CoopEcon 2021: Building Back Cooperatively

Cooperative Economic Development is one of the most important tools being considered by residents of the area as a means of not only increasing self-reliance and self-determination but building and retaining community wealth as well. Cooperative Economic Development puts power back in the hands of communities that have been abandoned by decades of wrong-headed economic policymaking, enabling them to take charge of creating more just economic conditions for themselves and their community. In essence, this approach to economics empowers regular people to Build Back Cooperatively.

Unlike other economic development that looks to offering incentives to attract “good jobs” and desired amenities from outside the community, Cooperative Economic Development seeks to utilize democratic ownership and governance and community assets to create enterprises that will meet the needs of people and raise the quality of life in communities. For this to happen effectively, it requires the organized activity of community members to envision, design, plan, finance, build and then successfully govern cooperative enterprises that are owned by the community for the benefit of the community. Consumer cooperatives, worker cooperatives, and even financial service cooperatives are among the types of enterprises that can help provide for housing, food, jobs and banking needs. The need for sound organizing is a key to success. Groups of people must be drawn together around a vision that they share, armed with the skills and capacities they need in order to engage in that future then structured to build the necessary level of organization to carry out that vision.