Solidarity Economy Shorts Episode #4 A collaboration with New Economy Coalition Solidarity Economy Shorts are conversations with frontline organizations & individuals that are putting solidarity economy principles into practice. They are using different strategies to build an economic system where communities are meeting their own needs outside of …

Solidarity Economy Shorts Episode #3 A collaboration with New Economy Coalition Solidarity Economy Shorts are conversations with frontline organizations & individuals that are putting solidarity economy principles into practice. They are using different strategies to build an economic system where communities are meeting their own needs outside of …

Solidarity Economy Shorts Episode #2 A collaboration with New Economy Coalition Solidarity Economy Shorts are conversations with frontline organizations & individuals that are putting solidarity economy principles into practice. They are using different strategies to build an economic system where communities are meeting their own needs outside of …

Solidarity Economy Shorts Episode #1 A collaboration with New Economy Coalition Solidarity Economy Shorts are conversations with frontline organizations & individuals that are putting solidarity economy principles into practice. They are using different strategies to build an economic system where communities are meeting their own needs outside of …

Guilded is a cooperative that offers resources to empower freelance workers. They provide contract management, invoicing, guaranteed payments, tax preparation, and health care – which alleviates some of the administrative work so that freelancers can focus on their projects. One of their main intentions is supporting artists as workers and ensuring…

What would it look like if we collectively designed decentralized, democratized, distributed, and diversified energy systems? People Power Solar is a California based cooperative that invests in community-led projects to create alternatives to PG&E and other private utilities. They are working to ensure that power can be accessed by all without com…

Post Growth Institute experiments with tangible practices, tools, and spaces to create a regenerative, full-circle economy beyond capitalism. Through their research, structure, and offerings they embody the ‘Post-growth’ worldview, which sees society operating better without the demand of constant economic growth. It resists an economy that is pred…

Mumbet’s Freedom Farm is a Black and Brown-led cooperative farm located at the base of a mountain in Sheffield, Massachusetts. It is a community sanctuary for connection, creativity, education, and wellness. The name is in reverence to Elizabeth ‘Mumbet’ Freeman, who was an enslaved African nurse, midwife, and herbalist who sued for her freedom in …

Okionu Birth Foundation offers free personalized meals and group mental health support for low-income BIPOC families during the first six weeks after their baby is born. They collaborate with chefs and the Therapist of Color Collective to provide care in Colorado, Maryland, and Texas. While their free services are currently limited, they are develo…

Established in 1972, A.I.R is the first artist cooperative gallery for women in the United States. They maintain an exhibition space in Brooklyn, NY and showcase the work of hundreds of women artists each year. They also offer ways for members to build a support network and engage with the community through public open calls, fellowships, workshops…

Manyverse is an open-source, decentralized social network. Rather than a company controlling data and communication, the user has complete ownership and responsibility. Their goal is to make social networking independent of internet connectivity, allowing for “off the grid” communication when disconnected from the internet. In this episode I speak …

Tariq El Nahl translates from Arabic to Way of the Bees. They are an herbal collective based in Lebanon that formed after the explosion in the capital of Beirut in 2020. Lebanon has been compounded with crises in the past 50 years - from a civil war, to a financial crisis, and most recently the explosion left 300,000 people homeless and a governmen…

In this special 1 year anniversary episode, Cooperative Journal's host - Ebony Joy finally opens up to share their personal story. I explain what inspired me to start this form of storytelling, why I've shifted from the language of "alternative economics", expanding into a multimedia/multi-sensory platform, and why this is an opportune times for co…

Understory is a worker-led restaurant, bar, and incubation kitchen in Oakland, CA. In collaboration with Oakland Bloom, they center immigrant, working class, and people of color chefs through pathways to worker-leadership, project support and training, and economic opportunities. It is more than just a restaurant, they offer a platter of ways to ph…

Play Cousins Collective is a Black centered family care network based in Louisville, Kentucky. They are building multi-generational and inter-sectional Black spaces and community resources rooted in ancestral methods of healing and resistance. Through offering programs at every stage of development, from in utero to adult they are able to foster a …

East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative is based in the East Bay of California. They facilitate BIPOC and allied communities to cooperatively organize, finance, purchase, occupy, and steward properties, taking them permanently off the market. Residents, investors, community members, and EB PREC staff then co-own and co-steward the property. It c…

St. Louis Mutual Aid is based in St. Louis, MO. They are a network of organizers, healers, artists, community leaders, and every day people coming together to deliver food and supplies, provide financial solidarity, offer emotional support, and ultimately connect people to their neighbors. In this episode I speak with members Marcus Hunt, Julia Ho,…

Looms of Ladakh is a women owned luxury wool clothing cooperative based in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, India. They are a farm-to-fashion initiative, focusing on small-scale and high quality production to illuminate and preserve the traditions of the Changpa nomads of that region. Their pashmina, yak, and sheep wool are of the highest quality in…

Fairmondo is an online-marketplace owned by its local users currently based in Germany. It is an ethical alternative aiming to compete against Amazon’s extractive model. With a membership of around 2,200, they are steadily expanding towards their goal to create a global cooperatively owned online marketplace. They prioritize fairness, respect, comm…

