Cooperative Ownership and Democratic Participation in Economic Models
undefined
Jessica Gordon Nembhard
, Ph.D.
John Jay College, CUNY
March 30, 2019
BEDC Bermuda
The original occupants/stewards of the
land.
Acknowledge our ancestors, the struggles
of enslaved laborers, & all those who labor
without just compensation; and our claim
to land and resources.
Stand on shoulders of those who use
cooperative ownership in the struggle for
liberation.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Utilized by all populations, in every era, on
every continent, pre and post 1844.
Notions of the common good, the
commonwealth, The Commons, collectivism,
“collective work and responsibility”
Indigenous cooperative efforts - First
Nations, early African civilizations, etc.
Precursors: mutual aid associations, and
revolving loan funds/rotating savings &
credit/susu.
Companies jointly owned by the people in a
community who use their services or make the
products (member-owners).
Created to satisfy a need - formed for a particular
purpose to provide a quality good or service at an
affordable price (that the market is not adequately
providing).
Values-based business, double/triple bottom line.
governed through democratic economic
participation
Shared risk and surplus/profit sharing
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Democratic participation
One member, one vote (not by shares
owned); directors are members
Open participation; open books
Limited compensation to capital; for profit or
not-for-profit
Continuous education
Concern for community
Cooperation among cooperatives
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Consumer owned
Producer owned
Worker owned
All sectors of society – agriculture,
finance, retail, production, arts,
health, housing, etc.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Survival
Resistance
Prosperity
psupress.org
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Hundreds of mutual aid societies, Black
communal towns, and examples of formal
and informal economic cooperation from
1780 to 2013;
About 162 legally incorporated cooperative
enterprises owned by African Americans in
rural & urban areas North & South, from the
mid 1800s to the present.
plus 20 credit unions and 154 co-ops (listed
by Du Bois 1907).
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Provide quality goods and services
Save costs, Increase income and wealth
Combat racial discrimination
Increase Black economic stability and self
sufficiency
Save or create decent jobs in their
communities
Provide independence and self-determination
Develops leadership
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Capitalization and access to capital
Adequate and proper orientation and
training (cooperative economics and co-
op management education)
Distrust and excessive competition
Ideology
Politics and policy
Racism and patriarchy
Class .
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Efforts at collective economic action
were often thwarted by
racial discrimination,
white supremacist sabotage and
violence,
However, efforts persisted throughout
the centuries – collective courage.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Search for alternative economic
solutions to address discrimination and
inequality.
Use African retentions, self-help
ideology, and voluntary segregation – to
create co-ops and racial self-sufficiency
Chance to design & manage needed
services in culturally, racially &
geographically sensitive ways.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
“Cooperative ownership of land opens the
door to many opportunities for group
development of economic enterprises
which develop the total community rather
than create monopolies that monopolize
the resources of a community.”
-Fannie Lou Hamer
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Cooperatives
are “the best
mechanism yet
devised to
bring about
economic
democracy.”
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Cooperatives address market failure,
underdevelopment and economic
isolation and marginality; and increase
access to quality affordable goods and
services.
Are both anti-poverty strategies and
community building strategies.
Co-ops anchor and stabilize the local
economy.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Challenges
Solutions
Market Failure
<
Consumer Co-ops
[Rural Electric, food, etc.]
Export of Capital
<
Community Owned
Predatory lending
<
Community
Development Credit Unions
Unemployment
<
Worker Co-ops
Poor quality education
<
Co-op Schools;
Continuous Education
Housing Crisis
<
Housing Co-ops; CUs
Poor nutrition
<
Food Co-ops
PIC and Re-entry
< Worker &Social Co-ops
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
10 Ways that Co-ops
10 Ways that Co-ops
Benefit Their
Benefit Their
Communities
Communities
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops are institutions of the Solidarity
Economy, established to satisfy a need
Anchor capital and production in the
local community
Keep the benefits of and returns to
capital & production recirculating
among those who produce them,
service them, and need them.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops (especially worker) re-circulate
resources in a local economy and
leverage local resources:
Local wages are used in the community and
for goods and services that benefit the
community.
Surplus is returned to members, who live in
the community and invest in the community
or leverage their local dollars out in the world.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops often buy local - use local
suppliers whose activity originates in the
community and whose resources also
recirculate.
