We must be our own Job Creators -- check this out....

The UN has established 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, so there will be more efforts to educate and raise awareness about the options of worker-owned cooperatives here in the States in the very near future.

If you're familiar with co-ops at all, you're probably familiar with Mondragon Cooperatives, which is kind of the Holy Grail of cooperative endeavors in modern times.

There is a fairly large effort in Cleveland called Evergreen Cooperatives, which is modeled largely after Mondragon.

Below I have included links and snippets of information regarding the Cleveland Foundation and their goals for the Evergreen Cooperatives, as well as information regarding how it was formed, along with a link to the Evergreen Cooperatives site and a description of the initiative.

Why can't we replicate these initiatives in other communities as they have done, especially focusing on green industries, specifically green retro-fitting as a start?

Why can't we be our own job creators?

There are many puzzle pieces to gather in order to accomplish this, not the least of which is seed funding, but it seems collaborative efforts invested in creating jobs -- rather than finding nonexistent ones -- is a wiser option, a better use of time and resources.

I've always been a passionate advocate for worker-owned co-ops and have envisioned Wishadoo! acting as an incubator for the same. I've written these organizations below to inquire about exploring how these initiatives could be replicated in other communities and whether they have any interest in helping other community development organizations do so.

If you're interested in these approaches, please PM me. Here is a link to an online newspaper of sorts gathering articles regarding co-ops, if this subject is rather new to you.

the "philanthropists" who fund such things are the same coupon clipping class egging on the impoverishment of the working class, the cutback of government spending, the reductions in social service.

they're not going to be funding projects which might help people to escape the medicine their class insists must be taken. not on any level which might make a difference.

cities might fund such things. but cities with any sizeable population are run by the very same people, or their lapdogs.

Plus, the gist of this is that they would indeed get a return on their investment. These types of initiatives are business investments. PRI..."Program Related Investments" as opposed to simply grants with write-offs.

:)

probably has government money in it too.

good to dream but check the fine print.

yeah, they're mostly evil if by "evil" you mean wishing to keep what they have & get more regardless of others.

I'm not saying ANYTHING is easy, but the defeatism we fall into leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If you have no interest and feel this approach is hopeless, that's fine. I'd rather do something which gives employees and communities more control than current traditional corporate setups.

(BTW, there are new corporate legal structures which put the social mission OVER profit; they're social entrepreneurial legal structures popping up gradually in the States. Co-ops are a good fit for such structures.)

If others feel it's worth exploring, I hope they'll join me in doing so.

Edit to add that this is merely one approach to our current dilemmas. Creating more sustainable communities and intentional communities locally to help one another, and continuing to fight for systemic change legislatively should also continue, imho. I always feel we can multitask.

:)

start-up money is a big hurdle. ventures with low barriers to entry have plenty of competition. if there's a viable business, someone with capital would do it for profit. few will do it "for the love" unless there's some rakeoff in government money or cheap labor.

Basically in a no-growth economy it's a zero-sum game. your cooperative job is someone else's job loss. the money someone spends to retrofit their house is money they don't spend on something else.

i don't believe that such initiatives will do much to increase employment, no. the reason for the present high unemployment is POLITICAL. It's because the monied class is withholding investment & squeezing labor & small business to put more money in their own pockets & cheapen the price of labor. and their government servants are going along with that plan.

sorry to be a downer, but imo that's the environment we exist in. the money supply is concentrated in too few hands and isn;t moving. that's the problem. starting cooperatives might be a way to get things cheaper or help local suppliers stay in business, but it's not (IMO) an answer to the basic problem.

why not fund this with like minded people surely there are some small business ideas a group of people could put together and fund themselves. It wouldn't have to be a whole lot of money maybe 10 people with 10,000.

all the same risk that goes into starting a business applies to starting a cooperative.

imo the most viable is a city/county -- because they likely have land/buildings sitting empty & which could be used at low to no cost. that puts one hurdle out of the way. they also probably have knowledge of commerce/connections/potential needs/resources/customers in their area.

if it were a city/town, you could assess a tax & return a dividend (if it was a success). it could be a non-profit, with excess funds returned to the "stockholders" (the taxpayers). two-fer, jobs + "profit". or maybe the "profit" could be discounts on the product (say if it were a cheese factory or something).

but i think getting a city/county to do anything so, uh, socialist would be unlikely. seems they'd rather get federal money to build convention centers to operate under capacity, put up little banners & advertise their area as a tourist destination, like we're all going to get rich visiting each others' towns.

as I agree that involvement of local government is very important to such ventures -- an integrated effort of various elements of community.

I am fortunate that I do have work for now, and must focus on that, but wanted to thank you for chiming in and will come back later.

:hi:

Some can invest x amount of money to seed the venture, others work x amount to earn the same ownership.

There are different ways to structure it, but the point is that it is truly democratic. And when it's a local venture, creating jobs for the community, by the community, I just believe this is the direction we need to start looking.

It's not business as usual. Business as usual is killing us.

It's not perfect, but it can be a work in progress for each area to create initiatives that best fit their communities.

I think there are some of the more wealthy people in communities who aren't "job creators" -- they are philanthropists, not employers -- who would like to invest in projects and ventures which do indeed create employment in their local communities. I believe there are some with resources who would like to support Main Street over Wall Street. Maybe not a lot, but some.

