Newsletters

Our monthly email newsletter provides an essential overview of the latest news and state of the art developments in community wealth building. Check out the archives below.



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.