Posted by:
John Duda
Across the US, communities are innovating
One of the founders of the Democracy Collaborative, Gar Alperovitz, described the vision of a interlocking network of community-wealth building initiatives as a “pluralist commonwealth”: rather than one model for all situations, every community would develop their own unique paths to economic democracy and neighborhood sustainability, learning from each other’s approaches and developing their own variations on the basic themes. Here’s a (no doubt incomplete) roundup of some recent efforts across the country to jumpstart new economies based in community wealth and cooperative developments:
- In Richmond, California, Mayor Gayle Mclaughlin, inspired by the Mondragon Cooperatives in Spain, is spearheading an initiative to address the city’s 17% unemployment rate via the development of worker cooperatives.
In central Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Oklahoma Worker Cooperative Network is looking to catalyze a network of worker coops with a series of nine public events across the region starting later in September.- In southern Appalachia, a team of experienced cooperative developers, building off the work of North Carolina’s Center for Participatory Change, are creating Ownership Appalachia, a new incubator for worker-owned businesses.
- In Lynn, Massachusetts, the North Shore Labor Council, working off the strategy outlined in Bill Fletcher, Jr.’s Solidarity Divided is bringing together unions and community groups to rebuild local democracy and create new worker-owned businesses.
In Washington state, the third annual Slice conference, taking place on October 21st and 22nd, is set to explore cooperative development in the Puget Sound region.