O+ is a festival created in Kingston, NY to support the health of underinsured artists and musicians through the exchange of art making and performances for wellness services. Festival goers can experience the medicine of art through everything from murals, films, installations, and live music. At the clinic, artists, musicians, and volunteers can …

Woodbine is a DIY volunteer-run community resource hub located in Ridgewood Queens, NY. It’s all encompassing of solidarity, intended to cultivate the practices, skills, and tools needed to build autonomy. They host workshops, lectures, discussions and serve as a meeting and organizing space. They offer a multitude of ways to get community members'…

Essential Food and Medicine is a mutual aid initiative based in Oakland, CA that started during the pandemic but has done an incredible amount of work in a short period of time. The co-founders integrated their love for community connection, food security, sovereignty, plant, and holistic medicine to create a resource to meet all of those essential…

VinziRast-Mittendrin is a co-housing building located in Vienna, Austria where students, formerly homeless, and refugees live amongst each other. It houses bicycle, woodworking and sewing workshops, a restaurant, and event spaces. It’s a collaboration between students involved with the Vienna Audimax occupation, VinziRast which is a volunteer-run o…

Horta Inteligente (Intelligent Garden) promotes environmental education to children in the oldest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a volunteer-run initiative, they collectively create new ways of inhabiting and relating to the city through agroecology, art, community-based education, and creating spaces for cultivating food. In this episode I s…

Green Mountain Spinnery is a 40 year old cooperative based in rural Vermont. They mill high quality yarns made in the U.S., support regional sheep farming, and develop ways of producing natural fibers that are environmentally friendly. Flat Iron Co-op is a cooperatively owned coffee shop based in Vermont. They are still in the developmental stages …

Uzupis is a sovereign republic located in the Lithuanian capital of Vilinus. Depicted much like a utopia, they have their own flag, army, currency, cabinet of ministers, constitution, and anthem. Created by artists as a joke on April Fool’s day, it has become home to free-thinkers seeking an alternative society. While it isn’t recognized by foreign…

The Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops is a secondary cooperative, meaning they are a cooperative made up of member co-ops. Their members are apart of a regional network based in Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont. Through this network, they are able to provide developmental support, cooperative education, and ultimately raise awareness to st…

Oxbow Design Build is a recently converted worker-owned design and construction cooperative in East Hampton, Massachusetts. They practice holistic design and building while creating custom furniture, developing new structures, and renovating. Beyond their impeccable designs and attention to detail, they also pride themselves in supporting local bus…

Altrapo Lab is a cooperative in Madrid, Spain dedicated to training and raising awareness about the impacts of the fashion industry and the promotion of consumer alternatives. They advocate for recycling, textile reuse, and transformative consumption from a creative approach through their courses, workshops and events around circular fashion. In th…

Mehr Als Wohnen is a holistic and democratic housing cooperative in Zurich, Switzerland. It is definitely not your typical housing co-op, they have created an innovative complex that is in harmony with the needs of the natural environment and its diverse residents. Members can meet all of their basic needs within the immediate vicinity. Parks, work…

Equal Care is a multi-stakeholder cooperative in England that values building trusted relationships between the giver and receiver of support. Their care offerings range from personal care and practical jobs, to help with life admin and community advocacy, to mental health and wellbeing support. Workers get a decent wage without the people getting …

The Mobility Factory is a European cooperative alliance consisting of electric car-sharing cooperatives. They offer an e-car sharing platform for their members, open sourced coding to adjust the platform to members needs, and transparent democratic decision making processes. As we are shaping more sustainable and densely populated cities, the mobil…

The Global Centre for Advanced Studies otherwise known as GCAS, is the world’s first institution of higher education cooperatively owned by the faculty, staff, investors, and graduates. Students are able to utilize blockchain and earn cryptocurrency while getting debt free education. It is a model designed to challenge the status quo and co-create …

MARSH is a food cooperative in St. Louis, MO with a fully-licensed kitchen, diner, and food collective. They have implemented a unique model where workers, consumers, and producers work reciprocally as owners. Diner workers, non-working public participants, as well as aspiring, emerging, and professional culinary artists collaborate to grow, purcha…

Fairbnb is a global cooperative that is a non extractive alternative to existing home-sharing platforms. They offer authentic and sustainable travel experiences while funding the development of socially relevant local community projects. In this episode I interview co-founder Jonathan Reyes about the negative effects of Airbnb on communities, the m…

Soup is a micro-granting dinner that offers a platform to support creative local projects in communities around the world. It eliminates barriers that local projects have to deal with in order to get funding, fosters dialogue on community needs, and allows a space for community change-makers to be heard. In this episode, I speak with the founder of…

Ministry of Space (Ministarstvo Prostora) is a collective from Belgrade, Serbia founded in 2011 with the aim of reflecting on the future of cities. They act in the field of urban and cultural policies, sustainable city development, fair use of common resources, and the involvement of citizens in the urban development of their environment. Co-founde…