attention, including Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperatives and Real Pickles, an organic food business. And we released our new community land trust infographic.
  • Truthout featured a conversation between our co-founder, Gar Alperovitz, and political theorist Michael Albert, in which they compared Albert’s Participatory Economics to Gar’s Pluralist Commonwealth political-economic system model.
  • Chapter on Economic Democracy Profiles Community Wealth Building Strategies
  •  Website Outlines Community Sustaining Political-Economic System
  • Democratic Governance Revitalizes Cities
  • Healthcare Practitioners Promote Placed-Based Approaches to Healthcare
  • Banks Respond Sluggishly to California's Growing Minority Population
  • Guide Offers Tools to Shift Spending Toward Local Businesses
  • Shared Value Initiative
  • ACCESS

March 2014

This month's new developments include: 

  • Democracy Collaborative Research Associate David Zuckerman presents at the American Hospital Association webinar series, “Hospitals in Pursuit of Excellence"
  • Gar Alperovitz spoke with Peter Buffett, chairman of the NOVO Foundation, on systemic change
  • Democracy Collaborative Research Director Steve Dubb participated on a panel at the Aspen Institute to discuss “Big Ideas for Job Creation” 
  • Our Learning/Action Laboratory for Community Wealth Building met in Cleveland to learn about the city’s Greater University Circle Initiative and the Evergreen Cooperatives
  • The release of a new guide on crowdfunding and value chains and an article on article regarding a Cincinnati Union Co-op gathering
  • The release of the Worker Cooperatives section on our website
  • Imagining Systemic Change with Peter Buffett
  • C-W City: Richmond, Virginia
  • Lawmakers Respond to Household Financial Insecurity
  • New Book Combats Enclosures and Embraces the Commons
  • GDP Alternatives Better Capture Measures of Progress
  • New Guide Outlines Tools to Spur Local Investment
  • The Equality of Opportunity Project
  • Boaz & Ruth

February 2014

This month's developments include:

  • The Collaborative welcomes James Gustave Speth as a Senior Fellow.
  • The Illinois Task Force on Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise released its final report to the Governor, incorporating a number of The Democracy Collaborative’s recommendations to build community wealth. 
  • The Anchor Dashboard is highlighted in a Huffington Post article and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's Forefront magazine. It has also been picked up by the Roosevelt Institute’s Campus Network as a tool to evaluate the community impact of the Network's institutions.
  • Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz appeared on Reality Asserts Itself on The Real News Network and contributed to the New York Times’ Room for Debate series, “Are Big Banks out of Control” as well as Al Jazeera, where he urges Janet Yellen, the new Chair of the Federal Reserve Board to priorize community wealth building.
  • The Democracy Collaborative releases a new webpage with infographics on community wealth building.
  • This month we interview Rey España, Director of Community Development at the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), one of the most successful urban Native American centers in the nation.
  • Commission to Build a Healthier America Focuses on Improving Community Wellbeing
  • Cleveland's Greater University Circle Inistiative Leverages Anchor Institions to Build Community Wealth
  • United States Department of Agriculture Highlights Cleveland's Evergreen Cooperatives
  • Philadelphia Promotes Local Business Procurement
  • The Chesapeake Sustainable Business Council
  • The California Center for Employee Ownership

January 2014

This month's new developments include: 

  • The Collaborative welcomes Marjorie Kelly to our staff as a Senior Fellow and Director of Advisory Services.
  • We organized the first strategy workshop of the Next System Project, an initiative co-chaired by Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz and prominent environmentalist Gus Speth.
  • The Anchor Dashboard encourages conversations about how to measure the impact of an anchor mission for low-income communities in a Federal Reserve audioconference, Governing magazine, and in Rooflines: The Shelterforce Blog.
  • Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz appeared on Russia Today’s Breaking the Set to discuss his new book, What Then Must We Do?.
  • Gar Alperovitz Reflects on Dr. King's Economic Justice Challenge
  • Video Showcases Anchor Dashboard for Measuring Community Impact
  • Report Explores Green Economies as Drivers of Community Wealth
  • Worker Co-op Launched in Springfield, Massachusetts
  • International Survery Counts 2.9 Million Worker Co-op Member-Owners
  • Municipal Enterprises Create Jobs and Promote Sustainability
  • The Maine Employee Ownership Network
  • Asset Building Policy Network