Co-ops deliberately direct dollars to the
community and support community
development ($ donations, in kind
contributions of meeting space and
supplies, etc., volunteer hours).
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Established co-op grocery store in
1935(Gary)
By 1936 considered the largest grocery
business operated by African Americans
in U.S. -total sales of $160,000, annual
dividends of 2%.
Credit union, grocery store, and gas
station.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
BSCP co-ops – keep money from decent
wages circulating in the Black community
Use credit unions to help labor families to
save and have access to capital
Use consumer stores to sell the items the
Black community and keep money in the
community.
YNCL similar strategy, but larger, national
interlocking cooperatives
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops promote education and training through:
training about how to run a business and read an
income and expense statement;
industry training;
training in meeting facilitation and democratic
participation;
a well trained board of directors; and
public education using orientation brochures,
information boards, and product labeling.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Many began with study circles.
Training is continuous over the
member’s participation in the
cooperative.
Skills developed from cooperative
ownership are transferable to other
economic, political and social
situations.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Most 20
th
century co-ops started with a
study group - to study economic
conditions and cooperative economics.
Used mainstream cooperative literature
from CLUSA, and emerging Black
writings.
Black leaders promote study & practice.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Started with study group and weekly co-op
education meetings for 18 months
Night school co-op econ course at local Black High
School (Roosevelt)1933; by 1936 the largest
academic class enrollment
The early members of the study group started a
women’s guild, reputed to have kept the
organization running and invigorated the co-op:
Consumers’ Cooperative Trading co.
Reddix: The most important single factor in the co-
op’s success has been our education program.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
A. Philip Randolph, and the Ladies Auxiliary
of the BSCP promoted cooperatives,
especially in Chicago in the 1930s. Spoke
about and wrote about co-ops.
As early as 1938 the “Instructions and
Decisions” of the Auxiliary included
subscribing to journals/newsletters about
consumer economics and cooperatives; and
studying credit unions and consumer’s
cooperation.
Started several co-ops associated with BSCP.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Connections between Black co-ops – KC
co-op, People’s (Chicago), Red Circle to
Gary; Red Circle also to DC, Baltimore,
Greenbelt.
Black local co-op tours connected with
Federal Council of Churches’
conferences and Unitarian Church co-op
activities in late 30s.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
1935 Federal Council of Churches hosted
Japanese cooperative leader Kagawa in
Harlem, NYC.
1938 study tour of the Antigonish
cooperative movement in Nova Scotia
(Canada), through Columbia University:
35 whites and 19 Blacks.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Two Black schools (Bricks, Tyrrell
County) established farmer’s
cooperatives, credit unions, buyers
clubs, health insurance, and a state wide
Black cooperative federation in 1930s.
North Carolina Council worked with the
state agricultural department to develop
credit unions and cooperatives.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
In1936: 3 Black credit unions;
By 1948 there were 98 cus, and
48 additional co-op enterprises: 9
consumer stores, 32 machinery co-
ops, 4 curb markets, 2 health
associations and 1 housing project.
Co-ops (especially worker) often
lead their industries in providing
living wages, and wages higher
than industry standards;
high quality work with a variety of
benefits; and
establish democratic control over
income and work rules.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops create local jobs and meaningful
work;
keep jobs in the neighborhood, creating new
jobs as the co-op grows, supporting local
businesses;
value and promote team work;
provide job ladder opportunities; and
a self management environment.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Cooperative Industries of DC was
chartered in 1936 as a self-help
cooperative in Lincoln Heights, DC.
Founded by Sadie Morse Bethel
and Nannie Helen Burroughs
(president of the National Trade and
Professional School for Women and
Girls).
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-op of unemployed workers and
home-makers - unskilled with annual
incomes between $500 - $1000.
Began as a producer co-operative for
“the relief of the unemployed,” using a
federal government grant to help
unemployed women.
Over time became a consumer’s
cooperative & agricultural marketing
cooperative. Bought farm in MD.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
•
Since 1987 employs unskilled Latina and
African American women (often were on
public assistance).
•
Leads the industry in above average wages,
benefits, career ladder opps, leadership
training, and low turnover.
•
Policy advocacy (city and state) to increase
Medicare allocations and average wages.
•
Largest worker co-op in US – 1700 owners
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-operatives provide economic stability by
providing members with a viable community-
based business; and
environmentally friendly products and
services.
