Seed Commons

When The Wine Source, a 34-year old neighborhood favorite, was put on the market by its longtime owner early in 2024, the 9,500 sq. ft. shop's workers were worried about what that might mean for them. But Seed Commons member the Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy had a track record of successful conversions to worker-ownership, including three businesses within blocks of the Wine Source, and stepped in to help when the workers reached out. With BRED's help, the workers were able by September to negotiate with the exiting owner and take over the shop themselves as a worker cooperative “We found we were all coming to work with the same kind of mission and vision, and we had all been brought to this place and felt that this place was offering something different to the community and its customers and its employees. We wanted to preserve that." —Caitlin O’Connor, Wine Source worker-owner Read more about how Seed Commons is helping power Baltimore's growing worker cooperative ecosystem here: https://buff.ly/3zJFEGk

16 years ago today, the workers at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago occupied their factory, demanding fair treatment from a corporate owner which had closed the plant with no warning in the middle of the great financial crisis. That occupation—making headlines around the world—would ultimately lead to the workers taking control themselves, with a new worker-owned factory, the New Era Windows Cooperative. Seed Commons' history of non-extractive finance for worker power in the US starts with our fight to get the workers of New Era the capital they needed to build the future they deserved, and we've continued to support the cooperative as it has grown and developed.

“Using wood, harvested from local timber, is a core part of our work. We have a reverence for wood. We strive to build buildings that are ecological, practical, and beautiful.” —Blain Snipstal, co-founding worker-owner, Earth-Bound Building Founded in 2014, Earth-Bound Building is a worker cooperative and collective of skilled builders, crafts-people and farmers, dedicated to the belief that functional, durable and ecological farm and land infrastructure lies at the heart of a just and thriving sustainable food system. Using natural materials and traditional timber frame joinery, they create beautiful and ecologically appropriate buildings that serve the needs of farming and rural communities. BRED, a member of the Seed Commons cooperative, helped Earth-Bound with a non-extractive loan to acquire the base of operations in rural Maryland it needed to take on more ambitious, larger scale construction projects.

This summer, Broomwagon Bikes in Lexington, KY converted to worker-ownership, with the help of Patchwork Cooperative Loan Fund, a peer member of the Seed Commons cooperative. Founded in 2015, the conversion to worker-ownership has created the foundations for the next chapter of this amazing, inclusive, and community-focused bike shop. Here's why they named themselves "Broomwagon": "In European bike-race culture, “The Broomwagon” is a mechanic van/first aid crew that 'sweeps' behind a race, picking up injured or worn out riders unable to make it to the end and fixing broken bikes that have fallen behind. It was the perfect symbol of what we hoped to become for our local bike culture.We are not a typical bike shop. Broomwagon is a worker-owned cooperative bike shop, one of only a few in existence and the only one in Kentucky. [...] This industry can often be long hours and low pay, so we wanted the ability for our workers to seize the means of their own labor and ultimately, create a more sustainable model for our lil’ tiny but mighty shop. It is impossible to separate bikes and socioeconomic needs. We recognize the immediate and long-term responsibility of taking care of our community who utilize bikes as transportation. We love custom builds and fixing bikes for folks who ride for fun, but our main goals are to help riders who ultimately need their bikes to get around town and believe we are at the intersection of all people on bicycles."

All power to the pollinators! Seed Commons, working through our peer network member, the DC Solidarity Economy Loan Fund at Beloved Community Incubator, recently helped the Swamp Rose Co-op finance the equipment and vehicles needed to expand their worker-owned business focusing on ecological landscaping & native plant sales, and doing so with a commitment to changing the way workers are treated in the industry. As they note: "We are serious about labor. Landscaping workers are paid poorly and often given no benefits despite doing back-breaking, highly skilled labor. At Swamp Rose all of our worker-owners get the same share of the profits. We believe that labor is truly entitled to the wealth it creates."

“It’s about changing the world. It’s about changing the way that we relate to work and to money.” —Kate Khatib, Seed Commons Writing for Princeton University's Journal of Public and International Affairs, Ariel Munczek Edelman reports back from the recent 2024 Worker Cooperative Conference, highlighting the work Seed Commons is doing to answer the key questions around scale and solidarity. Read the piece here:

We just finished our annual full cooperative network gathering, with representatives from all of the member organizations that make up Seed Commons, convening in Baltimore for two days to share stories, celebrate our collective growth, and get serious about the challenges ahead. Plus we got a chance to see firsthand the amazing ecosystem of worker cooperatives that has been catalyzed by local member Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy, including visits to Appalachian Field Services, Taharka Brothers, The Wine Source, Red Emma's, Mera Kitchen Collective, and Common Ground cafe. #onward

"Feed people, not landfills." The Rust Belt Riders worker cooperative helps over 3,000 families and businesses divert over 6 million pounds of food waste every year, turning what would be garbage in a landfill into compost and building a circular economy centered on community well-being. Seed Commons helped Cleveland Owns, our peer member in Northeast Ohio, finance the equipment and vehicles Rust Belt Riders needed to expand. Learn more at: https://buff.ly/2LKpHAZ and watch their tenth anniversary video here: https://buff.ly/4f6kilF

I've been thinking a lot about PODER Emma in Asheville, and how investment in democratic community ownership & organizing capacity is needed for climate resilience. The strategies and infrastructure they built to protect their communities from the violence of economic displacement are proving to also be absolutely invaluable in the aftermath of climate disaster. I had a chance, before the hurricane, to talk with them about their remarkable and inspiring work, in this case study for Seed Commons, the national network for non-extractive finance that has been helping them scale community ownership of the economy in Asheville: https://lnkd.in/eX7i4u2W

"We are representing a shift in the hospitality industry towards a more equitable and sustainable business model which is a worker-owned cooperative."   —Lauren Ruiz, worker owner at Donna Relaunched under worker ownership in 2023 with the help of Seed Commons network member The Working World, bar and restaurant Donna is, according to Resy, a "cozy, West Village little oasis tucked away on Cornelia Street — a serious cocktail destination and they haven’t overlooked their zero-proof options." #workerownership #workercoops #nonextractivefinance Learn more: https://buff.ly/4e6fM5m