We Are The Ones: Cooperative Power Rooted in People and Place

This final episode of We Are the Ones explores how an environment that supports the development of co-operative businesses begins to take shape. In St. Louis, a well established network of mutual aid organizations gives rise to a fledgling co-op ecosystem through the work of Cooperation STL. Also, a look at worker co-op Garrity Tools. This way of organizing our economy won’t last forever. I don’t...

We Are the Ones moves from rural to urban, with a look at how the farmer-owned co-op The Kansas City Food Hub gets locally grown food to area residents. Also, three Madison, WI worker co-ops tell how democratic workplaces empower their members and benefit their communities. We’re going to figure it out. We’re going to figure it out. Because we’ve done it before, and we can do it again. Our collect...

Corporate pressure on U.S. farm policy has devastated rural communities as small and medium-sized farms get pushed off the land. Today some farmers find ways to re-build their local economies through co-operative business aimed at sustainable, local food production. “I mean, you can’t ignore, you can’t treat rural America like a sacrifice zone or a third world country forever and expect the people...

Throughout history, when people’s needs go unmet by dominant economic forces, they turn to co-operative enterprise to discover a better way. Cathy Statz, Joe Guinan, Jessica Gordon Nembhard and Doug Genens address how co-ops remedy problems caused by wealth concentration, as echoes from the past resonate today. “First, people have to understand about cooperation. People need to understand how powe...

Coming this Friday, December 9th: We Are The Ones