Cooperative Resource
New Economy Coalition Resource Page
Democracy at Work Institute Info on Worker Coops
Toolbox for Education Study Guide to the Cooperative Movement
Toolkit from the Kola Nut Collaborative
Using the Free Library of Philadelphia
The Free Library of Philadelphia offers books and other materials on co-ops, opportunities to access other books through interlibrary loan, and one-on-one meetings with librarians who have training in business development.
Find out about resources and upcoming events at freelibrary.org/business.
Books
Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land
By Leah Penniman
Published in 2018, 311 pages.
Emergent Strategie: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
By Adrienne Maree Brown
Published in 2017, 193 pages.
Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, Mississippi
Edited by Kali Akuno and Ajamu Nangwaya
Published in 2017, 393 pages.
Towards Just and Sustainable Economies
Edited by Molly Scott Cato & Peter North
Published in 2017, 276 pages.
Wired Differently
By Vern Dosch
Published in 2015, 240 pages
The Solidarity Economy Alternative: Emerging Theory and Practice
Edited by Vishwas Satgar
Published in 2014, 332 pages.
Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice
By Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard
Published in 2014, 311 pages.
Building co-operative power : stories and strategies from the worker-cooperatives in the Connecticut River Valley
by Janelle Cornwell; Michael Johnson; Adam Trott
Published in 2013, 278 pages.
For all the people: uncovering the hidden history of cooperation, cooperative movements, and communalism in America
By John Curl
Published in 2012, 576 pages.
The cooperative solution: how the United States can tame recessions, reduce inequality, and protect the environment
By E.G. Nadeau
Published in 2012, 123 pages.
Humanizing the economy: co-operatives in the age of capital
by John Restakis
Published in 2010, 295 pages.
Companies we keep: employee ownership and the business of community and place
by John Abrams
Published in 2008, 333 pages.
Building powerful community organizations: a personal guide to creating groups that can solve problems and change the world
By Michael Jacoby Brown
Published in 2006, 394 pages
Short Articles
What is a Worker Co-op? (US Federation of Worker Cooperatives)
The Survival of Sevananda, Atlanta’s only co-op grocery
Meet the new startup model: it’s a co-op (Boston Globe)
Open Letter to 2020 Presidential Candidates on Cooperatives (NCBA CLUSA)
Black Cooperatives Article from 1968
She the People: Dara Cooper on Food Redlining, Reparations and Freeing the Land
How Worker Co-ops Decide to Share Profits (Cooperative Development Institute)
These Indigenous Women are Reclaiming Stolen Land in the Bay Area (YES! Magazine)
Kwanzaa’s Ujima and Ujamaa (GEO)
Choosing a Business Entity: Guide for Worker Coops (Democracy At Work Institute)
Housing co-ops and other shared housing models (Cooperative Development Institute)
Films, Videos and Playlists
Healing Music for the Movement (Spotify Playlist)
The importance of joy and healing in our cooperative work cannot be overstated. Cooperative and collective movements have a long history of using arts, music and culture as a form of activism and changemaking. Join this legacy and check out these joyful tracks curated by another cooperator in the struggle!
By Tiffani Kyong Patton
Published in 2018, 54 tracks.
How to Start a New Worker Co-op
Own the Change is a 22 minute, free documentary that gives you a guide to starting worker co-ops. It lays out the the real-world challenges of launching a co-op as well as the transformative benefits the model offers, and it includes interviews with people who have launched their own co-ops.
By TESA Collective
Published in 2015, 22 minutes long.
Thunder Valley CDC Video Series
TVCDC has developed a comprehensive, innovative and grassroots approach to collaborating with and empowering Lakota youth and families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to improve the health, culture and environment of our community in a way that heals and strengthens our identity. We provide an ecosystem of opportunity that creates deliberate action and systemic solutions as large and comprehensive as the historic challenges facing our community. This series documents their work.
By TVCDC and the Oglala Lakota Nation
Published in 2014, ongoing.
CommonBound 2018 Conference Videos
On June 22-24, 2018, over 700 people across the new economy movement came together in St. Louis, MO for CommonBound 2018 to connect with one another, share our resources, and demonstrate our power in creating systems that truly meet the needs of our communities. This incredible gathering was recorded in a series of YouTube videos documenting the learnings, experiences and discoveries of conference-goers, organizers and speakers alike.
By New Economy Coalition
Published in 2014, ongoing. Published in 2018, about 9.5 hrs long. 16 video series.
Capitalish
Philadelphia has a rich landscape of businesses that are challenging dominant logic about the way that they ought to relate to workers, consumers, industries, and other businesses. Capitalish highlights this landscape by exploring four worker cooperatives – a child care company, a homecare agency, a bar/coffee shop, and a taxi dispatch.
By Anna Bullard, Nick Gandolfo-Lucia, Sarah Moses, and David Roza
Published in 2016, 16 minutes long.