As residents, co-op members care about the
environment and their working conditions.
Triple bottom line – profit, human & social
capital, environmental capital.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Develop ecological house cleaning
cooperatives in northern CA.
Latinas
Use natural cleaning prods.
Trained in healthy, ecological cleaning &
business ownership.
Emma’s Eco Clean in Oakland
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
South Bronx, NY
Incubate worker-owned green
businesses rooted in democracy &
environmental justice.
Provides ecological benefits while doing
no harm to workers, surrounding
community, or environment.
Co-op Academies
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops produce affordable and high quality
goods and services usually because the
market does not provide them – healthy
food, sustainable energy, non-predatory
lending, quality job.
Marginalization forced subaltern groups such
as African Americans to find alternative
economic solutions.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
In response to marginalization, segregation and
discrimination, African Americans practiced
economic cooperation and established mutual
societies and cooperatives.
Free and enslaved Blacks pooled their money to
buy their own and their family members’
freedom.
“Freedmen” established beneficial societies and
mutual aid companies to help cover costs of
illness and death.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
More currently African American have
used cooperatives when they needed
more income, could not find work,
and/or needed products that were not
being supplied.
Freedom Quilting Bee: share cropping
insufficient and exploitative, political
repression, need control over land and
economic independence.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Immigrant women have also
created cooperatives to help
them survive, maintain their own
culture, and balance work and
family life.
Cooperative Economics for
Women, WAGES.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Exploited populations –within and without
the criminal justice system.
Employers won’t hire returnees – must legally
identify themselves;
Incarcerated are used as slave labor in prison,
can’t support their families.
Need new or different skills when return;
Newcomers in some way; Bad previous
experience(s)
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
The co-ops in prisons and with formerly incarcerated
workers in Italy provide values driven work, and
“good” paid jobs so can support their families.
Also supports access to ‘mainstream’ employment,
drawing on their network of professional
relationships.
Co-ops develop a solidarity, cultural and relational
environment that generates resources that enable
desistance, recovery and integration.
Provide support to the families of imprisoned workers
and facilitate family mediation; create the space for
family contact to occur in more natural and private
environments.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Began with art therapy
Learned about co-op model and demanded
co-op education
Changed co-op law – meeting with Governor
Rephrased the 7 principles; internal rules
MOU with Corrections Department – 15%
(office space, electricity, etc); have to pay for
extra security
10% retained; 75% to owners
Only 2 recidivists of 50 + who got out over 10
years.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Pooling scarce resources
Leveraging resources
Reducing individual risks
Profit sharing and a share of the co-
op’s equity
Collective ownership and
democratization of ownership.
Addresses low income, capital flight
– and lack of experience.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
In addition to generating income,
cooperatives contribute to asset
building and wealth accumulation.
Stable jobs, equity in the business,
patronage refunds and other returns on
their investment do provide member-
owners with wealth, although this is
often difficult to document.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Wealth creation:
Annual dividends average 25% of
initial equity investment (of $1000)
Bank the unbanked (direct deposit)
Retirement accounts
IDA accounts
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
W.A.G.E.S. reports:
Co-op members median income
increased to over $40,000 from $24,000
after owning the house cleaning co-op.
Ownership in the co-op has put their
income higher
than the national
average of $38,000 for Latinos/as
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Democratic joint ownership and cooperative
ownership can be viewed as a type of
community-based asset; and
contribute to community asset building –
augmenting individual member’s assets and
increasing the wealth of the company and the
community.
Beginning to document and measure this.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Being a decision maker in the business,
having a say in cooperative governance
has personal and business benefits.
Research has found that both
participation and ownership have
positive effects on productivity:
lower turnover and absenteeism
higher worker satisfaction.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Social efficiencies are derived
from democratic participation.
Team work, inter-cooperation
combined with self help and self
management increase
productivity and job satisfaction.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Democratic participation and self
management develop leadership skills in
co-op members.
Some cooperatives deliberately
encourage members to alternate
leadership roles and share leadership to
enhance team work.
Co-op members are found to assume
leadership in other settings as well.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
C
ooperatives “afford women a
number of important benefits,
including empowerment, leadership
training, learning opportunities not
available in traditional work
settings, and increased self-
esteem.”