:)

donating money locally to certain things, are fully on-board with drowning the government in a bathtub & privatizing the world.

http://faireconomy.org/programs_projects

http://faireconomy.org/responsible_wealth

Not many, but they're out there, perhaps enough of them to help start a movement of worker-owned, community-owned ventures around the country, focusing on green industries.

ufe is not a funder.

and i would not be overly gullible about groups like "responsible wealth".

Yes.

I'm not related to them, I've never asked them for anything (so I don't know if they'd say yes or no), but I do know them and like them very much thus far and believe they are people of conscience. Whether or not they will give all their wealth away in a display of extraordinary generosity and compassion, I highly doubt it, but I don't believe they're evil like the Koch Brothers, for example, and believe they do care for fellow citizens and don't see us as pawns in some elitist game.

Damn, dude, you're exhausting me this morning with your combativeness...lol.

what happens.

Combative wasn't the right word.

Doesn't matter...I'm always happy to just be discussing possibilities rather than staying mired in hopelessness.

:hi:

i claimed that cooperatives weren't an answer to the general unemployment problem. i think that's a realistic assessment, not "hopelessness". i think sometimes reality feels hopeless to people but it doesn't to me.

We as progressives can continue to piss and moan about the evils of the world -- and there are many -- or we can at least try to brainstorm about positive action.

At the very least, if we're not into brainstorming about positive action -- arriving at viable alternatives together -- don't try to tear down those who are.

I'm not saying you're doing that, indurancevile, but many do.

Misery loves company, that's very apparent these days.

what i said is, the unemployment problem isn't going to be solved by forming cooperatives. and i think it's pretty clear that's a fact.

maybe those "miserable" folks have a better grasp of reality. some may be successful with cooperative ventures. some will successfully start businesses or find a job in the present environment. but their success isn't a solution to the general problem, which is contraction of the money supply & deliberate attack on the working class by the monied/business/financial class.

I didn't mean to insinuate that.

Having been at DU a long time, I've seen it happened all too often. I was posting that more for the benefit of others reading, not to you personally.

I don't think there is ONE solution to anything. I think everything requires a multifaceted approach. I do believe worker-owned co-ops are one type of new structure that should be given more consideration.

Trust me, I see our reality and find myself in the depths of misery quite frequently as well. I simply choose not to stay there, and try to generate discussion about how we can dig our way out of the mess that has been thrust upon us.

Messageboards are famous for simply being places to vent...to piss and moan...and I realize that very little action actually comes from such communities.

Still, I try. I can't not try.

:shrug:

together in your local area, develop a business plan & go ask for start-up money.

personally i see du as a place to talk about politics. and i think talking about politics is a useful activity. but also not a solution to the unemployment problem.

i think squatting, drug-dealing and thieves cooperatives are on the same levels as solutions to the unemployment problem. i.e. things that will work to provide resources to some. they have lower start=up costs as well. so they're likely to work for more people.

But not just in my area, in other areas, which is why I post here -- and elsewhere -- to gather like-minded people.

The two people I know are not in my community, so they'd be more inclined to invest in such ventures in their own communities.

And, I would like to have input from many people who are interested in these approaches before proposing anything. I don't have all the ideas, but I am interested in gathering groups of people to brainstorm and arrive at some proposals together.

You'll find that DU General Discussion is about much more than politics.

At any rate, I wish you a good day.

:hi:

Since when is the creation of one job taking away from another? Funding comes from everyone paying for shares (employee owned)and from any loan source just as any other entity. In the case of retro-fitting, anything you spend on anything is money that isn't spent on something else.

Your lines of responses need a little more detail in logic to be understood. Evil? Where exactly does that come from?

i merely elaborated. if you don't think that people who create fake wars & crash economies for their own benefit are evil, not sure what is.

you don't get how money supply/velocity affects business, jobs & demand?

I also get how money in people's hands creates demand.

where is that money in hand coming from?

what do you think is the cause of recession/depression?

?hl=ad&t=1310824850

CDOs, credit default swaps, an unregulated derivatives market, and the use of housing as an ATM.

I am actually considering putting my money where mouth is.

It would not however, be a socialist endeavor, but a capitalist one.

It's like capitalism and communism at the same time, without the negatives of either. The people own the methods of production, there is an opportunity to reward entrepreneurs, and you don't eliminate many firms.

The way it differs from a co-op, is that you don't put your money in a central pot, and you don't have to be a slave to the rest of the company.

It would be like Avon, but instead of annoying the fuck out of your neighbors, friends and family, you do business where it is supposed to happen.

and I'm an advocate of all of them.

I support ventures that promote the social good rather having a focus on profit. Profit can be part of it, but it shouldn't be the driving force over people.

Co-ops are merely one option, and there are member-owned and worker-owned options.

I don't see why there can't be more franchise-type opportunities, so long as it's a venture truly devoted to the social good, not a slave to profit but self-sustaining.

I see no need to reinvent the wheel in each community; see what works in one area and replicate it to fit other communities.

Oopsie, edit to add GOOD LUCK!

:hi:

Thank you! I've always been intrigued by the concept of cooperatives.

Watching the craziness of the economy has left me wishing we had an independent economy with very few ties (if any!) to the current scam-driven system where the wealthy are the only ones that benefit. After all the breaks and incentives they've been given, their job creation record is a abysmal. It would be so nice to have a parallel economic system that grows increasingly independent of them.

Thanks for the links. I'm looking forward to learning more about it.

:hi: