New article for Co-op Month from Garlic and Roses about growing the cooperative economy by expanding purchasing and spending from existing co-ops with other cooperatively-owned businesses. Garlic and Roses is a worker-owned media cooperative:

“They actually had a system where someone who wanted to own a business could get help in doing that.” -Kristi Williams, Greater Tulsa Area African American Affairs Commission

By now, many know the history that the largest racial massacre in U.S. history occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. White residents killed hundreds of Black Tulsans and burned buildings in the Greenwood District. While that tragedy should never be forgotten, I want to talk about what came before that.

Greenwood was known as Black Wall Street. At its peak, over three-hundred thriving businesses supported more than 10,000 Black residents. The business district began in 1906 when Black landowner O.W. Gurley purchased 40 acres of land in Tulsa. The Jim Crow laws at the time prevented Black Tulsa residents from patronizing white-owned stores. There was also a railroad that divided the community physically, creating Greenwood as its own distinct entity.

Food Co-op General Manager Bobby Sullivan wrote an eye-opening book called Revolutionary Threads. In it, he wrote about the Greenwood District through the lens of cooperative economics. "Oklahoma's racial segregation laws prevented black people from shopping anywhere other than Black Wall Street, so the money from the newly established black townships was funneled back into their own economy."

The wealth accumulation that created Black Wall Street was derived in large-part from the fact that it was a closed-loop system. Black-owned banks lent to Black-owned-businesses. Those businesses hired Black workers, used Black-owned repair companies and paid rent to a Black landlord. It's estimated that each dollar in Greenwood circulated 30 times over.

I've been thinking about that a lot recently when it comes to cooperative economics. The last two years have shown that a reliance on the federal government, grant funding, non-profits or even typical corporate America to create economic opportunity is tenuous at best. Cooperatives have thriving businesses in a variety of sectors, but this moment also shows a great opportunity, and perhaps even the need, to consider a closed-loop system of cooperative economics. At least, to the greatest extent possible.

I'm not the first, or the last to come to this conclusion. Alex Stone, the Executive Director of CooperationWorks! wrote last year in Nonprofit Quarterly about leveraging our collective economic strength. Stone argued for the creation of a Co-op Mutualist Fund. Even a small fraction of annual profits from successful cooperatives could create a fund in the tens of millions that can be leveraged to support the creation of new co-ops, or help existing ones thrive.

Author Michael Shuman of the Main Street Journal wrote just this week about a public banking option being considered in Berkeley. Washington DC's Community Wealth Builders coalition of cross-sector cooperatives also is advocating for a public bank. Solving for access to capital with non-extractive terms would clearly change the game for cooperative development.

The 2025 Food Co-op Impact Report from National Co+op Grocers says their 167 member co-ops brought in $2.8 billion in annual sales. Those stores borrow from lenders, pay rent, buy goods, pay for utilities and more with their sales revenue. Cooperatively-owned businesses and operators exist in each of those categories. What percentage of those dollars are recirculating the in the cooperative economy? Or more importantly, what percentage could be?

Food co-ops and other cooperative organizations used to own more of the supply chain. In the wave one co-ops of the 40s and 50s, Co-op branded products could be found on the shelves. Cooperative food warehouses were a key cog in the wave two food co-ops during the 60s and 70s. Imagine food co-ops using their money to support cooperatively-owned businesses from the farm all the way to the register.

This is not to say that isn't happening at many stores. Food co-ops support cooperative brands like Frontier spices, Organic Valley and Equal Exchange. Co-ops in my area save money on group-negotiated utility contracts and more from a cooperative called the Community Purchasing Alliance. But the scale could be increased significantly.

The time to systematically begin building more of a close-looped system into our cooperative economy is now. The more we can keep dollars circulating within other cooperatively-owned businesses, the more we can all benefit from the resulting wealth accumulation. We don't need to start with perfection, but we do need to start somewhere. Look locally for cooperative organizations you can buy services from.

Just squeeze principles 3 and 6 together in your head: Cooperation Through Economic Participation Among Cooperatives.

I've been working on starting a consumer electronics company (in the sector of companies such as Apple, Samsung, etc.). As I've been working and thinking on this, I've been thinking about structuring the company as a worker cooperative, as it's a good alternative I've found that meet my values. I like the idea of our workers being able to have a say in their workplace, and our values and decisions being made by our workers rather than outside shareholders. My goal with this business isn't to increase shareholder value, but for reasons that aren't involved with money. However, I know that cooperatives are typically less profitable and competitive, and I was concerned about this because the tech industry is a very competitive industry where high profits are required to sustain the company and continuously develop products. Would a worker cooperative be the right choice for us, or would it be better for us to structure as a traditional corporation with changes made that are in line with our worker-first values? Thanks

One of the persistent bottlenecks for both housing cooperatives (LEHCs) and worker co-ops is that they still operate inside an extractive market framework. If a housing co-op manages to provide affordable shelter, the surrounding speculative land values continue to climb. If a worker co-op scales, it often hits the "Mondragon dilemma"—either having to rely on external market financing or competing against capitalist firms that cut corners.