(Weiss & Clamp)
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
We are also finding that involving
youth in cooperative business
development in schools increases
their motivation to stay in school,
helps them to earn money for
college, and develops leadership.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
In the Fall of 1992 students from
Crenshaw High School (South Central
Los Angeles) revitalized the school
garden to help rebuild their community
after the 1992 uprising, and in particular
to donate the food to the homeless.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Students established a co-op to sell salad
dressing made from the produce grown
in the school garden.
At least 50% of the profits are saved for
scholarships to college.
Awarded over $180,000 in college
scholarships to 77 graduated student
managers (over ten years).
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Youth entrepreneurship and
management project of Worchester
Roots, Worchester, MA
Environmental Justice – lead poisoning
Lead Abatement Landscaping
Promotion and communication
strategies
Video production
Support from local non-profit
Leadership development
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Democratic participation and decision-
making, as well as skill and leadership
development often spill over into other
arenas,
co-op members become more active in civic
organizations and politics.
Take on leadership roles in community
organizations.
Participate in policy advocacy.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
In addition, co-op members and employee
owners become used to the transparency
and accountability in their economic
organizations (open book policies, one
member one vote, shared management,
etc.).
They come to expect transparency and
accountability generally, and help re-create
this in civil society and political arenas.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Many African American organizations
and enterprises viewed cooperative
economics as a tool or strategy of a
larger movement
toward the elimination of economic
exploitation and the transition to a new
social order.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Need for adequate resources, management
training, and financing
Human energy, enthusiasm
Solidarity and trust among members
Internal education, study circles; public
education, and publicity
Local control & Inter-cooperation
Reaching and incorporating youth
Leadership roles for women
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops change lives; more control.
Eg: worker co-op businesses emerging
in health care, child care, temporary
services, lead their sectors in changing
the nature of work, increasing returns
to such work, provide ownership – for
African Americans, women, youth,
immigrants, etc.
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
… we can by consumers and
producers co-operation, …
establish a progressively
self-supporting economy
that will weld the majority of
our people into an
impregnable, economic
phalanx.
[“The Right to Work.”
Crisis
, 40 (April
1933): 93–94.]
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
D
u
B
o
i
s
1
9
3
3
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Thank You!
jgordonnembhard@gmail.com
Explore the principles of cooperative ownership, democratic participation, and economic models as advocated by Jessica Gordon-Nembhard. She emphasizes the historical significance of collective work, indigenous cooperative efforts, and the values of shared risk and surplus sharing in community-owned enterprises. The concept of one member, one vote and the diversified ownership structures across various sectors of society are central themes in promoting a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
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Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Ph.D. John Jay College, CUNY jgordonnembhard@gmail.com March 30, 2019 BEDC Bermuda
The original occupants/stewards of the land. Acknowledge our ancestors, the struggles of enslaved laborers, & all those who labor without just compensation; and our claim to land and resources. Stand on shoulders of those who use cooperative ownership in the struggle for liberation. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Utilized by all populations, in every era, on every continent, pre and post 1844. Notions of the common good, the commonwealth, The Commons, collectivism, collective work and responsibility Indigenous cooperative efforts - First Nations, early African civilizations, etc. Precursors: mutual aid associations, and revolving loan funds/rotating savings & credit/susu. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Companies jointly owned by the people in a community who use their services or make the products (member-owners). Created to satisfy a need - formed for a particular purpose to provide a quality good or service at an affordable price (that the market is not adequately providing). Values-based business, double/triple bottom line. governed through democratic economic participation Shared risk and surplus/profit sharing Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Democratic participation One member, one vote (not by shares owned); directors are members Open participation; open books Limited compensation to capital; for profit or not-for-profit Continuous education Concern for community Cooperation among cooperatives Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Consumer owned Producer owned Worker owned All sectors of society agriculture, finance, retail, production, arts, health, housing, etc. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Cooperatives Investor Stock Corporations Investor/owner 1 share 1 vote Profit motive first Member/owner 1 member 1 vote Satisfy a need; problem solve; accessible and affordable high-quality goods and services Capital subordinate to labor and usage Democratic governance, Democratic participation Solidarity with members and community; Returns to community Capital supreme; capital rents labor Majority and money rule return to investor/owner Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Survival Resistance Prosperity psupress.org Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Hundreds of mutual aid societies, Black communal towns, and examples of formal and informal economic cooperation from 1780 to 2013; About 162 legally incorporated cooperative enterprises owned by African Americans in rural & urban areas North & South, from the mid 1800s to the present. plus 20 credit unions and 154 co-ops (listed by Du Bois 1907). Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Provide quality goods and services Save costs, Increase income and wealth Combat racial discrimination Increase Black economic stability and self sufficiency Save or create decent jobs in their communities Provide independence and self-determination Develops leadership Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Capitalization and access to capital Adequate and proper orientation and training (cooperative economics and co- op management education) Distrust and excessive competition Ideology Politics and policy Racism and patriarchy Class . Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Efforts at collective economic action were often thwarted by racial discrimination, white supremacist sabotage and violence, However, efforts persisted throughout the centuries collective courage. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Search for alternative economic solutions to address discrimination and inequality. Use African retentions, self-help ideology, and voluntary segregation to create co-ops and racial self-sufficiency Chance to design & manage needed services in culturally, racially & geographically sensitive ways. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Cooperative ownership of land opens the door to many opportunities for group development of economic enterprises which develop the total community rather than create monopolies that monopolize the resources of a community. -Fannie Lou Hamer Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Cooperatives are the best mechanism yet devised to bring about economic democracy. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Cooperatives address market failure, underdevelopment and economic isolation and marginality; and increase access to quality affordable goods and services. Are both anti-poverty strategies and community building strategies. Co-ops anchor and stabilize the local economy. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Challenges Market Failure Export of Capital < Predatory lending < Unemployment Poor quality education < Housing Crisis Poor nutrition PIC and Re-entry < Worker &Social Co-ops < [Rural Electric, food, etc.] Community Owned Community Development Credit Unions < Worker Co-ops Consumer Co-ops Solutions Co-op Schools; Continuous Education < Housing Co-ops; CUs < Food Co-ops Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
10 Ways that Co-ops Benefit Their Communities Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops are institutions of the Solidarity Economy, established to satisfy a need Anchor capital and production in the local community Keep the benefits of and returns to capital & production recirculating among those who produce them, service them, and need them. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops (especially worker) re-circulate resources in a local economy and leverage local resources: Local wages are used in the community and for goods and services that benefit the community. Surplus is returned to members, who live in the community and invest in the community or leverage their local dollars out in the world. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops often buy local - use local suppliers whose activity originates in the community and whose resources also recirculate. Co-ops deliberately direct dollars to the community and support community development ($ donations, in kind contributions of meeting space and supplies, etc., volunteer hours). Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Established co-op grocery store in 1935(Gary) By 1936 considered the largest grocery business operated by African Americans in U.S. -total sales of $160,000, annual dividends of 2%. Credit union, grocery store, and gas station. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
BSCP co-ops keep money from decent wages circulating in the Black community Use credit unions to help labor families to save and have access to capital Use consumer stores to sell the items the Black community and keep money in the community. YNCL similar strategy, but larger, national interlocking cooperatives Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops promote education and training through: training about how to run a business and read an income and expense statement; industry training; training in meeting facilitation and democratic participation; a well trained board of directors; and public education using orientation brochures, information boards, and product labeling. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Many began with study circles. Training is continuous over the member s participation in the cooperative. Skills developed from cooperative ownership are transferable to other economic, political and social situations. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Most 20th century co-ops started with a study group - to study economic conditions and cooperative economics. Used mainstream cooperative literature from CLUSA, and emerging Black writings. Black leaders promote study & practice. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Started with study group and weekly co-op education meetings for 18 months Night school co-op econ course at local Black High School (Roosevelt)1933; by 1936 the largest academic class enrollment The early members of the study group started a women s guild, reputed to have kept the organization running and invigorated the co-op: Consumers Cooperative Trading co. Reddix: The most important single factor in the co- op s success has been our education program. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
A. Philip Randolph, and the Ladies Auxiliary of the BSCP promoted cooperatives, especially in Chicago in the 1930s. Spoke about and wrote about co-ops. As early as 1938 the Instructions and Decisions of the Auxiliary included subscribing to journals/newsletters about consumer economics and cooperatives; and studying credit unions and consumer s cooperation. Started several co-ops associated with BSCP. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Connections between Black co-ops KC co-op, People s (Chicago), Red Circle to Gary; Red Circle also to DC, Baltimore, Greenbelt. Black local co-op tours connected with Federal Council of Churches conferences and Unitarian Church co-op activities in late 30s. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
