Save the date! Our biennial Union Co-op Symposium, hosted with 1worker1vote, is scheduled for Oct 20-21!
From Dream to Action: The Transformative Power of Co-ops, Labor, and Community
Creating a New Economy Rooted in Connection
What happens when we co-create a dream that energizes and inspires?
Co-op Cincy presents its 6th biennial Union Co-op Symposium, which will take place in-person on Oct 20 and Oct 21 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Symposium will focus on combining the best of the co-op and union movements to forge a new economy rooted in connection. The event will be dynamic and inspiring, waking us up to the possibilities of being networked in meaningful ways. Activities will highlight equity, labor, community wealth-building, and care for the earth and ourselves.
Day One is the day for dreaming. After a session that opens participants to multiple ways of knowing (mind, body, and spirit), we will break into smaller groups of approximately 20 to 30 people. The groups will co-create a specific vision (dream) that truly energizes and inspires. The day will close with keynote addresses offering concrete examples of dreaming boldly.
Day Two is the action day. Groups will turn their attention to practices, tactics, and strategies for realizing the specific vision they developed. The day will close with sharing and activities that focus on deepening solidarity and staying in the work for the long haul.
Session facilitators and participants will include cooperative members, labor movement leaders, representatives from the Mondragon cooperative association, faith community members, ESOP leaders, and representatives from finance institutions.
Our Cheers to Cooperatives celebration, scheduled for 7-9 p.m. on Friday Oct 20, will include drinks, food, a star studded speaker line-up, and more! Get your tickets now!
Here’s a program with a schedule overview and more info.
We are still putting the finishing touches on our schedule. Planned dream sessions include the following:
Mutualism: Learning from Emilia-Romagna, Mondragon, & Argentina to Energize the Solidarity Economy – By connecting with the wisdom of long-established cooperative ecosystems as well as the fresh perspectives and experiences of budding cooperative ecosystems, participants will share their questions, learnings, and insights on how to deepen and catalyze our regional ecosystems in a way that helps consciously shape a future where the planet and people thrive.
Unleashing Workplace Democracy: The Power of Labor & Co-ops Together – Worker-ownership is a proven strategy for achieving many of the goals of the labor movement, as well as for creating resilient, family-sustaining jobs that workers own and control. What is stopping us from having unions embrace co-op development as one of the essential tools for rebuilding the labor movement? What is stopping the cooperative movement from fully joining forces with the labor movement to overhaul our economy and put people over profits?
Affordable Housing: Cooperatives, Land Trusts, & Faith Community Assets in Transition – How can we find ways so caring people from faith and other communities can create housing opportunities which allow people to overcome racial, social, income, and wealth inequalities? How can we secure below-market real estate and turn it into perpetually affordable housing where residents build assets? This session will seek to create an alternative to traditional models of renting and owning based on participatory management, paths to wealth-building, and perpetual affordability. It will include representatives from Renting Partnerships (resident-managed housing with a pathway to wealth building), limited equity co-ops, faith-based communities and social justice groups that own property, community land trusts, community development financial institutions, and multi-employer trusts focused on real estate.
Place-Based ‘Maker’ Ecosystems: Re-localizing Textile Manufacturing and Beyond – It’s possible to employ ourselves and our communities by making goods in the US again. The Industrial Commons is an exciting example of a thriving, apparel-based cooperative network that is re-localizing apparel manufacturing in North Carolina. Learning from The Industrial Commons and other examples from around the country, this session will delve into the nuts and bolts of how to create and strengthen place-based cooperative “maker” ecosystems, relocalize apparel manufacturing, and create transparent value chains where worker rights are centered.
Policy and Co-ops: Creating Policy-Enabling Environments for Worker Co-ops – We’ll share examples of municipal policy efforts that have been successful, including in Massachusetts, Colorado, California, and Washington, and how worker co-op advocates can move policy forward in their town, cities, regions, and states.
Community Ownership of Solar: How Worker-Owned Solar Installers, Purchasing Co-ops, & Rural Electrics Can Partner To Power the Country – Solar power can knit together disparate urban and rural communities and create shared purpose and wealth. In order to make solar this transformative, we have to ensure that everyone, and especially communities that have borne the brunt of the current energy system, has material access to solar. The Inflation Reduction Act has given us many of the tools we need, but it’s up to us to come together and build the solar-powered world we want to live in.
Dignified Work: Individual & Collective Responsibility in Democratic Workplaces – In this dream session, we will explore the border between personal responsibility and the role of the collective, seeking to reconcile our personal and collective traumas with the dreams we want to make real. We will consider the following questions: What does it mean to be a leader in a democratic workplace? What does sovereignty of labor mean for us (as worker-owners, cooperative advocates, workers)? What's the role of personal growth in a democratic workplace? How can we re-imagine workplace democracy through community and resource synergy? Join us for an honest exploration of our own values and needs within democratic workplaces.
Black Ownership: Creating an Economy For Us, By Us – How can we strengthen and deepen relationships among Black professionals and business owners to create supportive business communities that share resources and foster connection? How can we tap into our collective power to overcome challenges such as racial trauma, historical distrust, and systemic disempowerment? In this dream session, we will delve into the impact of Western society’s emphasis on individual gains. We will examine how to cultivate trust and connection as the foundation for a thriving Black economy.
Cannabis & Co-ops: Building High-Paying & Empowering Jobs – The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has identified union co-ops as a tool for building worker power, investing in sustainable communities, and pursuing racial justice in the cannabis industry. These businesses combine democratic governance and financial ownership with strong labor protections and institutional resources. This dream session will explore how to build union co-ops in the cannabis industry and unlock financing.
Own the Metrics: Building a Broad Movement for Sustainable Development – If we all do our part to build sustainable communities and economies, the UN’s sustainable development goals present a surmountable challenge. This is not just a challenge for Fortune 500 corporations and sovereign governments; it is one for those of us in the social and solidarity economy. We can lead by example, showing that greenwashing is unacceptable; that inclusive governance is doable; that ownership needs to take a seventh-generation perspective of profits; and that social transformation of the economy can be humane and inclusive. We need to catalyze community wealth in a way that does not recreate the problems of the current economy, but instead fosters business and organizational development that aligns with the sustainable development goals.
Manufacturing Renaissance: Rebuilding Our Manufacturing Sector Inclusively – Advanced manufacturing is the foundation for economic democracy in Mondragon and Emilia-Romagna. We need to rebuild our manufacturing sector in a way that is profoundly inclusive, including the dramatic expansion of worker-owned manufacturing companies as well as companies owned by entrepreneurs of color. We need an industrial policy at the national, state, and local level that reflects these objectives and provides funding and other forms of support to expand our programs exponentially. We take the values of cooperatives and employee-owned companies as a foundation for national as well as local industrial policies. This would offer an alternative to the current industrial policy that is guided by securing the personal wealth of a very small segment of our society. Specifically, we will build a movement inspired by the Basque Country and other international models that promote advanced manufacturing, economic democracy, and community development. Our partnerships will include labor, community and faith- based organizations, manufacturing companies, cooperatives, local government, and the environmental movement.
Broadening Ownership: Reducing Inequality & Creating a Thriving Tri-State through Employee Ownership – If we bring together local leaders involved with ESOPs, B-Corps, Conscious Capitalism, and worker-owned co-ops, there is breathtaking potential to move the needle on broadening ownership and reducing income inequality. Across the country, two-thirds of privately owned businesses belong to baby boomers. Private companies generally provide 50-60% of the jobs in a community, yet only 20% of businesses have a succession plan. The upcoming wave of retirements by baby-boomer business owners could be a destabilizing crisis for our communities. Or, local leaders could turn this potential disaster into an unprecedented opportunity with the help of organizations like Co-op Cincy and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, which provide technical assistance and access to funds enabling owners to sell to their employees. Imagine the impact a powerful group of leaders can have by inspiring business owners to sell to their employees, thereby broadening ownership and helping create a Tri-State where all people have an opportunity to thrive. Join us for this powerful dream/action session!
More Than Just Money: Restorative Investing & Capital – Restorative investing and capital represent a transformative approach to finance that prioritizes equitable wealth distribution and the empowerment of marginalized communities, especially those impacted by systemic racism. Rooted in principles of justice and inclusivity, restorative investing redirects resources to uplift those historically kept in cycles of disadvantage, focusing on healing, restoring, and reinvigorating these communities. By challenging traditional financial paradigms that prioritize profits over people, this approach aims to bridge the racial wealth gap and foster shared prosperity. Inspired by the ethos of restorative economics, the objective is not merely financial return, but societal healing and holistic community development. It's about more than just money; it's about recalibrating the financial system to be in service of all, ensuring an equitable, inclusive, and resilient economic future. We invite impact investors and community builders to embrace and champion this revolutionary approach.
Immigrants and Co-ops: Decolonizing and Leveling up the Cooperative Movement – How can we eradicate systemic barriers and center immigrant voices while creating a regenerative and inclusive economy? Please join us for this collaborative and energizing session.
We will be sharing more specific information about speakers and activities in the weeks to come.
Our last symposium, Economics of Well-Being: Building a Just Economy, drew over 200 people from around the world.
Lodging information
We have a block of rooms at the Radisson Hotel available at a discount until September 25. Use this link to reserve a room.
Location
The Symposium’s main activities will be held at Christ Church Cathedral (318 East 4th St, Cincinnati, OH, 45202). The Cheers to Cooperative celebration, scheduled for 7-9 p.m. on Friday night, will be held at the Art Academy of Cincinnati (1212 Jackson St, Cincinnati, OH 45202).
Need-based financial assistance
Co-op Cincy is happy to offer need-based financial assistance to attend the Symposium. If you would like to apply, please write to us at clancy@coopcincy.org and tell us how much financial assistance you need and why attending the conference is meaningful to you.
accessibility
We will do our best to accommodate accessibility requests. Specific requests can be made during registration. Our venue is wheelchair accessible, we will have Spanish translators, and we will strive to accommodate all dietary needs.
COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS
Holding a safe Symposium is a top priority for us. To that end, we encourage all attendees to be up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters per current CDC guidance before attending. We also encourage masking as a means of reducing the risk of transmission of COVID-19 and other illnesses.
We ask attendees who are not feeling well not to travel to the Symposium. We will happily refund your ticket price.
We will continue to monitor the CDC’s travel guidelines as well as state and local guidelines and take additional precautions as needed.
