2021 in Review
Staff members Ellen Vera (left) and Cynthia Pinchback-Hines during our annual co-op appreciation tour.
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, we viewed it as a turning point. Then the pandemic kept going.
In 2021, as we learned to live with the virus, we saw the results of misinformation, widening inequality, and broken systems: attacks on our democracy, soaring inflation, a shuddering global economy, and a spate of extreme weather events. But 2021 also offered reasons for hope: mass resignations in response to paltry worker protections and benefits, increases in worker pay, the formation of new labor unions, and accelerating movements for racial, social, and climate justice.
Across the United States and the world, the pandemic brought a sustained focus on systemic transformation. And, again and again, communities rejected unsustainable patterns of economic development for innovative alternatives, including our own preferred model: the union co-op. This model joins the best tenets of the labor movement with opportunities for sustainable wealth-building and self-determination. As a result, it fosters prosperity in historically marginalized communities.
Ten years ago, Co-op Cincy began promoting the union co-op model through outreach, education, and technical assistance. Since forming our loan fund with Seed Commons in 2018, we have loaned $366,000 to co-op businesses. And in the last few years, we have provided worker-ownership training to more than 1,300 people annually. Currently, our co-op network includes 12 co-ops employing 89 individuals, of which roughly 71% are women and 67% people of color.
As we celebrate our 10-year anniversary, we’re excited by many of the ongoing shifts around us, and we would love to hear from you about how we can strengthen our co-op network, increase our impact, and grow our community. We look forward to continuing to build an economy that works for all!
Co-op Story
Massage for the People
Jason Minturn (left) and Davi Roundtree (middle) of Massage for the People stand with Alex Otto from Our Harvest.
Three years ago, Jason Minturn was working for a corporate massage chain. Underpaid and dissatisfied with the employer-employee relationship, he began researching better ways to run a massage business.
When he learned about worker co-ops, he felt an immediate connection to the concept. “Even though I just learned this term in the last few years, I feel like I’ve been looking for it my entire life,” he said. “I want everyone to be fairly compensated and I want decisions that are also fair.”
Jason and fellow massage therapist Megan Doerman connected with Co-op Cincy in 2019 and launched Massage for the People in 2021. Massage therapist Davi Roundtree joined soon afterward.
Massage for the People specializes in Swedish massage, muscle energy techniques for pelvic stabilization, and craniosacral massage, with the goal of helping people thrive. They are hoping to add a fourth massage therapist in 2022.
Jason believes the worker co-op model has appeal across political lines. “There are a lot of people out in the world who would support this because of their basic human need for fairness.”
Business Legacy Fund
Shine Nurture Center, a childcare business founded in 2015, initiated the process of transitioning to worker-ownership through our Business Legacy Fund.
We recruited 5 entrepreneurs to transition businesses to worker-ownership through our Business Legacy Fund, which helps retiring business owners sell to their workers, thereby saving jobs and maintaining legacies. We also conducted outreach about worker-ownership, educating 6 businesses about this option. And we began the process of transitioning Shine Nurture Center, a childcare business with 12 workers and $350,000 in revenue, to worker-ownership.
Statewide Network
OWN members from around the state met at Gem City Market in Dayton.
Our statewide Ohio Worker Ownership Network (OWN) released the Building Legacies report on Ohio’s business succession crisis and why worker-ownership is the solution. The report garnered coverage in WCPO 9, 91.7 WVXU, and elsewhere. Formed in 2021 with Co-op Cincy as the lead organizer, OWN strives to expand worker-ownership by raising awareness, providing technical assistance, and connecting business owners with resources. During 2021, OWN grew from 3 to 10 member organizations.
Power in Numbers
The team behind Queen Mother’s Market participated in our 1st Power in Numbers.
We held our very 1st Power in Numbers, our co-op business boot camp for Black-led teams. Five groups participated in the course, which was designed to help them build successful co-op business plans through intensive education on co-op history, business models, and cooperative management, with the training contextualized from a Black perspective. Three co-op businesses emerged: Queen Mother’s Market, Body by Bodji, and Hopes Fulfilled Farm 2 Table.
Union Co-op Symposium
More than 200 people from around the world participated in our 5th Union Co-op Symposium. During the 2-day hybrid event, we discussed practical tools on how to start and run union worker co-ops. Here’s what one participant said: “So much profound exploration of ideas and sharing of experiences!”
Speakers discuss values-aligned financing during Financing Transformation, one of the virtual sessions from the Symposium.
Our Work
What We’ve Done
Co-op U: Provided 3 co-op business training courses: 1 for Black-led teams, 1 for refugees, and 1 focused on childcare co-op businesses.