December 2013

This month's new developments include: 

  • The Anchor Dashboard encourages conversations about how to measure the impact of an anchor mission for low-income communities in a Federal Reserve audioconference, "Redefining Rustbelt: The Role of Anchor Institutions and the Arts", a panel hosted by the Municipal Arts Society of New York on "The Role of Large Institutions in City Building", and a webcast briefing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  • Newly Launched Interactive Tool Maps Community Wealth Building Activities
  • Interview Reveals Expanded Opportunities for Worker Cooperatives
  • New Book Presents Community Foundations as Anchor Institutions
  • Paper Outlines Strategies to Minimize Risk When Investing in Cooperatives
  • Federal Reserve Paper Finds Local Entrepreneurship Builds Strong Local Economies
  • New Report Argues that Public-Private Parternships Weaken Small Business
  • Local First Arizona
  • A Visual Guide to Employee-Owned Businesses

November 2013

This month’s new developments, include:

  • Our Anchor Dashboard paper, designed to help institutions assess the long-term impact of their economic development activities, was featured in a presentation at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of University Partnerships, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Redefining “Rust Belt” four-city videoconference, The Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities’ annual conference, the Municipal Arts Society Summit for New York City, and at the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City’s Inner City Economic Summit in Cleveland.
  • Community Wealth Building Key to Democratizing the Economy
  • C-W Interview: Reverend Barry Randolph
  • Book Explores Equitable Solutions to Global Environmental Challenges
  • New Series Investigates Community Wealth Building Inititatives Across the Nation
  • Growing Opportunities to Invest Directly in Communities Builds Local Economies
  • Collaboration Between Anchor Instituions and Food Hubs Supports Local Food Economies
  • Center for Environmental Transformation
  • Cincinatti Union Cooperative

October 2013

This month’s new developments, include:

  • Our Anchor Dashboard paper, designed to help institutions assess the long-term impact of their economic development activities, was profiled in Next City and on the San Francisco Federal Reserve’s "What Works" website.
  • Article Provides Steps to Democratizing the Economy in Communities
  • C-W City: Greensboro, North Carolina
  • Innovative Employers Generate Good Jobs While Boosting Profits
  • Healing Communities Requires Addressing Environmental Factors Outside Hosptial Walls
  • Sharing Economy Promotese Innovative Local Policies
  • New Report Presents Framework for Structuring Successful Cross-Sector Partnerships
  • Wagemark
  • Ioby

September 2013

This month’s new developments include:

  • The release of The Democracy Collaborative’s latest paper and online tool The Anchor Dashboard: Aligning Institutional Practices to Meet Low-Income Community Needs, and companion research report Achieving the Anchor Promise: Improving Outcomes for Low-Income Children, Families and Communities
  • The Democacy Collaborative convened our first gathering of Native American community development leaders in a “Learning/Action Laboratory for Community Wealth Building” supported by the Northwest Area Foundation
  • Gar Alperovitz presented a keynote address at the Annual Conference of the Academy of Management
  • The Capital Institute released video highlights from a symposium entitled “Beyond Sustainability: The Road to Regenerative Capitalism”
  • Paper Provides Guide to Protecting Financial Resources for Older Adults
  • Journal of Higher Educations Highlights Anchor Institution Movement
  • Inclusive Capitalism Improves Worker Well-being While Addressing Economnic Disparity
  • Broadband Access Promotes Local Economic Development
  • European Federation of Employee Shared Ownership
  • Pear Energy

August 2013

Welcome to our August www.Community-Wealth.org newsletter. This month’s features include:

