We're incredibly grateful to our co-ops and supporters for celebrating with us!
Last month, we had an amazing time at our 3rd annual Co-op Fest! We connected with supporters, ate delicious food from Hopes Fulfilled Farm 2 Table, and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon on Our Harvest's urban farm.
A big thanks to everyone who joined us. Special thanks to the students from Xavier University who volunteered.
Here are some photos from the event. Feel free to share.
If you attended, we’d love for you to complete a brief, 3-question survey. Your feedback will help us shape our activities going forward.
Did you enjoy the Co-op Fest? You can support our work by donating today!
Notes from Black Cooperative Agenda Conference
Cynthia Pinchback-Hines, our Racial Justice Educator and Co-op Developer, has a new blog post about the recent Black Cooperative Agenda conference in Las Vegas.
Cynthia talked to Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, acclaimed author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice, and other attendees and speakers.
She was joined at the conference by Mona Jenkins, our Cooperative Food Justice Coordinator.
Cynthia Pinchback-Hines (left) with Jessica Gordon Nembhard at the Black Cooperative Agenda conference.
We Just Finished 2 of Our Trainings!
3rd Cohort Receives Cooperative Management Certificates
Participants in the recent Cooperative Management Certificate course celebrate with Co-op Cincy staff after the final class.
After completing our recent Cooperative Management Certificate, Morgan Hood, Community Programs Manager of Dayton's Gem City Market, said:
“I loved taking this class with Kristen and Paloma! It was so enlightening, expansive and helpful. Their willingness to be of service and passion for this work is evident. I appreciate their attention to detail, abundance of materials, and intent to create lasting relationships of collaboration.
“I am excited to move forward with the knowledge I have gained and sharing it with my community. This class is valuable for anyone who is interested in mindful business practices, cooperative philosophy, and/or has passion for incorporating social needs into economic development.”
Thanks to Morgan and everyone who joined us and made the course such a meaningful experience! Our next class will be in 2024 — stay tuned for more info.
The Culture Collaborative Takes 1st Prize in Co-op U Pitch Night
Three teams recently completed Co-op U, our co-op business boot camp!
Congratulations to The Culture Collaborative, an emerging consulting, training, and coaching co-op, whose business plan took 1st place during our recent Pitch Night.
Congrats also to Sew Valley (a sustainably focused apparel company) and NuSol Farm (a BIPOC farming collective), who put together exciting co-op business plans.
And thanks to our Pitch Night judges and speakers:
Cynthia Pinchback-Hines, our Racial Justice Educator and Co-op Developer
Brianna Dzuricsko, Director of Funding and Impact at Main Street Ventures
Aharon Brown, Racial Justice Fund Manager at Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Rebecca Fisher-McGinty, Worker-Owner at Round Sky Solutions.
2023 Union Co-op Symposium is 4 Months Away
We're putting the finishing touches on the schedule for our Union Co-op Symposium, From Dream to Action: The Transformative Power of Co-ops, Labor, and Community, which we're co-hosting with 1worker1vote. The Symposium 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, and it will highlight equity, labor, community wealth-building, and care for the earth and ourselves.
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!
Queen City Commons Welcomes New Soil Slinger
Queen City Commons, a composting co-op in our network, recently welcomed a new team member!
Kaelee has a background in business marketing, retail, and restaurant work.
In addition to picking up food scraps, Kaelee has been managing the residential drop-off program and spreading the good word about compost!
Sustainergy Team Members Elected to USW Local
Sustainergy worker-owner Austin Williams has been elected Vice President of the United Steelworkers Local 14734, and fellow worker-owner Lewis Connell has been elected Trustee. Co-op Cincy Co-Director Ellen Vera has been voted Secretary. Congratulations all!
Representatives from Morehouse and Tuskegee Visit Co-op Cincy
We recently had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Cynthia Hewitt of Morehouse College, Dr. Abdul Salau of Tuskegee University, and Terron Ferguson of Morehouse's Black Employee Ownership Initiative, a partnership with Project Equity.
The trio are exploring how to close the racial wealth gap through employee ownership and union organizing. As part of their visit, they met with some of the co-ops in our network, including Heritage Hill, Our Harvest, Shine Nurture Center, Queen Mother’s Market, and Calabash Distribution.
Our Business Legacy Fund Helps Cleveland Company Become Worker-Owned
Earlier this year, our Business Legacy Fund helped The Fund for Employee Ownership, a project of Evergreen Cooperatives, acquire an industry-leading manufacturer of custom wood crates and heavy-duty skids. As part of the deal, the company will transition to the employee-owned model, with 20 employees that will become owners.
The Fund is looking to help more businesses become worker-owned. Learn more at becomeworkerowned.org.
Clare Kennedy, Xavier Student, Joins Us for the Summer
We're excited to have Clare Kennedy of Xavier University interning with us this summer!
Clare is a rising senior majoring in Psychology with minors in Communications and Population Health, and she serves as a peer educator for the Student Wellbeing Advocacy Group on campus.
This summer she’s assisting with events like Co-op Fest, collaborating with staff on communications work, and helping systematize and streamline internal processes.
New Mandela Washington Fellow Starting in August
Arindo Akeni will be joining us later this summer as a Mandela Washington Fellow from the Democratic Republic of Congo!
The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is the flagship program of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative.
We’ll share more info in August about Arindo on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as through our newsletter.
Our tour of the Mondragon cooperative association in Spain was featured recently in Next City and on WVXU's Cincinnati Edition.
Here's a quote by Pastor Damon Lynch, III from the discussion on Cincinnati Edition:
“We all live in a democracy but most of us don’t work in a democracy. You don’t get to make decisions; decisions are made for you. And I think it’s more empowering to be part of an economic society where you get to help make the decisions.”
Pastor Lynch, III was joined on the show by Vice-Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney, our Co-Director Ellen Vera, and Barbara Bell, District Director for Congressman Greg Landsman.
In April, we brought a delegation of 40 civic, philanthropic, faith, and business leaders to tour the Mondragon cooperative association in Spain, one of the largest networks of worker-owned businesses in the world. Our goal was to help our region learn from this proven model for equitable economic growth. After we returned, we presented our takeaways to the City Council.
Movement
This month, the Department of Labor announced a new initiative to help “create and promote business ownership by America’s workers.”
A recent article in The Boston Globe discusses how worker cooperatives could be a solution to a predicted wave of retirements by baby boomer business owners.
