Cooperative Journal

Woodbine is a DIY volunteer-run community resource hub located in Ridgewood Queens, NY. It’s all encompassing of solidarity, intended to cultivate the practices, skills, and tools needed to build autonomy. They host workshops, lectures, discussions and serve as a meeting and organizing space. They offer a multitude of ways to get community members' needs met like through their seed library, trades and services directory, english classes and much more!

In this episode I speak with one of the co-founders Matt Peterson and volunteer Amoga Sahu about the creation and sustainability of this mutual aid hub. We speak about how they gathered the funds to get started and how they managed to not only sustain themselves but move into a bigger space during the pandemic. They’ve been around since 2014 and most DIY spaces don’t last in NYC so this is pretty major. You’ll learn about some of the free events, tools, and resources available to the community like their recently installed Mesh internet network. Matt shares an interesting perspective on decision making structures and accountability within a volunteer-run space which tends to be the one of most difficult aspects of running a collectively run space. At the end there’s some tips offered on how others can build an autonomous community centered space in the city.

Essential Food and Medicine is a mutual aid initiative based in Oakland, CA that started during the pandemic but has done an incredible amount of work in a short period of time. The co-founders integrated their love for community connection, food security, sovereignty, plant, and holistic medicine to create a resource to meet all of those essential needs for people. They reclaim surplus and locally grown produce to make juice, soups, smoothies, and natural medicine for underserved communities for free.

In this episode I speak with co-founders Xochitl Moreno and AshEL Elidrige. In the first half of the conversation we speak about Essential FAM as a whole -- like the voids they are filling, how they built the partnerships needed to supply the resources, how they distribute the medicine, and then we start to talk about Cob on Wood, a community built with cob they co-created in a homeless encampment. It has a free store, free health clinic, kitchen, bathroom, and community events to empower residents and have a safer environment. We speak about the history of Wood St. benefits of building with cob, how they raised money to build, the impeding and rapidly increasing issue of homelessness in CA, why they are facing eviction and how you can help.

VinziRast-Mittendrin is a co-housing building located in Vienna, Austria where students, formerly homeless, and refugees live amongst each other. It houses bicycle, woodworking and sewing workshops, a restaurant, and event spaces. It’s a collaboration between students involved with the Vienna Audimax occupation,VinziRast which is a volunteer-run organization that offers housing to formerly homeless and refugees, as well as architecture firm Gaupenraub+/- .

In this episode I speak with architect Alexander Hagner who was responsible for the adaption of the building. We speak about the event led to the co-habitation of formerly homeless and students, how they received funding for the building, the intentionality and functionality needed when designing for formerly homeless, changing the stigma around homeless individuals, how they mitigate conflicts, what resources/skills are offered to empower the formerly homeless, and why the residents make ideal housing mates.

Resources:

Gaupenraub+/- Architecture Website

VinziRast Website

Design for the Real World Book

Horta Inteligente (Intelligent Garden) promotes environmental education to children in the oldest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a volunteer-run initiative, they collectively create new ways of inhabiting and relating to the city through agroecology, art, community-based education, and creating spaces for cultivating food.

In this episode I speak with project partner and environmental engineer Lorena Portela about the history of favelas and their current state, how founder Elisângela Almeida Oliveira received the funds to get started at just 18 years old, how to get people in the community to see value in environmental care, innovative projects like turning cooking oil into all purpose soap, and more ways they are bringing nature and sustainability to an urban underserved community.

Resources:

Horta Inteligente Website

Horta Inteligente Instagram

Horta Inteligente Facebook

Horta Inteligente YouTube

Green Mountain Spinnery is a 40 year old cooperative based in rural Vermont. They mill high quality yarns made in the U.S., support regional sheep farming, and develop ways of producing natural fibers that are environmentally friendly.

Flat Iron Co-op is a cooperatively owned coffee shop based in Vermont. They are still in the developmental stages but intend to create a model that integrates coffee, community driven events, and supports local food entrepreneurs within the space.

