Dear Co-op Cincy Community,
With COVID-19, the status quo is gone. We are in new times. What happens when the world as we know it stops?
Beauty is revealed. Horrors exposed. Values are clarified. New possibilities open up.
Beauty
Love and solidarity are breaking out in communities everywhere - from people organizing mutual aid, to participating in efforts to make masks or PPE, to those stepping up to meet the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors including those without homes and those without documents.
The Earth is getting a breather. The air is cleaner. Pollution in some cities is down by 60%! Greenhouse gas emissions are way down.
Our deep interconnectedness is made visible. We affect one another profoundly. Something we can't ignore as we grapple with this virus worldwide.
Clarity
Deep structural inequalities exposed. So much disease, death, fear, misinformation. So many of us are living paycheck to paycheck. So much economic pain. So many broken systems, so many people left out, struggling to meet basic needs.
The importance of health, connection, love, and relationships comes into focus.
The dignity of work as well as the importance of frontline workers. An awareness has emerged about how critical frontline workers are - people who clean and disinfect, provide transportation, provide groceries, ship and deliver goods, farm, work in food processing, people who take care of and teach our kids, care for our elders, care for our sick.
The importance of resilient, local economies, economies where communities and workers have a voice--economies that can meet people's needs.
The opportunity to create better systems that serve the needs of all.
Possibility
When the status quo dissolves, new openings emerge. How can we shift to a more resilient economy that works for all?
To nurture our vision and help shift things, David Korten writes, From Emergency to Emergence. George Lakey shows how mainstream publications are calling for systems change and invites us to help push that momentum forward.
What is this moment calling from us?
How can we help nurture a more humane, thriving community to emerge?
How do we stay grounded and healthy as we navigate this time?
These are the questions we are pondering at Co-op Cincy at this time.
We are finding that--in so so many ways--our union co-op network is just what's needed to meet this moment. We're also thinking about ways that we can strengthen our co-ops and our network to be even more prepared for future emergent moments, particularly as they affect the most vulnerable among us.
How about you?
Feel free to reply to this email. We'd love to hear where your minds and hearts are at this time.
Kristen and the Co-op Cincy Team
