How to Become a Citizen Eater: A Trip Behind the Labels of Your Ethical Cup of Coffee
Labels like "fair trade" and "direct trade" indicate food is ethically sourced—but how do you know what they really mean, and whether they're effective?
Cooperatives
Craigslist Saved 5M Tons of Stuff From Landfills—And 4 Other New Stats on Local Economies
Exactly how much difference do “new economy” organizations make? Economists looked into it, and here are a few of their results.
Students for Economic Pluralism, Unite! How College Kids Are Taking on the “High Priests” of Money
After years of work as a climate activist, Keith Harrington decided to get a degree in economics. Now, he’s working to transform the field.
Local Food With a Big Twist: Oregon Super-Cooperative Takes Aim at the Corporate Food System
This co-op south of Portland wants to strengthen the local food system by helping local farmers cooperate instead of compete with one another.
This Rust-Belt Town’s Survival Strategy Is All About Giving Workers Control
Reading is one of Pennsylvania’s poorest cities. Can its residents turn things around by building a more democratic economy?
Owning Together Is the New Sharing
Companies and startups are aspiring toward an economy, and an Internet, that is more fully ours with the use of cooperatives, "commons-based peer production," and cryptocurrencies.
After Years Without a Grocery Store, Greensboro Neighbors Are Building One Themselves—And They’ll Own It
Fed up with essentially begging for access to quality food, residents of this predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhood decided to open their own grocery store.
Three Moves for a Bigger, Stronger Worker-Owned Economy
While worker-owned co-ops provide a significant chunk of employment in several European countries, in the United States we still have a ways to go. Fortunately, opportunities for growth are everywhere.
What Housing Organizers in Buffalo Learned from the ’70s
Why did some of the cooperative institutions built in the ’70s—especially food co-ops—get to scale and thrive in subsequent decades, while others faded away?
With an Economy that Worked for All, Mike Brown Would Still Be Alive
“Our full humanity is expressed only when we have the capacity and the opportunity to be productive, to do for ourselves, meeting our needs in our communities.”
Want to Build an Economy that Works for Everybody? Next Week, We’re All About It
Next Monday, YES! and the New Economy Coalition kick off New Economy Week—five days of national conversation about the ideas, strategies, and projects that make up the movement.
Workers in Maine Buy Out Their Jobs, Set an Example for the Nation
For the new worker-owners of the Island Employee Cooperative, the transformation into a co-op will create profound changes in their lives.
How America’s Largest Worker Owned Co-Op Lifts People Out of Poverty
Cooperative Home Care Associates' 2,300 workers enjoy good wages, regular hours, and family health insurance. With an investment of $1.2 million into the cooperative sector, New York City is hoping to build on the group's success.
Gar Alperovitz on Why the New Economy Movement Needs to Think Big
His new book, "What Then Must We Do?" imagines how a new economic system might actually emerge, from the bottom up, in the next few decades.
Worker-Owned Co-ops Get $1 Million in NYC Spending
New York City's newly approved budget allocates $1.2 million for developing and supporting worker-owned cooperative businesses.
After Death of Radical Mayor, Mississippi’s Capital Wrestles With His Economic Vision
Mayor Chokwe Lumumba implemented only the first steps of his plan to address Jackson's extreme income inequality, which most seriously affected black residents. Now the city faces a choice between vastly different approaches to economic development.
Mondragón and the System Problem
Among the lessons of a major cooperative business' bankruptcy: The success of big co-ops might depend on things like radically reforming transportation and other parts of the larger economy.
Co-Op Academy Teaches Workers to Build Green and Cooperative Businesses
GRITtv's Laura Flanders speaks with the founder of the program and takes you inside one of its classes.
Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young: A New Economy for Present Times
Laura Flanders interviews the directors of Shift Change, a film about the cooperative business movement.
Worker-Owned Window Factory Opens for Business
When the company known as Republic Windows and Doors closed its Chicago factory, the workers raised the money to buy back the company themselves. The worker-owned cooperative they formed opens today.
From Housing to Health Care, 7 Co-ops That Are Changing Our Economy
How manufacturers, retailers, restaurants, and others are doing business the cooperative way.
Occupy Sandy Funds Growth of Worker-Owned Co-Ops
Could the seaside neighborhoods struck by Hurricane Sandy be the next big incubator for worker-owned companies?
Empowered by the Past: Red State Co-ops Go Green
A century ago, cooperatives electrified the poorest counties in the nation. Today, can they lead the way to a smarter, cleaner grid?
To Build a Community Economy, Start With Solidarity
How residents who can’t afford to buy in still get the benefits of co-op work and housing.
Credit Unions Put Your Money to Work—Right Where You Live
What if your bank’s first priority was to do good? Vancouver’s Vancity leads the way in putting dollars back into the community.
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