Cooperative Management Certificate: Offered our 1st course on the power and possibilities of cooperative management mindsets, partnering with Xavier University’s Xavier Leadership Center.
Business Legacy Fund: Held our 1st program to transition businesses to worker-ownership, with 6 companies pariticipating and 5 transition managers receiving training.
Where We’re Going
Co-op U: Provide 3 co-op business training courses: 1 for Black-led teams, 1 for refugees, and 1 focused on construction co-op businesses with participants from around the country. The construction co-op business course will be our 1st utilizing the “train-the-trainer” strategy and will be aimed at replicating Sustainergy’s successful co-op business model.
Cooperative Management Certificate: Offer our 2nd course, partnering with Xavier University’s Xavier Leadership Center.
Business Legacy Fund: Focus on transitioning larger, more established businesses to worker-ownership in our 2nd program.
What We’ve Done
Co-op start-ups: Helped launch 5 new co-op businesses, with 4 in Cincinnati and 1 out-of-state.
Loans: Loaned $95,000 to 3 co-op businesses in our network in 2021 through the Seed Commons financial co-op, including a $68,000 loan enabling Sustainergy to expand into solar panel installation.
Network: Formalized our co-op network and policies.
Where We’re Going
Co-op start-ups: Help launch 3-10 co-op business, with 3-7 of them based in Greater Cincinnati.
Loans: Loan $1 million to co-op businesses in our network through the Seed Commons financial co-op, helping our growing network of co-op businesses evolve and thrive.
Network: Strengthen our co-op nework infrastructure and continue to deepen ties among co-ops.
What We’ve Done
Ohio Worker Ownership Network (OWN): Held 1st in-person meeting of OWN and expanded membership from 3 to 10 organizations, laying foundation for continued growth of the worker-ownership model.
Networking: Organized 5th Union Co-op Symposium, drawing more than 200 participants from around the world for a 2-day, hybrid conference on how to start and run union worker co-ops.
Education: Began creating training videos about cooperative principles and the co-op business model.
Where We’re Going
Ohio Worker Ownership Network (OWN): Build capacity within OWN and member organizations, accelerate development of co-op businesses across the state, and impact statewide policy.
Networking: Maintain and strengthen connections created with local, national, and international partners during the 5th Union Co-op Symposium, as well as those made in other collaborations.
Education: Finish and disseminate educational videos and Co-op U Manual & Facilitator Guide to increase awareness of worker-ownership and advance co-op business training.
Finances
Staff
Kristen Barker, Executive Director
Ellen Vera, Director of Development & Co-op Organizing
Mary Steele, Bookkeeper
Paloma Correa, Co-op Culture & Business Developer
Cynthia Pinchback-Hines, Racial Justice Educator & Co-op Developer
Clancy McGilligan, Communications & Development Program Manager
Christopher Bennett, Business Legacy Fund Acquisition Program Manager
Mona M. Jenkins, Cooperative Food Justice Coordinator
Board
Katy Heins, President
Senior Field Organizer, Center for Community Change
Flequer Vera, Vice President
CEO, Sustainergy Cooperative
Ty Fields, Treasurer
Founder & President, STARS Youth Enrichment Program, Inc
Kristen Barker, Secretary
Executive Director, Co-op Cincy
Phil Amadon
Founding Member & Labor Leader
Zahki Davis
Business and Finance Associate, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Brian Griffin
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council
Jamie Love
Director of Programs, Climate Innovation at Movement Strategy Center
David McLean
Subdistrict 5 Director, USW
Ellen Vera
Director of Development & Co-op Organizing, Co-op Cincy
Sustaining Donors
Co-op Cincy deeply appreciates the support of our Sustaining Donors!
Transformative Funders
Capital Impact Partners
Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile, Jr Foundation
Common Future Reimagine Fund
Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Ira Block Foundation
Open Society Foundations
Seed Commons
U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement
The Workers Lab
Solidarity Sponsors
Cincinnati AFL-CIO
Cincinnati Development Fund
Co-op Dayton
Episcopal Society of Christ Church
Eric Britton
First Financial Bank
IBEW Local 212
ICA Group
Meshewa Farm Foundation
National Cooperative Bank
Ohio Employee Ownership Center
PNC
Shared Capital Cooperative
Steve Sleigh
Sustainergy
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 75
United Steelworkers District 1 Subdistrict 5
Xavier University’s Brueggeman Center for Dialogue
1worker1vote is building a national network of shared ownership, regional, and municipal ecosystems starting with unionized worker-owned co-ops, with the goal of overcoming structural inequalities of opportunity, mobility, and income, and building pathways out of poverty and toward prosperity.
