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.



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