Dispatch from the Solidarity Economy

Good news from the world of cooperatives

It’s a hard time for many nonprofits these days, so it was such a joy for me to hear a lot of good news yesterday. I joined cooperatives from around the region at the first Cascadia Cooperatives Conference hosted by the Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC).

Cooperatives are not nonprofits, but they are operated for the benefit of their members, so they are accountable to the community they serve and are typically operated democratically with all owners (members) having a voice and a vote.

There are many types of cooperatives and a lot to learn. The main takeaways for me:

· Coops are generally owned and operated for the benefit of local people, creating good jobs and serving their communities well.

· A cooperative structure can be used for small and large businesses (we are all familiar with food coops and most Northwesterners have an REI membership) but it is also an alternative to create stable, affordable housing, supply farmers or businesses more affordably through a shared services coop, deliver utilities to rural communities, and accomplish many other things.

· Credit unions have their own corporate structure, but they are essentially the coops of the banking world.

· There are consumer coops, worker-owned coops, and multi-stakeholder coops (Central Coop is owned by workers and customers who both have representation on the board of directors).

· There is a great deal of solidarity among coops, sharing of expertise and capital, and a set of cooperative principles that guide coops.

Coops are making our world a better place in so many ways.

Coops provide several avenues to affordable permanent housing, and it was great to learn about several local strategies already housing thousands of people here in Washington.

· In recent years, many manufactured home communities (mobile home parks) have been purchased and operated by predatory owners (including villainous private equity firms). The new owners raise lot rents significantly, do not invest in the community, and squeeze low-income owners who may not be able to move their “mobile” home. Fortunately, Washington State now has a law requiring that a park owner who wants to sell must give the residents the right of first refusal. This gives time for the residents to organize and potentially purchase the land together as a cooperative to ensure that the costs will remain affordable in the future. NWCDC has assisted 32 manufactured home communities (mobile home parks) in Washington in converting their community from for-profit to cooperative resident-owned communities.

· On Lopez Island, soaring real estate values have made it very difficult for moderate-income people who work on the island to live there. Lopez Community Land Trust has combined Limited Equity Coops with land ownership by the land trust to create six successful coop communities. Land owned by the land trust is leased on a long-term basis to the coop, and coop residents receive limited return on their shares so that the housing will remain affordable. These coops now house 5% of the year-round population of Lopez Island!

· Habitat for Humanity is planning a 20-unit housing coop in Post Falls, Idaho.

Do you think that coops are too small to change the world? Check out Coop City, and learn more about Mondragon.

Now that I know more, I will be on the lookout for cooperative businesses that I can support and continue to learn more. I’ll also be watching for coop-related news, because we all need hopeful news right now.

Image description: Amish barn raising: a large group of people in blue shirts building a big structure together. Most are working on framing the roof. Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash