Support Organizations

Interviews with Julian Hendrix and Esther West from the 2024 USFWC Conference.

In 2022 Rhode Island passed the Rhode Island Cannabis Act. This made cannabis legal for adult use and mandated that a cannabis retailer license will be awarded to one social equity applicant and one worker cooperative per zone. There will be four licenses per geographic zone which means that half of the licenses are meant to create racial and economic justice within the cannabis industry in Rhode Island. A total of 12 licenses are specifically reserved for social equity applicants and worker cooperatives.

In this video, our panel of experts in the cooperative cannabis industry discuss challenges and opportunities to expand ownership and give reparations to those impacted by the War on Drugs.

In his 50-year career as a lawyer full of foundational work for worker cooperatives, agricultural cooperatives and democratic ownership, Arrington helped Southern black farmers’ agricultural cooperatives save their lands, developed a community economic development program in Tanzania and later became involved in the African Development Bank, supported a black construction workers in Los Angeles (APR Masonry Arts), generated capital for U.S. worker cooperative startups, and advised co-op loan funds.

There is some hope on the horizon with the second International Year of Co-operatives, taking place in 2025, which the UN recently declared.

Curious about how worker cooperatives actually work? Watch this Q&A about the nuts and bolts of worker cooperatives with current worker owners and supporters.

Today we’re visiting community-rooted enterprises where people are rethinking power and participation in their lives. Collective housing and cultural co-ops, land trusts and community banks are providing fundamental shifts in our workplaces, living spaces, and economic understanding of local communities.

En 2010, el Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI, por sus siglas en inglés) era un proyecto de la USFWC y aún no se había lanzado como una organización independiente sin fines de lucro, pero McNamara vio el potencial de DAWI para proporcionar una mayor infraestructura crítica para el movimiento.

The Democracy at Work Network was an organization of worker co-op peer advisors that operated successfully for several years, assisting fledgling worker co-ops by offering technical assistance from experienced worker-owners, on a sliding price scale.

This year is the 20th Anniversary of the formation of the USFWC. To celebrate, GEO is asking cooperators to share their experiences in the US worker cooperative movement over the last two decades (and beyond).