In this episode I speak with worker-owner Larisa Demos about the inspiration behind Green Mountain Spinnery and Flat Iron’s development. Initially this interview was just going to be about The Spinnery but I decided to ask Larisa to share a bit about a new co-op she is helping to develop. We speak about what’s needed for a co-op’s longevity, how to sustain the ethos as ownership changes, peer2peer networking for new co-ops, intention and plans once the Flat Iron is open, and more insight into the evolution of these two different models.

Resources:

The Spinnery Website

The Spinnery Facebook

The Spinnery Instagram

The Spinnery Virtual Mill Tour

Flat Iron Co-op Instagram

Uzupis is a sovereign republic located in the Lithuanian capital of Vilinus. Depicted much like a utopia, they have their own flag, army, currency, cabinet of ministers, constitution, and anthem. Created by artists as a joke on April Fool’s day, it has become home to free-thinkers seeking an alternative society. While it isn’t recognized by foreign governments as a micronation, it’s an inspiring symbol of revitalization and liberation in the community after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In this episode I speak with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomas Chepaitis about the history of Uzupis, reactions they received from the Lithuanian government, their decision-making process, gentrification, how they support artists, and the unique University model they’ve created.

Uzupis Embassy

Uzupis University

Uzupis Republic Website

The Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops is a secondary cooperative, meaning they are a cooperative made up of member co-ops. Their members are apart of a regional network based in Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont. Through this network, they are able to provide developmental support, cooperative education, and ultimately raise awareness to strengthen the cooperative economy.

In this episode I speak with executive director Adam Trott about the benefits of strong cooperative alliances, resources needed for worker-coops to be sustainable, cooperative internships for students, peer2peer learning, and how we can cultivate more cooperation between cooperatives.

Valley of Worker Co-ops Facebook

Valley of Worker Co-ops Twitter

Oxbow Design Build is a recently converted worker-owned design and construction cooperative in East Hampton, Massachusetts. They practice holistic design and building while creating custom furniture, developing new structures, and renovating. Beyond their impeccable designs and attention to detail, they also pride themselves in supporting local businesses, ethical sourcing, and eco-friendly designs.

In this episode I speak with member-owner and project manager Carl Woodruff about their transition to a worker cooperative, what it means to be a holistic design/build company, peer2peer networking, collaboration with other co-ops, some of their past/future projects, and how we can design to be in alignment with community and environmental needs.

OxbowDesignBuild Website

OxbowDesignBuild Facebook

Oxbow Design Build Instagram

Altrapo Lab is a cooperative in Madrid, Spain dedicated to training and raising awareness about the impacts of the fashion industry and the promotion of consumer alternatives. They advocate for recycling, textile reuse, and transformative consumption from a creative approach through their courses, workshops and events around circular fashion.

In this episode I speak with worker-owner Zaloa Basaldua about how Altrapo Lab is shifting the narrative from fashion consumption to reconstruction. Learn about how they are providing a platform to rethink and reconnect to the entire fashion supply chain, their store model for giving a new life to clothing, tips for upcycling and preserving clothing, how they are collaborating with other co-ops to divert clothing waste, and more resources to empower others to be environmentally and socially conscious clothing consumers.

Altrapo Lab Website

Altrapo Lab Facebook

Altrapo Lab Instagram

Recumadrid:Textile waste management in Madrid

Fashion Revolution:World's largest fashion activism movement

Mehr Als Wohnen is a holistic and democratic housing cooperative in Zurich, Switzerland. It is definitely not your typical housing co-op, they have created an innovative complex that is in harmony with the needs of the natural environment and its diverse residents. Members can meet all of their basic needs within the immediate vicinity. Parks, work spaces, retail spaces, care facilities, electric car-sharing, and community rooms all contribute to this vibrant mini city within the city.

In this episode I speak with communications officer Roseli Ferreira about how the co-op was funded from a union of many other co-ops, the importance of consulting with the community throughout its development, their innovative design and facilities, inclusionary and affordable housing, social engagement within the co-op, and more inspiration to design housing that we all desire and deserve.

Mehr Als Wohnen Website(search Mehr Als Wohnen in Google for English translation)

Mehr Als WohnenFacebook