Credit Unions Ask, ‘Now What?’ Answer: Invest in Cooperatives
The president and chief executive of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), Fred R. Becker Jr., posed an important question in the Washington Post, “Credit unions reported a surge in membership after Bank Transfer Day. Now what?”
Anger over big banks’ announced plan to charge for debit card use combined with the energy behind the Occupy Movement fueled the successful Move Your Money campaign that culminated on November 5th with Bank Transfer Day. The campaign resulted in approximately 700,000 new members depositing $4.5b into credit unions across the country since September. It’s been estimated that this brings the total assets held by US credit unions to surpass $1 trillion. While credit unions may have been a passive participant in the battle between an enraged public and big Wall Street banks, with this new influx of financial capital and a membership base exceeding 91 million they are now in a powerful position to strategically support the new progressive movement for a more sustainable economy. Read more.
Edible Cooperative: Red Rabbit Bakery, Edible Austin
It started with a movie—a political documentary, to be exact: Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story. Cathy Ruiz watched it and was captivated by the featured cooperative bakery that offered equal compensation for all member workers, including the CEO. She went to her job at a commercial bakery the next day and posed a question to her fellow bakers: “Does anyone want to start a cooperative bakery?” Read more.
An Economy Turned Upside Down, Shareable
While mainstream America is hoping for federal economic reform, some social justice organizations have a radically different idea, and are organizing low-income communities to build a new economy from the grassroots up. Tired of asking for change from the top down, they are taking their economy into their own hands. Read more.
Fixing the Future, NOW on PBS
In a one-hour PBS special, Host David Brancaccio visits communities across the country using innovative approaches to create jobs and build prosperity in our new economy, including Third Coast Workers for Cooperation. To see the full length documentary online, click here.
Embrace the Cooperative Movement, Austin American Statesman
In the midst of mounting economic insecurity, fueled by widespread unemployment, foreclosures and budget cuts, many are seeking alternative models to business as usual. From community gardens to bartering networks, grassroots efforts are sprouting up across the country. One pillar of the trend is an international institution with over 160 years of experience in local, sustainable economic development: a cooperative. Read more.
Austin nonprofit teaching how to create, run cooperatives, Austin Business Journal
Jeanette Monsalve and three friends — all but one mothers — started making empanadas to raise money for a project. And when orders for their pastries kept coming in after their fundraising stopped, they knew they had the makings of a business.
They also knew they didn’t want the typical business model, so they decided to create their catering company as a worker cooperative. Read more.
Co-op businesses receive guidance from organization, The Daily Texan
Third Coast Workers for Cooperation, Austin’s first cooperative development organization, held a graduation ceremony Saturday evening for the first group of participants in its business course.
In October, Carlos Perez de Alejo and Andi Shively helped create the organization’s Cooperative Business Institute, which prepares individuals “to establish and manage their own worker-owned, cooperative business” Read more.
Building a Place to Build Community, The Austin Chronicle
Thursday, May 6, marks the grand opening celebration of 5604 Manor – the unpretentiously named space that organizers hope will become a Northeast-side center for community activism in Austin, to be used as a work, collaboration, and event space for a range of progressive groups. The founding organizations include the Workers Defense Project (Proyecto Defensa Laboral), which supports the interests of immigrant workers, especially in the construction industry; Third Coast Workers for Cooperation, which plans to establish workers’ co-op businesses in green industries Read more.
Green Worker Co-ops, The Texas Observer
Last month, Fox News weeper Glenn Beck managed to force green jobs advisor Van Jones from his perch in the Obama administration.
Beck got his scalp but he did little to discredit Jones’ fundamental idea: That the twin economic and environmental crises are intertwined and can – and must – be addressed together.
One of the problems with modern environmentalism has been the notion that the economy and the environment are in tension. Powerful corporate interests and right-wing politicians play on this meme. Read more.
A Green and Democratic Place, The Austin Chronicle
If the term and concept “worker-owned cooperatives” sounds unfamiliar to you, that should be about to change. On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Omar Freilla, team coordinator of the New York-based Green Worker Cooperatives, will be speaking in Austin, and thereby helping to launch a similar local effort: Third Coast Workers for Cooperation. Like the South Bronx GWC, the Third Coast group is “committed to the development of ecologically sustainable worker cooperatives,” with a particular focus on low-income minority communities. Read more.
