The Italian Region Where Co-ops Produce a Third of Its GDP
Six things we can learn from Northern Italy鈥檚 Emilia Romagna region, where cooperatives drive the economy.
Cooperatives
As Boomers Retire, Mom-and-Pop Businesses Convert to Co-ops to Save Jobs
Baby boomers are the largest percentage of business owners, and they鈥檙e headed toward retirement. Worker cooperatives could keep the jobs they鈥檝e created from disappearing.
How a Worker-Owned Tech Startup Found Investors鈥攁nd Kept Its Values
As cooperative culture spreads into the tech world, Loomio is part of a new wave of entrepreneurs figuring out how to finance a more democratic, values-centered online economy.
Why Teaming Up with Unions Might be the Best Way to Build the Co-Op Movement
Growing numbers of unions are successfully turning to the cooperative model to fight for workers鈥� rights.
Berkeley Votes to Boost Co-op Economy In the Face of Gentrification
A growing number of cities are investing in co-ops to keep money local and neighborhoods affordable.
What鈥檚 the New Economy Look Like? Here鈥檚 What Our Artists Did With Your Ideas
Pictures of windmills and farmers markets are great, but they don鈥檛 capture the diversity and radicalism of the movement. So we asked readers like you for poster ideas and handed them over to two of our favorite artists.
18 Holiday Gift Ideas鈥擣rom Co-ops
Here鈥檚 how to use your holiday shopping to support cooperatives.
REI Will #OptOutside on Black Friday. Can It Change Retail (and the Economy)?
All 143 REI stores will be closed on Black Friday. But what more can the co-op do to live up to its values and transform the conversation in the United States?
10 Reasons to Leave Your Company to Your Workers When You Retire
It鈥檚 a once-in-a-generation opportunity: Selling to employees can yield a better price, preserve a legacy, keep jobs and profits local鈥攁nd maybe even eradicate inequality.
After Decades in a Food Desert, These Neighbors Are Building a $2 Million Co-op鈥擜nd They Own It
For nearly 20 years, the residents of this mostly African American Greensboro community had nowhere to shop for food. They tried to attract a big-box grocery store; when that didn鈥檛 work, they started their own.
What If We Owned the Internet Together? It鈥檚 Time to Bring the Co-op Revolution to the Web
The flourishing of farmers markets and credit unions demonstrates a longing for business that serves the common good. Can it infiltrate the Amazon-dominated, Uberized Internet?
How Creative Finance Launched Worker-Owned Co-ops In Post-Sandy New York
Half of small businesses don鈥檛 make it past the first five years, and owners lose everything trying to pay off the loans. The Working World lets co-ops stabilize before repayment even begins.
Three Years Ago, These Chicago Workers Took Over a Window Factory. Today, They’re Thriving
When Republic Windows and Doors closed down without giving workers notice, the issue drew national attention. Since then, they鈥檝e turned the factory into a worker-owned co-op鈥攚here they hold the power.
Dangerous History: What the Story of Black Economic Cooperation Means for Us Today
African Americans have been pioneering co-ops as an economic strategy since the days of slavery. Author Jessica Gordon Nembhard on how centuries-old models can guide our economy today.
NYC鈥檚 Credit Unions Give Mom-and-Pop Stores a Chance, Despite Gentrification
They're a lifeline to business owners. So why do these credit unions have trouble growing?
A Techy Management Fad Gives Workers More Power鈥擴p to a Point
Holacracy aims to liberate workers from micromanagement by replacing bosses with code-like rules modeled on computer programming.
5 Steps to Turn Your Business Into a Worker-owned Co-op
Learn how to turn any business into a worker-owned cooperative with this checklist.
These Neighbors Got Together to Buy Vacant Buildings. Now They鈥檙e Renting to Bakers and Brewers
Though the model is new and small, it holds outsize potential for the many neighborhoods whose downtowns are controlled by faraway landlords or retail chains.
What鈥檚 a Death Midwife? Inside the Alternative Death Care Movement
From funeral cooperatives to green burials, there's a kinder, gentler, less expensive way to die.
After 20 Years Reporting on Solutions, I鈥檓 Going on a Journey to Find Where Hope Lies Now
大象传媒 co-founder Sarah van Gelder sets out on a road trip to find the edge of change.
This NYC Real Estate Co-Op Helps Small Businesses Stay Put
A New York City co-op raises $1.2 million in pledges to fight gentrification and provide affordable rent for local business owners.
The Weekly Crunch: Tiny Houses in Vancouver and Why the South Is the New China
This week: Bee activists step up their game, Bernie Sanders lays out his views on all thing politicals, and fracking takes its toll on Oklahoma.
A North Carolina Textile Co-Op Gives Immigrant Workers a Stake in the Business
In a state that lost 88 percent of its textile industry jobs in just 10 years, small worker-owned cooperatives are islands of rights and resilience.
The Case for a 鈥淛azz Revolution鈥� Against Corporate Capitalism
Bottom up? Top down? Improvisation is the key to a middle way.
What鈥檚 Next for the World鈥檚 Largest Federation of Worker-Owned Co-Ops?
A conversation with Mondragon President Josu Ugarte on the future of the mega-cooperative.
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