Available free online here
Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work
A documentary film about worker-owned and cooperative businesses in the United States and Mondragon, Spain.
By Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young
Published in 2012, 69 minutes long.
Food for Change: the Story of Cooperatives in America
Food For Change is a documentary film focusing on food co-ops as a force for dynamic social and economic change in American culture.
By Steve Alves
Published in 2014, 82 minutes long.
Renaissance Community Co-op Video Series
Video series about a community-run, Black-led food co-op in Greensboro
Working with the City of Greensboro, Self-Help Ventures Fund, Fund for Democratic Communities, Uplift Solutions, Lakeshore Food Advisors, Cooperative Development Services,Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, Cone Health Foundation, Shared Capital Cooperative, The Working World,Regenerative Finance, and the Northeast Greensboro community, the Renaissance Community Coop (RCC) is on track to open a 10,530 square foot full-service grocery store in the Renaissance Shops at Phillips Avenue Plaza in 2016.
Dr. Monica White: Black Farmers, Food Security and Justice
Reclamation, Reconnection, & Resistance: Black Farmers, Food Security and Justice. Public talk and Q&A with Dr. Monica White, UW-Madison Professor of Environmental Justice .
Jackson Rising: Creating the Mondragon of the South
Podcasts
UpStream
By Della Z Duncan and Robert Ramin Raymond
Founded in 2016, Upstream is a radio documentary and interview series offering themed episodes that explore a wide variety of topics pertaining to our tumultuous and thrilling 21st-century economy. Through a mixture of heartfelt stories, expert interviews, and rich sound design, we challenge traditional assumptions and invite our listeners to imagine what a democratic, just, and sustainable economy might look like.
Episodes available online here.
The Racist Sandwich
By Soleil Ho and Zahir Janmohamed
The Racist Sandwich podcast serves up a perspective that you don’t hear often: that both food and the ways we consume, create, and interpret it can be political. From discussions about racism in food photography to interviews with chefs of color about their experiences in the restaurant world, hosts Soleil Ho and Zahir Janmohamed hash out a diverse range of topics with special guests on each episode.
Everything Co-op with Vernon Oakes
By Vernon Oakes
Host Vernon Oakes interview co-op advocates, analyzes news, and offers opinions on this DC-based radio show. Lots of great interviews, including Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo, Esteban Kelly, Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Kali Akuno, and more.
Episodes available online.
A Migration Reversed (Gravy Podcast Episode 13)
By Tina Antolini
Explores the Great Migration and the importance of black ownership of land, especially for farming, in the South.
Published in 2015, 24 minutes long.
Available free online here.
Online Courses
Introduction to Worker Cooperatives
By academy.coop
If you’re interested in worker-owned cooperatives, but you’re not sure what readings and videos to choose, check out this free online course. Sections include: Worker Cooperatives in the Media, The Rationale for Worker Cooperatives, How Worker Cooperatives Work, and Examples of U.S. Worker Cooperatives. The materials in this course could be explored over 3-5 weeks.
Cooperative Education Learning Paths
By Cooperative Educators Network (CENet)
For general information on cooperative development, as well as specifics on agriculture, housing and food co-ops, click through these free online learning paths. These paths are educational tools designed to be follows like an online course; readers can learn more about Governance and Leadership Structure, Public Policy, Co-op Conversions, and more! CENet also offers resources in both Spanish and French.
CooperationWorks! Courses
This intensive, outcome-based curriculum is focused exclusively on cooperative applications and real-world elements such as site visits and interactive case studies. The training provides critical lessons in cooperative business model, group facilitation and start-up issues while incorporating challenges cooperatives face today.
Further Resources
Funding
The Working World, www.theworkingworld.org
Kiva Lending Company, https://www.kiva.org/
Cooperative Fund of New England, www.coopfund.coop
Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, www.leaffund.org
CoBank, https://www.cobank.com
National Cooperative Bank, www.ncb.coop
USDA Cooperative Support Program, https://www.usda.gov
Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet), www.acenetworks.org
Shared Capital Cooperative, sharedcapital.
Capital Impact Partners, www.capitalimpact.
Legal
Law for Economic Democracy Online Community law4economicdemocrac
more info here.
Co-op Law Center, www.co-oplaw.org
Land Loss Prevention Center, https://www.landloss.
Sustainable Economies Law Center, www.theselc.org/
PA Cooperative Corporation Law of 1988 (pdf)
Starting a Co-op
Co-op 101: A Guide to Starting a Cooperative, www.cdi.coop/
Worker Co-ops
Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI), www.institute.coop
US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, www.usworker.
Prospera, prosperacoops.org
Food Co-ops
Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive, www.cofed.coop
National Co-op Grocers, www.ncg.coop
Housing Co-ops
National Association of Housing Cooperatives, coophousing.org
North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) https://www.nasco.
Credit Unions
Report of the CUNA Cooperative Alliances Committee (pdf)
The Power of Public Finance for the Future We Want (tni Longreads)