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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

cooperative economy

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February 20, 2020

10 Resources on Black Liberation & Economic Democracy

Summary

A list of readings on Black liberation and economic democracy.

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May 27, 2014

Black Co-ops Were A Method of Economic Survival

Summary

Jessica Gordon-Nembhard talks about her research into the history of African-American co-ops.

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January 29, 2024

Scaling a Co-op Beyond 100 Members

Summary

A look at how a worker co-op with 140 members, a flat pay scale, and no hierarchy functions.

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November 30, 2023

Artisans Cooperative: An Etsy alternative, owned and run by artists and makers

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Summary

This is a story of how the makers who create a living off their hard-earned skills, banded together to challenge this dominant business ethic, and about the cooperative they built that’s just now getting off the ground. It is a venture that aims to grow at the speed of trust to serve the makers, the customers, and the staff who run it.

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October 23, 2023

Halena Wilson - 2023 Unsung Cooperative Hero

Summary

A co-op educator and activist, Halena Wilson used her position as president of the Chicago Ladies' Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters to show Black women the path to economic self-sufficiency through cooperation.

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October 16, 2023

The Masters in Management: Co-operatives and Credit Unions Program Turns 20

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Summary

The International Centre for Co-operative Management offers management education in a multi-sectoral format that brings managers from producer, worker, and consumer co-ops and credit unions. The students learn together and share their models of co-operation. The result is a dynamic and engaging educational program that creates a unique management paradigm for the co-operative enterprise model.

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October 9, 2023

Cooperative Enterprise and Market Economy: Chapter 8

Summary

Chapter eight of Cooperative Enterprise and Market Economy.

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September 1, 2023

Accelerating Worker Ownership

Summary

An online panel facilitated by co-op researcher-practitioner Emi Do that brings together presenters from several such projects: CoTech, Exit to Community Collective, Platform Cooperativism Consortium, SPACE4, Start.coop, UnFound Accelerator, and Union Cooperative Initiative. These projects advance democratic business formation and co-op theory-building, and they offer valuable lessons on the promises and challenges of accelerating worker ownership today.

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May 15, 2023

Why is the Co-operative Movement so Strong in Emilia Romagna?

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Summary

Today I’m talking with Matt Hancock, who’s been heavily involved with the co-operative movement in Emilia Romagna – the region of Italy around Bologna. There’s a huge, very successful co-op sector in ER. I want to try to find out in this interview is why – what’s special about ER, and can it be emulated elsewhere?

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May 4, 2023

Cooperative Enterprise And Market Economy: Chapter 5

Summary

What form should member ownership take in a worker cooperative? How is the form of ownership related to the economic viability of the enterprise? How is ownership of equity allocated and measured, what impact does ownership and accumulation of equity have on distribution of surplus? In this chapter, Razeto offers an economic theory of ownership and distribution of surplus in worker enterprises, proposing the issuance of “labor shares” representing individual members’ ownership of equity.