1935 Federal Council of Churches hosted Japanese cooperative leader Kagawa in Harlem, NYC. 1938 study tour of the Antigonish cooperative movement in Nova Scotia (Canada), through Columbia University: 35 whites and 19 Blacks. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Two Black schools (Bricks, Tyrrell County) established farmer s cooperatives, credit unions, buyers clubs, health insurance, and a state wide Black cooperative federation in 1930s. North Carolina Council worked with the state agricultural department to develop credit unions and cooperatives. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
In1936: 3 Black credit unions; By 1948 there were 98 cus, and 48 additional co-op enterprises: 9 consumer stores, 32 machinery co- ops, 4 curb markets, 2 health associations and 1 housing project. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops (especially worker) often lead their industries in providing living wages, and wages higher than industry standards; high quality work with a variety of benefits; and establish democratic control over income and work rules. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops create local jobs and meaningful work; keep jobs in the neighborhood, creating new jobs as the co-op grows, supporting local businesses; value and promote team work; provide job ladder opportunities; and a self management environment. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Cooperative Industries of DC was chartered in 1936 as a self-help cooperative in Lincoln Heights, DC. Founded by Sadie Morse Bethel and Nannie Helen Burroughs (president of the National Trade and Professional School for Women and Girls). Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-op of unemployed workers and home-makers - unskilled with annual incomes between $500 - $1000. Began as a producer co-operative for the relief of the unemployed, using a federal government grant to help unemployed women. Over time became a consumer s cooperative & agricultural marketing cooperative. Bought farm in MD. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Since 1987 employs unskilled Latina and African American women (often were on public assistance). Leads the industry in above average wages, benefits, career ladder opps, leadership training, and low turnover. Policy advocacy (city and state) to increase Medicare allocations and average wages. Largest worker co-op in US 1700 owners Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-operatives provide economic stability by providing members with a viable community- based business; and environmentally friendly products and services. As residents, co-op members care about the environment and their working conditions. Triple bottom line profit, human & social capital, environmental capital. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Develop ecological house cleaning cooperatives in northern CA. Latinas Use natural cleaning prods. Trained in healthy, ecological cleaning & business ownership. Emma s Eco Clean in Oakland Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
South Bronx, NY Incubate worker-owned green businesses rooted in democracy & environmental justice. Provides ecological benefits while doing no harm to workers, surrounding community, or environment. Co-op Academies Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Co-ops produce affordable and high quality goods and services usually because the market does not provide them healthy food, sustainable energy, non-predatory lending, quality job. Marginalization forced subaltern groups such as African Americans to find alternative economic solutions. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
In response to marginalization, segregation and discrimination, African Americans practiced economic cooperation and established mutual societies and cooperatives. Free and enslaved Blacks pooled their money to buy their own and their family members freedom. Freedmen established beneficial societies and mutual aid companies to help cover costs of illness and death. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
More currently African American have used cooperatives when they needed more income, could not find work, and/or needed products that were not being supplied. Freedom Quilting Bee: share cropping insufficient and exploitative, political repression, need control over land and economic independence. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Immigrant women have also created cooperatives to help them survive, maintain their own culture, and balance work and family life. Cooperative Economics for Women, WAGES. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Exploited populations within and without the criminal justice system. Employers won t hire returnees must legally identify themselves; Incarcerated are used as slave labor in prison, can t support their families. Need new or different skills when return; Newcomers in some way; Bad previous experience(s) Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
The co-ops in prisons and with formerly incarcerated workers in Italy provide values driven work, and good paid jobs so can support their families. Also supports access to mainstream employment, drawing on their network of professional relationships. Co-ops develop a solidarity, cultural and relational environment that generates resources that enable desistance, recovery and integration. Provide support to the families of imprisoned workers and facilitate family mediation; create the space for family contact to occur in more natural and private environments. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Began with art therapy Learned about co-op model and demanded co-op education Changed co-op law meeting with Governor Rephrased the 7 principles; internal rules MOU with Corrections Department 15% (office space, electricity, etc); have to pay for extra security 10% retained; 75% to owners Only 2 recidivists of 50 + who got out over 10 years. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
Pooling scarce resources Leveraging resources Reducing individual risks Profit sharing and a share of the co- op s equity Collective ownership and democratization of ownership. Addresses low income, capital flight and lack of experience. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard 2019
