Author

Benjamin Melançon is a member of Agaric, a worker-owned tech co-op. His work with Agaric clients has included universities (MIT and Harvard University), corporations (Backupify and GenArts), and not-for-profit organizations (Partners In Health and National Institute for Children's Health Quality).

Yana Ludwig is a cooperative culture pioneer, intentional communities advocate, and anti-oppression activist. She serves on the board of the Fellowship for Intentional Community and works as a local chapter coach for Showing Up for Racial Justice. Her latest book, Together Resilient: Building Community in the Age of Climate Disruption, was awarded the Communal Studies Association 2017 Book of the Year Award. She is a podcast host on Solidarity House (advocating for cooperative culture and economics) and a founding member of the Solidarity Collective, an income-sharing community in Laramie, Wyoming.

Joe Cole is a member of Hart’s Mill Ecovillage, a community in formation in central North Carolina. Joe has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Duke University, and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Joe works as a Facilitator and Consultant for communities and nonprofit organizations.

Daniel Chavez, a TNI fellow, specialises in left politics, state companies and public services. He is an active contributor of the Municipal Services Project (MSP) research network, has contributed to Alternatives to Privatization: Public Options for Essential Services in the Global South (Routledge, 2012) and has co-edited The Reinvention of the State: Public Enterprises and Development in Latin America and the world.

Robert Raymond is the Co-Producer and Creative Director of the Upstream Podcast and Senior Producer, Designer, and Creative Director of The Response. He is passionate about exploring the intersections of sound design, storytelling, and eco-socialist principles to help ease our way out of these tumultuous times. Get in touch: robert@theresponsepodcast.org

Chris Roth lives at Lost Valley Educational Center (lostvalley.org) in western Oregon, and has edited Communities since 2008. A month-and-a-half after the completion of this article, Lost Valley’s fall re-visioning retreat charted a course back toward higher participation and greater connection community-wide, making some of the descriptions above a bit out-of-date already. Meanwhile the author’s circle of community and involvement now also includes a public Waldorf School in Eugene.