  • Our joint webinar with the Responsible Endowments Coalition about our recently published report Raising Student Voices: Student Action for University Community Investment
  • The Committee on the Political Economy of the Good Society publication of a journal issue entitled “Symposium: Alternatives to Capitalism
  • Gar Alperovitz's New York Times op-ed
  • Report Reveals Integrated Strategies for Rethinking Urban Regeneration
  • Thoughtful Design that Focuses on Placemaking can Build Community Happiness
  • Building Local Economies Depends on Remaking Public Policy
  • New Book Advances a National Policy Agenda Focused on Equity
  • Modernizing Asset Limits
  • Community Economics Collective

July 2013

Welcome to our July www.Community-Wealth.org newsletter. We celebrate the 237th anniversary of the American Revolution with a number of new developments:

  • The Democracy Collaborative and the Responsible Endowments Coalition (REC) will host a webinar on July 19 at 1pm presenting the findings of our jointly published report Raising Student Voices: Student Action for University Community Investment
  • Ted Howard spoke at a St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank event, entitled “Exploring Innovation in Community Development
  • We continued our work to help expand the conversation on how hospitals as anchor institutions can improve the physical and economic health of their communities
  • Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz continues his book tour for What Then Must We Do?
  • CW Interview: Kate Sofis
  • Paper Reviews Existing Knowledge of Anchor Institutions
  • Financial Cooperaties Are a Credible Alternative to Mainstream Banks
  • Study Shows that Working Renters Bear the Brunt of Housing Cost Burdens
  • Documentary Film Highlights Local Approaches to Creating a New Economy
  • The Community Toolbox
  • Responsible Endowments Coalition

June 2013

Featured this month:

  • The release of a new report, Raising Student Voices: Student Action for University Community Investment, a joint publication with the Responsible Endowments Coalition
  • Watch the entire May 8 community forum on how anchor institutions can help build more resilient and inclusive local economies
  • Gar Alperovitz continues his book tour for What Then Must We Do?
  • The Democracy Collaborative continues to publish articles on a number of issues related to community wealth building
  • Chicago Factory Reborn as Worker-owned Cooperative
  • Asset Building Approach Builds Household Financial Security and Success
  • Integrated Voter Engagement Leads to Heightened Civic Engagement
  • Employee-owned Companies Outperform Conventional Businesses
  • Community Sourced Capital
  • The Billion Dollar Green Challenge

May 2013

Welcome to our May www.Community-Wealth.org e-newsletter. This month we have a number of updates and features to bring you:

  • The Democracy Collaborative and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT present the findings of our recent case study: The Anchor Mission: Leveraging the Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth.
  • The Democracy Collaborative announces a new partnership with the Northwest Area Foundation and several Native American tribes on a community economic development “Learning/Action Laboratory.”
  • Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz continues his national tour promoting his latest book, What Then Must We Do? and accompanying film, The Next American Revolution.
  • Community Wealth Buildling Action Agenda Offers Illinois a Path Forward
  • Online Tool and Companion Brief Outline Community Benefits After Healthcare Reform
  • Access to Healthy Food Stimulates Economic Opportunity
  • New Report Calls for Joint Action to Build a Just Economy
  • Study Recommends Expanding Mortgages to Owners of Manufactured Homes
  • C-W City: Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • County Health Rankings and Roadmaps
  • Genuine Progress
  • Community Health Needs Assessment
  • Sawmill Community Land Trust

April 2013

Welcome to our April Community-Wealth.org e-newsletter. This month, we have a host of exciting updates and features to bring to you:

March 2013

Welcome to our monthly www.Community-Wealth.org e-newsletter. We hope this new, shorter format provides you with more current news and an improved reading experience. Here's a look at what's inside:

  • The Democracy Collaborative's latest report: Hospitals Building Healthier Communities.
  • Information on Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz's forthcoming book, What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk About The Next American Revolution.
  • The grand opening of the third business in Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperative network, Green City Growers.
  • Housing and Asset Policies Contribute to Racial Wealth Divide
  • Analysis Paints Picture of Financial Insecurity in America
  • Layoffs are Less Likely for Employee Owners
  • EPA Presents Strategies for Healthy, Equitable Communities
  • The American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange
  • Farm To People

February 2013

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:

  • 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 third business in Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperative network, Green City Growers, has planted its first crop of leafy greens. 
  • Walter Wright of the Cleveland Foundation and I led a “Local First” webinar for our friends at BALLE.
  • We interview Blake Jones, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of Namasté Solar.
  • We profile our twenty-ninth community wealth city: Jacksonville, Florida.
  • History Offers Blueprint for Reversing Plutocrat Control
  • Cooperatives Promote Sustainable Future
  • Manual Helps Immigrants Form Worker Cooperatives
  • Postal Savings System Would Benefit Unbanked
  • ICA Calls for a Global Co-Operative Future
  • Research Shows Rapid Growth of Green Revolving Funds
  • Podcast Showcases Evergreen Cooperatives
  • ALEC Policies Fail to Promote Economic Growth
  • Urban Agriculture Revitalizes Communities
  • Documentary Showcases Strengths, Challenges of Worker Cooperatives
  • Report Presents Framework for Equitably Greening Human Capital
  • Paper Calls on Feds to Promote Anchor Partnerships
  • Metrics Provide Tool to Assess Transit-Oriented Development
  • Manual Identifies Ways to Confront Debt
  • Penn’s Netter Center Celebrates 20th Anniversary
  • Be A Localist
  • Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
  • Operation New Hope
  • JEA (formerly Jacksonville Electric Authority)

October 2012

Welcome to our latest www.Community-Wealth.org e-newsletter. In this fall edition, we bring you many new developments and site features:

  • The Cleveland Foundation received the HUD Secretary's Award for Community Foundations. 
  • We interview delegation members from the Seikatsu Club Consumers' Co-operative Union.
  • We profile our twenty-eighth community wealth city: Providence, RI.
  • Universities Positioned to Foster Community Development
  • Practitioners Highlight Promising Anti-Poverty Strategies in Nation's Communities
  • America the Possible Explains How Systematic Change is Still an Option
  • Communities Reclaim their Energy Sources and Create Jobs
  • New Models Offer Ownership Alternatives
  • Research Shows Local Ownership Leads to Community Improvements
  • Report Shows a Persistent "Good Jobs" Deficit
  • Hybrid Businesses Combine Social Welfare and Revenue Generation
  • Study Advocates Movement for Good Food and Good Jobs
  • CDCs Shift Focus to More Comprehensive Services
  • Scottish Report Examines Co-op and Employee-Owned Businesses
  • Community-Based Research Uncovers Hidden Community Assets
  • Task Force Calls for More Civic Education
  • Head Start Program Provides Long-term Economic Stability Framework
  • Oakland's Foreclosure Practices Lead to Spike in Non-Local Ownership
  • Asset Building Advocates Call for National Movement to Reform Federal Policy
  • Aspen Pointe
  • Join Bank On
  • Mission Investors Exchange
  • Resilience.org
  • The Rhode Island Foundation

July 2012

  • Forces for Good Highlights Successful Nonprofit Practices
  • UN Study Highlights Pathway to a Sustainable Economy
  • Demand for Urban Agriculture Sites Increases in San Francisco
  • Los Angeles Case Study Provides Road Map for Effective Movement Building
  • 2012 Report Calls for Broad Policy Change that Promotes Asset Building
  • Community Wealth Approach Leads to Economic Revival in the Basque Country
  • Surveys Demonstrate the Strength of the Co-op Sector during the Recession
  • Clean Tech Industry Proves its Ability to Create Jobs
  • Building Civic Infrastructure is Key to Creating a Resilient Economy
  • Report Highlights Federal Policies that Foster Asset Building
  • Communities Embrace City Role in Reclaiming their Energy Sources
  • Islanders Partner with Credit Union and Receive Substantial Control and New Branch
  • Report Claims that CDFIs are More Effective as Regional Networks
  • Comprehensive Guide Offers Advocacy Tools for Increasing Affordable Housing
  • Job Guarantee Model Stresses Role of Nonprofits in Creating Jobs
  • Interviews with Community Wealth Builder Raquel Pinderhughes
  • 28th in Our Continuing Series of Community-Wealth Cities: San Francisco, California
  • National Organizations Stress Co-ops Ability to Scale-up
  • Ohio Conference Focuses on Employee Ownership's Role in Improving the Economy
  • Community Reinvestment Conference Advocates for Equitable Local Solutions
  • BRIDGE Housing
  • The Cooperative Teach-In
  • Delancey Street Foundation
  • Food Co-op Initiative
  • New Economies Institute
  • We the Owners: Employees Expanding the American Dream

April 2012

  • Shuman Offers a Road Map to Investing Locally and Sustainably
  • Collins Surveys Rising Global Wealth Inequality
  • America's Cooperative Movement Achieves New Growth and Success
  • Report Shows that Valuing and Engaging Employees Creates Business Success
  • Global Recession Reveals Strengths and Successes of Public Sector Banks
  • PolicyLink Offers Recommendations for an Equitable Foreclosure Recovery
  • Food Advocate Highlights Health Sector's Key Role in Sustainable Food Production
  • Denver Health System Becomes Public Sector Star
  • Survey Provides Most Comprehensive Look At Community Land Trusts To Date
  • Usage and Impact of Community Workforce Agreements Increase Nationwide
  • Opportunity Finance Network Rolls Out Next Generation Vision for CDFIs
  • CFED's Scorecard Gives Low Marks to Americans' Financial Insecurity
  • Study Scores States on 'Good Job' Standards for Economic Development Subsidies
  • Interview with Community Wealth Builder, Caroline Murray
  • 27th in Our Continuing Series of Community-Wealth Cities: Kansas City, Missouri
  • Controlling the Corporation
  • Blue Hills Community Services (Kansas City, Missouri)
  • Central Corridor Funders Collaborative (St. Paul, MN)
  • Co-opoly
  • ImpactAssets (Bethesda, MD)

January 2012

  • Occupy Movement Voices Call for a More Equitable and Democratic Future
  • New Economy Working Group Offers a Main Street Fix for Wall Street's Failures
  • Impact Investing Makes Positive Dent in Social, Environmental Issues
  • Occupy Movement Invites Ideas for Strengthening Democratic, Participatory Life
  • Hollender Offers Firms 10 Steps To Meet their Social, Environmental Obligations
  • International Year of Cooperatives May Usher in New Financial Support To Start Co-ops
  • Concentrated Poverty Growth in 2000s Erases Positive Gains of the 1990s
  • Movement Leaders and Philanthropic Funders Need To Co-Create New Metrics
  • Residential Segregation of Families by Income Doubles from 1970 to 2009
  • Six Cities Tackle the Foreclosure Crisis To Build More Resilient Communities
  • Study Shows Which Corporations Paid Their Fair Share in Taxes from 2008 to 2010
  • Interviews with Community Wealth Builders: Paul Hazen
  • The twentieth-sixth in our continuing series of profiles of Community Wealth Cities: Houston, Texas
  • Community Wealth Builders Talk Strategies for Increasing Equity
  • University Leaders Gather To Advance University-Community Partnerships
  • The Alliance for Multicultural Community Services
  • Big Ideas for Jobs
  • Burnett Staffing Specialists
  • Econ 4
  • USA International Year of Cooperatives

October 2011

  • American Sustainable Business Council Advances Policy Solutions and Makes the Business Case for a Sustainable Economy
  • Strong Cultures of Employee Engagement Produce Business Success
  • Cuyahoga County Land Bank Charts Innovative Direction
  • Bottom-Up Approaches Address Economic System Failure
  • Federal Asset-Building Policies Need to Offer More Opportunities for Low- and Moderate-Income Americans
  • Ohio's Business Tax Subsidies Undermine Smart Growth
  • Rust Belt Cities Develop Innovative Revitalization Strategies
  • Rural Communities Benefit from Impact Investing
  • Study Puts Information to Work for the Green Economy
  • Interviews with Community Wealth Builders: Carla Javits
  • C-W City, Fall 2011: Columbus, Ohio
  • North American Co-op Educators Plan for International Year of Cooperatives
  • Worker Co-op Conference Addresses Challenges of Growth
  • The Co-operative News - The Global News Hub
  • The Curriculum on Cooperatives for Graduate Schools
  • Wealth Creation in Rural Communities
  • Campus Partners

July 2011

  • Study Traces History of a Connecticut Economic Democracy Movement
  • Land Banks Yield New Tools for Economic Recovery
  • Local Currencies Offer Leverage for Sustainable Local Economies
  • Earn Profits While Supporting Your Local Community
  • Alternative Housing Policies Challenge "Market" Response to Housing Crisis
  • Economic and Social Inclusion Point Way to Sustained Economic Growth
  • Disparities in Wealth Perpetuate Inequality in Communities of Color
  • Collaborative Strategies Support Low- and Moderate-Income Communities
  • National Co-op Publication Features Evergreen Laundry As Model For Sustainability
  • Community Wealth Builders Find Innovative Ways to Leverage Stimulus Dollars
  • Bank of North Dakota Furnishes Model for Better Banking
  • More Main Street Stock Exchanges In the Works for U.S.
  • Interviews with Community Wealth Builders: Bernie Mazyck
  • The twenty-fourth in our continuing series of profiles of Community Wealth Cities: Austin, Texas
  • CDC Movement Addresses New Challenges
  • Community Reinvestment Advocates Promote Local Solutions to Economic Crisis
  • Co-ops Address New Challenges in Times of Economic Uncertainty
  • Inequality.org
  • Litecontrol
  • The Neighboring Food Co-op Association
  • Third Coast Workers for Cooperation (TCWC)

April 2011

  • Public Policy Can Expand Impact Investing
  • Local Food Production Generates Large-Scale Economic Benefits
  • Alternative Economic Development Strategies Stabilize Urban Economies
  • A New Vision for Business Enterprise Promotes Broader Stakeholder Participation
  • Living Cities Calls for a "New Normal"
  • Business Network Creates Green Economy ToolKit
  • Rural Communities Build Community Wealth
  • Shared-Equity Housing Shares Rights and Risks, Not Just Equity
  • Payments in Lieu of Taxes: Balancing Municipal and Nonprofit Interests
  • New City Strategies Build Economic Security for Low-Income Americans
  • Bank-On Programs Bring Banking Services to the "Unbanked"
  • Social Impact Bonds Aim to Shift Public Funding to Focus on Results
  • Community Ownership Advocated in Renewable Energy Study
  • Report Evaluates Community Organizing as an Education Reform Strategy
  • C-W.org Interview with John Emmeus Davis
  • Community Wealth Cities: Memphis, Tennessee
  • Green Jobs Advocates Aim to Build Movement at the Grassroots
  • American Sustainable Business Council
  • Cultivate.coop
  • Fair Food Network
  • LeMoyne-Owen College CDC
  • Public Banking Institute

January 2011

  • Past Mistakes in Nonprofit Sector Provide Learning Opportunities
  • Community-Based Strategies Tackle Foreclosure Crisis
  • Guide Provides CDFI Industry with Strategies For Improvement
  • Civic Engagement Opportunities Show Potential for Low-Income Individuals
  • Community Land Trusts Build Wealth and Maintain Affordability
  • Asset-Building Policy Agenda Outlined for 2011
  • Report Calls for Comprehensive Approach to Mitigate Foreclosures
  • Inadequate Social Safety Nets Create Need for Asset-based Social Policy
  • California Community College Partnerships Show Potential
  • Speth Calls on Progressives and Environmentalists to Join Forces
  • Childhood Development Accounts Help Families Save for Children's Future
  • C-W.org Interview with Lisa Hagerman
  • Community Wealth Cities: Louis, Missouri
  • Community Revitalization Advocates Gather in Cleveland, Ohio
  • University Leaders Gather to Advance University-Community Partnerships
  • Bank on San Francisco
  • Cities for Financial Empowerment
  • Cooperative Food Employment Directive (CoFed)
  • Pagedale Development Project (Washington University)
  • University Northside Partnership