United States

CO-OP ASSET BUILDING, HOW A PRODUCER CO-OP HELP TO REVITALIZE A COMMUNITY

ajowa — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:34:03 -0400

Asset Building for Cooperatives
Cooperation: Unique Prescription for Health
Mondragon and Steelworkers Union Alliance
Cooperatives and Peace
Overcoming Barriers
Ohio City Bike Cooperative tour

Today was another amazing day of presentations at the ACE conference!....

Unlike other conferences that I'm used to attending, you don't have to choose from workshops at the Association of Cooperative Educators. There is only one track, and everyone is on the same one.

I actually ended up being very glad that it was arranged this way, else I might have missed out some very important information and stories.

Cooperative Education: Lighting the Way to a New Economy

ajowa — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:41:38 -0400

By David Korten

Presentation to Association of Cooperatives Educators

Cleveland, Ohio

July 28, 2010

I've been greatly looking forward to being with you here in Cleveland to be part of this redirection of ACE. Cleveland is a city with a national reputation for being both a symbol of the failures of the Old Economy and a beacon of hope and possibility for the just, sustainable cooperative New Economy we seek to create.

No Wall Is Too Tall

ajowa — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:36:48 -0400

The future of humans and Planet Earth depend on replacing the "greed-driven" economic system of Wall Street with the "life-serving" system of Main Street.

That was the message that David Korten, author Agenda for a New Economy, and co-founder of Yes! magazine, brought to the 58th annual conference of the Association of Cooperative Educators in Cleveland on Wednesday.

Korten was one of the reasons that I wanted to come to this conference. The other was to tour the Evergreen Cooperative Laundry. Thanks to the Ralph Morris Foundation, I was able to attend my first ACE conference.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF COOPERATIVES IN THE PITTSBURGH AREA

michaeljohnson — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:24:43 -0400

A BRIEF HISTORY OF COOPERATIVES IN THE PITTSBURGH AREA By John Curl At the time of its incorporation in 1817, Pittsburgh was already a manufacturing center, with a population of around 6,000, supplying the western region with artisanal products almost entirely made by home industry. It had become a manufacturing center during the war of 1812, when the supply of British-made goods have been cut off in the region. In 1817 most manufacturing was still done by independent self-employed artisans using hand tools. But their livelihood was already threatened by the growth of a new system that was making their economy obsolete: factories and wage labor.

An Outline History of Cooperatives in the Bay Area and California

michaeljohnson — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:04:08 -0400

John Curl's history of the Bay Area Cooperative movement is eye-opening. It leaves you amazed that this country is so rich in cooperativism yet we only learn of it through John's heroic efforts. It brings to mind the saying: You need to know where you've been to know where you're going. My hope is that this history further opens up and extends our vision and our work.

John Curl's Outline History of Cooperatives in the San Francisco Bay Area and California

ajowa — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:08:36 -0400

Download Curl's History of the Bay Area Cooperative Movement here.

GEO will also post his fabulous history of the Pittsburgh area and the Pennsylvania history written for the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy in a booklet in 2009.

Get a jump start on the 2010 national conference in the U.S. Federation's archives

joe — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:58:43 -0400

The organizers of the 2008 National Worker Cooperative Conference deftly delegated note-taking responsibilities to volunteers and ended up with a treasure trove of documentation. If you want to refresh your memory of where we left off, or are eager to get a jump start on the 2010 conference so you can ask informed questions, the archive of conference workshop notes from New Orleans (also listed below) is full of information.

Carl Davidson's report on US Social Forum 2010

michaeljohnson — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:33:41 -0400

High-Energy Gathering Fires Up A New Generation of Activists in U.S. Left and Social Movements By Carl Davidson Keep On Keepin' On! When 15,000 vibrant and politically engaged people gather in one spot for five days and organize themselves into more than 1000 workshops, dozens of major plenaries and late night parties across five major cultural hot spots, no one article can claim to give a full account and get away with it. But an event on that scale livened up Detroit, Michigan during the week of June 22-26 at the US Social Forum, when Cobo Hall and several nearby universities were buzzing with thousands of people trying to shape a new world. 15,000 Attend Detroit Social Forum I won’t even try to capture it all. I’ll just affirm the common conviction that it was a major happening on the left and a huge success, an inspiration and an affirmation of hope that progress is being made towards a better future. Then I’ll humbly offer my take on it. We’ll start with some highlights and, for those who aren’t familiar with the Social Forum movement, offer a few explanations.

Supportive wisdom from a reflective champion of worker co-ops and a cooperative economy

michaeljohnson — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:48:14 -0400

Nancy Folbre teaches economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She posts regularly on the NY Times blog, Economix. I discovered her when she posted two blogs on worker cooperatives--The Case for Worker Co-ops and Workers of the World, Incorporate.

Notes from the New Cooperative South

jim — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:43:02 -0400

Permanent link to this article: http://geo.coop/node/453

(Editor's note: This is the start of a new series by Erin Rice. Erin is a cooperative educator living in Louisiana. She will report on grassroots economic activities in the south, analyze conditions, and sometimes editorialize. Erin can be reached at 413-522-3319 or erinjrice@gmail.com. She is always looking for new tips and leads.)

Report 1, March 10, 2010