Aaagh! Reading the news.The unspeakable horrors in Gaza, the sheer scale of lives lost and shattered. Ukraine. Congo. Sudan. Yemen. Israel. Yikes . . . Climate chaos. Extreme inequality. The feeling of powerlessness and overwhelm before it all. How to respond?
I’ve been reading a book called Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in With Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power by Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone. They highlight how the realities we experience can be painful to face and confusing to live with. Yet sometimes when we are facing overwhelming challenges we surprise ourselves. We discover strengths we didn’t know we had or experience aliveness we never suspected was available to us. We find and reach out to new allies, let go of mindsets that are not serving, and discover new possibilities and meaning together. Active Hope is a practice about waking up to the beauty of life on whose behalf we can act. We belong to this world and are here to play a part.
Whatever situation we encounter we can choose our response , we can situate ourselves into a larger story, an understanding of our experience that can multiply our chances for a better future. The authors describe three major stories of our time. The Great Unravelling where things are falling apart. And clearly there is a lot of momentum for this story. Often as things fall apart there is a deep desire to hold on to what we know, what has worked before, the story of Business as Usual gains more and more traction, making some of the existing challenges worse. Then there is a third story, The Great Turning, about turning towards ways of acting and doing and being that support the flourishing of all of of life. The good news is there are millions of people around the world experimenting with ways to bring a life-sustaining society into being. Chances are you are one of them :)
Will we be successful? We might not be. However, it’s worth being aware of the infinite beauty of life, all that we are grateful for, as well as the planetary emergency, the deep inequality we are facing and recognize that that our individual choices influence what happens next. The story we choose to live from and see ourselves participating in has a profound impact. So, it’s important to get in touch with our hope for our family, our neighborhood, our world and identify how we can begin/keep moving that vision forward. Together our actions add up to a much bigger story. And the future depends on our collective actions. People all across the world are reinventing new approaches, rediscovering ways of being that recognize how interconnected all of life is, how we are part of the unfolding of the Earth’s story, now over 4 billion years in the making, and we all have a role to play.
We may not feel fully equipped. But really who does? How can we situate ourselves into the story of The Great Turning? How can we each identify our role? By noticing what’s most alive in us, what energizes us, what we caree most about. How do we find and recognize new allies? This moment is calling us to an interior effort as well as an external response. What internal practices are needed to face the realities we see? To cultivate active hope? The authors suggest a process that involves gratitude, honoring the pain of the world, seeing with new eyes, and going forth with others and continuing the spiral.
Part of Co-op Cincy’s contribution to the Great Turning is to work to create a thriving region with the lowest level of inequality in North America. Deeply inspired by the Mondragon experience in the Basque region of Spain that has led to the thriving communities and the lowest levels of income inequality and poverty in Spain, we have a plan to have 80,000 people in Greater Cincinnati in worker ownership by 2072. In 2022, Greater Cincinnati had just over 100 people in worker-owned co-ops and just over 5000 people working in ESOPs (employee stock ownership plans) that owned 100% of the company. Our favorite kind of ESOP is 100%, with worker voice, participation, and democratic processes. Our vision is to have 80,000 people employed in worker owned co-ops and democratic participatory ESOPS by 2072. That involves an increase of about 6% a year. We have four strategies to get there.
New start-up co-op development. We have a program called Co-op U that is a 14 week Co-op bootcamp we offer several times a year
Supporting existing business owners to sell to their workers. This is where we anticipate the highest numbers of new worker owners. This is a win-win-win. This option pays the owner fair market value, keeps the business in our community, and broadens ownership to the workers, reducing inequality and building community wealth. Co-op Cincy is a member of the Seed Commons financial cooperative through which it can finance these transactions. Co-op Cincy also offers wraparound technical assistance throughout the process and beyond.
Supporting the existing co-op network. Co-op Cincy meets with co-ops regularly throughout the month, supporting team meetings, helping role out open book management, build communication skills, problem solve challenges. Our co-ops can access Seed Commons financing and Cooperative Management Certificate we partner with Xavier on as well.
Participating in Networks and Policy Efforts. We are always so much stronger together than we are a part. Our big vision requires us to connect with and work synergistically with as many partners as possible. We are part of so many local, national, and international networks and coalitions. And we also recognize the power of policy to help shape the future we want to see and participate with partners in moving policy forward.
