Along with a couple of my co-founders of a worker cooperative developing an indoor playground and cafe, I am currently taking a course entitled “Small Business: The Fundamentals” through our local small business development council. As part of the 20-hour course, the instructors go over the types of legal entities an entrepreneur should consider utilizing […]
TechCollective
TechCollective is a worker-owned company providing a full range of technology support and consulting services. Based in San Francisco, and currently serving the greater San Francisco Bay Area, we specialize in the tech needs of individuals and small-to-medium sized businesses and other organizations. We are different from other tech support options because we’re accountable, unlike […]
Out of the Bubble and into the Community
While just up the street, buses labeled “Google” and “Apple” cart employees back and forth from massive campuses, the workers at TechCollective make their way to the first floor of a house surrounded by ornate, old, wooden Victorian houses in the heart of San Francisco. As the Bay Area buzzes with dot-commers fighting to be […]
200 Artists, One Great Idea
In a region known for experience occurring in the cloud, on the net and through a virtual reality, City Art Cooperative in San Francisco, CA focuses on a single physical space and the objects that 200 artists create. Twelve times a year the gallery walls and pedestals, laden with an ever-changing display, transform and the […]
City Arts
City Art is a cooperative gallery founded, owned, and managed by local artists. We provide Bay Area artists with a supportive environment, vibrant community, and exceptional exposure. We are a unique resource for emerging collectors, offering access to both original art and the artists creating it. City Art brings art-lovers together
Building up from Down-Under
The 1960’s saw Melbourne, Australia sprawling out from Port Phillip Bay into the beautiful green hills that stretch away from the water. Both the city’s population and housing speculation boomed. Developers snatched up land, segmented it into lots, prepped it for construction—tearing out trees and installing streets, sidewalks and utilities—and then sold bits of land […]
Rochdale Estate Cooperative
In 1963 the Rochdale Estate Cooperative formed in order to make home ownership a possibility at a lower price. The cooperative acted as a land development business. Members were able to own developed land at a cost reduction of 35%. After completion of the development project the cooperative dissolved but members remained satisfied home owners.
Fun and Games and Cooperatives
When the game Monopoly was originally designed in 1903, its end goal was not driving other players to bankruptcy, but to encourage players to cooperate, paying rent into a common pot and achieving a happier shared prosperity. But when the game was patented and sold to Parker Brothers in the 1930s, its economic lesson changed. […]
Toolbox for Education and Social Action (TESA)
A worker-owned cooperative creating educational curricula, workshops and games for social and economic justice.
Traditional Art at Fair Prices
At the cobblestoned corner of 4 Norte and 4 Oriente, 400 indigenous women sell their work. Embroidered shirts, jewelry, paper hangings and other traditional handcrafts fill shelves and line walls. Craft shops are no rare thing in the historic downtown of Puebla, Mexico and tourists flock through the streets clutching plastic bags stuffed with gifts […]