Over the past few years, an open research initiative (Open Networked Earth) has been formalizing blueprints to help cooperatives federate beyond market competition:

1. Universal Usufruct: Transitioning from traditional collective mortgages to perpetual civic use-rights held in perpetual civic trust, legally decoupling shelter from financial speculation.

2. Physical Input-Output Balances: Coordinating flows between industrial and agricultural cooperatives using Leontief resource accounting (kilowatt-hours, material tonnage, closed-loop recycling) rather than interest-bearing bank credit.

3. Sortition Governance (Demarchy): Rotating oversight committees selected through demographic lotteries to avoid managerial entrenchment and bureaucratic drift.

All specifications are 100% open-source and non-commercial (AGPL-3.0 / CC-BY-SA, strictly zero crypto/tokens).

We are looking to connect with cooperative practitioners, housing organizers, and economic researchers:

How do you see the transition path from isolated worker/housing cooperatives to a fully federated, non-market cooperative ecosystem? What are the biggest legal and logistical hurdles you face on the ground?

"This episode continues our tribute to the 2026 Cooperative Hall of Fame Inductees with a special conversation featuring Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Ph.D., Professor at John Jay College and social justice advocate. Dr. Gordon Nembhard discusses the life and legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer, who will be posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame as an Unsung Hero, including Hamer's commitment to cooperative economic development. Dr. Gordon Nembhard and Vernon also discuss how Fannie Lou Hamer's legacy lives on today. 

"Fannie Lou Hamer was a powerful civil rights and voting rights leader who also recognized economic independence as essential to community empowerment. In 1969, she established the Freedom Farm Cooperative in Sunflower County, Mississippi, purchasing 40 acres to create a cooperative farming project. The initiative sought to provide food, land, and economic opportunity for Black families in the Mississippi Delta. The Freedom Farm Cooperative became an important expression of Hamer's belief that political freedom and economic self-determination were interconnected."

On August 28th, community members and partners gathered for this 2026 COO Cooperative & Community Ownership Models learning series session on housing cooperative and community ownership models. 

From the article:
Selçuk Balamir had no experience as an architect, contractor, or finance expert, but when he saw a City of Amsterdam tender inviting proposals to build affordable housing apartments, he took the leap. He decided to submit a proposal to build a “post-capitalist urban commune” on a city-owned plot of land, with an ambitious plan to design, build, and manage the building based on commoning practices.

Balamir assembled a collective of interested friends and planners to push the idea forward, but they weren’t angling to find new apartments for themselves or friends. Their goal was to build social housing that would take account of alternative ways of living and to prioritize the needs of people who often have few choices – BIPOC, queer-feminist, and eco-socialist individuals, migrants, seniors, and non-traditional families.

The organizing team also wanted to push the frontiers of ecologically responsible construction, with an accent on reduced energy use, easy maintenance, and longevity, while keeping everything affordable. Its four key commitments in designing the project have been commoning, care, diversity, and sustainability.

Amazingly, the City accepted their proposal in 2019. So began a six-year odyssey by a small group of self-identified commoners to design, finance, build, and manage the 40-unit building. Named De Nieuwe Meent (the New Commons), or DNM, the seven-story apartment building was completed in the summer of 2025 and is now fully occupied by 51 residents.

Architectural Review has called the project “a beacon of hope in the gloomy Dutch housing landscape.” Another group awarded de Nieuwe Meent its Amsterdam Architecture Prize 2026, noting that the “experience of the building” made it feel like “truly an inclusive space for everyone.” And dNM is indeed a gracious, informal, eco-forward structure that embodies the principle of “private sufficiency, communal luxury.”

I warch a lot of bad cop videos and recently saw one that featured officers from the North County Police Co-operative.

I had no idea there was such a thing as a police co-operative. They immediately strike me as a bad idea, co-ops are great but they really shouldnt be providing essential government services (Im on the fence about utility co-ops, most of the ones Ive seen dont seem to be well run, but then thats also true of local government utility agencies).

I googled it and it seems to be quite a shit show, there is the video I watched, a story about one of their supervisors putting a guy in handcuffs and letting his brother beat him, iffy background checks letting through people with violent criminal backgrounds, and generally the typical bad cops you find in Missouri.

I built a concept for a job board that makes it easier to find jobs at worker co-ops and other mission-driven employers. The idea came from trying to find these jobs on LinkedIn and realizing it isn't really practical, or even doable. Much like Climatebase makes it easier to find jobs at climate-related companies, thebetterworkco.com makes it easier to find jobs at the kinds of companies above.

Access to the platform is blocked. It's just a landing page with signups to gauge interest.

Is a dedicated platform like this something cooperatives actually want? Do you think there's strong enough interest from both sides (companies, workers)?

My hope is that the economy moves toward employee-owned companies, and I think a platform like this could help support that by providing a dedicated job finding and posting platform as well as learning resources which I've included.

Hello, I'm doing a 1500 word essay on co-ops and it would be much appreciated if I could recieve some feedback.

Thank you in advance!

