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Limited Equity Cooperatives (LECs) provide a critical source of affordable homeownership, stable community networks, and political power in neighborhoods across the District of Columbia. The District is home to 96 LECs, representing more than 4,300 units in all 8 wards (Figure 1). While a third are located in Ward 1, due to ongoing patterns of gentrification and displacement, Ward 4 has seen recent growth in the number of buildings opting to become LECs.

CECOP’s report “Quality Jobs – the Cooperative Way”, authored by independent researcher Mila Shamku, shows how worker cooperatives, social cooperatives, and cooperatives of autonomous workers make their own contribution to workplace democracy while balancing economic sustainability with fair conditions and long-term job security.

The Regional Maryland Cooperative and Solidarity Convening will serve as a dynamic forum to: 
- Strengthen regional cooperative and solidarity business networks and develop cross-sector partnerships. 
- Address barriers to cooperative and solidarity development and influence local/state policy. 
- Provide training, resources, and technical assistance to cooperative and solidarity leaders. 
- Elevate cooperative and solidarity enterprises and explore strategies for sustainability and growth. 

The idea of ditching corporations that answer only to shareholders for mission-driven models that share power with workers can sound pretty appealing.

But how would it actually work? Well, it might work like the cooperatives we already have all around us, and that have been around for ages.

In November of 2021, during a heavy snowstorm in Melville, Montana, my family's ranch was one of three ranches that met to discuss the future of our operations. On the surface, things were going well. Each ranch was profitable, and we felt that the ecological health of the lands under our combined management was robust and improving.

The 10 Principles of Next Economy Enterprises serve as critical guideposts for designing organizations from a socially just and environmentally regenerative perspective. They are emergent and malleable, derived from work with hundreds of social enterprises. Here is an outline of the 10 principles: