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We are joined by cooperative lawyer Jason Wiener to talk cooperatives, employee ownership, and the inspiring Main Street Phoenix project.

Listen to more episodes at This is What Democracy Looks Like

When you look also at the use of mutual aid in our communities and what the Black Panthers were able to accomplish, you see how it actually became government work, as it should be. It exposes what needs the people have and makes sure that we push for the government to be able to fund the satisfaction of those needs as one of our main goals. Mutual aid helps us put this message out there in a very compassionate way. It shows that we can go and we can protest; but also, we can protest while we take care of those needs.

RAYMOND, N.H. — Homeowners in Paradise Ridge Mobile Home Park have purchased their 40-unit manufactured home community, making it New Hampshire’s 135th resident-owned community (ROC) and the 268th ROC nationwide.

In the midst of a global pandemic, some may be hesitant to engage in mutual aid in person. 

One of the most helpful ways you can support and be involved is directly donating and providing supplies to mutual aid organizations to ensure they keep running. 

But if you are willing to participate in person, it will take some researching to do so. There is no central place to find mutual aid networks, therefore you have to find them yourselves. 

If you want to launch a co-op, Baltimore may be one of the best places in the U.S. to do it. There’s a small but sturdy network of worker co-ops in Baltimore that have garnered national attention. Among the most successful is Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, where BRED Executive Director Kate Khatib is a worker-owner.

Earlier this month, Oakland Bloom, a volunteer-based nonprofit collective that provides career support to refugee and immigrant chefs, softly opened Understory, its worker-led restaurant, bar and commissary kitchen. Understory gives chefs who are looking to start their own food businesses hands-on experience and supplemental earned income as they continue their training.

Armeni and Lyon describe GCEI [Grassroots Community Engaged Investing] as a “power-building approach to investment.” By this they mean that investment is made in service of a broader community-building agenda. This approach, they contend, connects social justice movements to capital, builds community knowledge regarding local economic ecosystems, and funds projects that are “supported by and reciprocally support existing movements in the community.”

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The world has changed, and we all feel it.

When systems determine outcomes more than individuals, the choice of systems becomes vital. A system can help us show up, or it can reinforce our stereotypes and biases. It can ignore whole realms of information, or it can help us see the world more fully.

We need to talk about what we don’t want, but also define better what we do want. We need to talk about resilience, trust, respect, adaptiveness, voice, empowerment.

Are we ready?

As a child, Tracy Perron grew up eating vegetables that were grown from a relative’s backyard in East Oakland. “If my mother wanted fresh vegetables, she would go to my aunt’s house and pick it from their garden,” Perron said. Her aunt, however, could only spare so much, so Perron grew accustomed to driving to Oakland’s Chinatown for produce, and as far away as Stockton for fresh meat.