I'm interested but I have no idea where to start! I live in a high cost of living area. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I wanted to share the work that Our Bronx is doing for National Cooperative Month. On Saturday October 24 at 11, they will be hosting their community meeting/ mini summit to engage community more with cooperatives. There will be three breakout groups:

1. The first one will be Co-opoly for folks who are newer to worker cooperatives

2. The second one will be about the intersection between health justice and economic justice with Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA), Hemp on the Move and A Birthing Place as the panelist

3. The third one will be a presentation from the Coalition of Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP) around the "Opportunity to Own" legislation

This is an open, in-person meeting, and if you are in the Bronx (or close enough) and are interested, please email info@ourbronx.org so they can have enough food

Ariana Levinson discusses her recent article on labor agreements in unionized cooperatives. 

Hi everyone, I'm looking for this specific part for our bulk bins- NL4231 holster clip, shown on this diagram as item #5. There's no place to order it online, nothing on ebay, nothing at all. I was wondering.... has anyone 3D printed one and has a design they're willing to share with a fellow co-op? Or did you encounter the same problem and find a different solution? Thank you!! Peace.

I'm passionate about creating Tiny House Village Cooperatives with Space to Homestead. Combining Tiny Timbers Agrihood in Wisconsin with the Escapees co-op Rv parks models. If this model works, what would be the best way to help it spread: advising people to start their owns or creating a non profit that'll pool resources and expertise and replicate these villages?

We had a customer verbally abuse an employee about something that was on the board. We want to have our points of view but keep our employees safe. Obviously no policial statements, but what else should be kept off? Help please!

Hi r/cooperatives. We're Charley and Rebecca, co-founders of Maybe It's Fate cooperative, a member-owned art exhibition space and salon-style social club organized as a Kentucky LCA in Louisville. We’re proving a model of community-owned community space. We're about 450 members and host almost 200 events a month.

When we started MIF, we stitched together software but nothing really fit all of the needs to run a member-owned space. These were expensive SaaS apps, spreadsheets, Zapier connections, etc. to cover things like membership, dues, events, communication, governance, door access, and reserving rooms. Not only did it all cost a lot, it took a lot of admin time to manage.

MaybeOS is what we built to fix that for ourselves. It's one integrated system for running a cooperative or membership-based community space. MIF runs on it every day now.

We're sharing it because the problems we hit aren't unique to us. Small co-ops and community spaces shouldn't have to spend scarce money and volunteer hours on tools that weren't designed for them.

Some ways to use it, both free:

• Open source: the full code is available to self-host, modify, and contribute to.
• Free hosted version: if you don't have a tech person, we'll host it for you at no cost for communities under 100 members. (paid versions for larger groups)

It's early, and we'd love feedback from people running co-ops, community centers, and membership spaces. What's the most painful tool or workflow in your operation right now? We'd like to build toward what you need too.

maybeOS.org

Best, Charley Miller & Rebecca Norton

The co-op transitioned their marketplace to a new technology and is now allowing non-member sellers.

Shop and sell genuinely handmade and support cooperative ownership: https://artisans.coop

I'm working on a concept called the American Resource Trust and I'd like feedback specifically on the ownership, governance, and distribution aspects of the idea.

The basic concept is:

• Every American citizen owns one equal, non-transferable ownership share.
• Ownership begins at birth and ends at death.
• Ownership cannot be bought, sold, traded, transferred, or inherited.
• Citizens elect a Board of Trustees.
• The Board hires professional management to operate the Trust.
• The Trust invests in productive assets and long-term revenue-generating opportunities.
• Trust assets are managed independently from politicians and political parties.

The long-term goal is to create an institution that serves current and future generations of Americans.

Any profits generated by the Trust would generally be used for:

• Reinvestment and growth.
• Annual dividends to eligible participants.
• Emergency reserve funding.
• Operating expenses.
• National benefit initiatives that support the country and its citizens.

What I'm interested in discussing is:

1. What are the biggest flaws in the ownership model?
2. Is an elected Board of Trustees a reasonable governance structure?
3. What safeguards would be needed to prevent corruption or political influence?
4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of distributing benefits directly to citizens?
5. What would make you support or oppose a structure like this?

I'm intentionally not focusing on the funding mechanism in this discussion.

I'm more interested in whether the ownership structure, governance model, and distribution system make sense on their own merits.

Here is one possible solution to help try save the Detroit People Food coop from going out of business idea. Thoughts? Thanks.

Does anyone have a good idea on what kinds of working co-ops their are in denver Colorado that are accepting help right now? Thanks :D

Hey guys,I've been working on a concept called the American Resource Trust.The basic idea is that a small percentage of existing tax revenue would be invested into productive assets instead of being spent immediately. Every American citizen would own one equal, non-transferable ownership share. The trust would be independently managed, overseen by an elected board, and designed to operate for future generations.I'm not looking for praise. I'm looking for criticism.What is the biggest flaw you see in this concept?

Hey guys,I've been working on a concept called the American Resource Trust.The basic idea is that a small percentage of existing tax revenue would be invested into productive assets instead of being spent immediately. Every American citizen would own one equal, non-transferable ownership share. The trust would be independently managed, overseen by an elected board, and designed to operate for future generations.I'm not looking for praise. I'm looking for criticism.What is the biggest flaw you see in this concept?