After nearly two decades, Henry Got Crops, the farm at the W.B. Saul Agricultural High School, still doesn’t turn a profit. But that doesn’t bother senior farm manager Ali Ascherio. The partnership between the school and Weavers Way Co-op pays off in other ways. The vegetable farm takes up two acres behind the school. A
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With a vintage tile facade and large glass display windows lined neatly with books, Making Worlds Cooperative Bookstore and Social Center’s storefront is ideal. However, this charming spot was not intended for retail; cofounder Malav Kanuga first identified the space as a storage facility for his independent publishing house, Common Notions. “The original plan was
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Myriam Siftar cried tears of joy. It was March 2012, and she was at the grand opening of Mariposa Food Co-op’s new home, a Greek-revival style former bank building on Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia. (Full disclosure: This author is a member of the co-op.) For Siftar, it was the triumphant culmination of a journey
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While a worker-owned collective might not be everyone’s dream, these types of workplaces can be pretty dreamy. According to Corey Reidy, cooperative development director of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA), co-ops create long-term job stability, equitable wealth-building and are safer and more productive than non-cooperative businesses. “Co-ops in the U.S. are two-thirds more likely
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There are dozens of worker-owned cooperatives in Philly, where the employees are the owners and have the opportunity to share profits and participate in governance and decision-making. Here are five local businesses that follow this model, covering a range of services. 1. Home Care Associates Home Care Associates (HCA) is one of the oldest worker-owned
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The idea of ditching corporations that answer only to shareholders for mission-driven models that share power with workers can sound pretty appealing. But how would it actually work? Well, it might work like the cooperatives we already have all around us, and that have been around for ages. Do you bank at a credit union?
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Successful businesses always start by filling a need or relieving a “pain point” for a target market. In Grid’s launch year 2008, when sustainability and “going green” were working their way into the common lexicon and Michael Nutter was elected Philadelphia’s mayor on a sustainability platform, the pain point was really located in the consumer’s
MoreDisrupting Business As Usual by Peter Frank I rely every day on cooperative businesses owned and controlled by my neighbors and friends. I buy groceries from Kensington Community Food Co-op, source my energy from the Energy Co-op, bank with Philadelphia Federal Credit Union and Sun Federal Credit Union, and drink coffee and dine at W/N
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Howard Carson is one of the founding members of US Server Net, LLC, a managed web services cooperative that has been providing web design and hosting since 1997. US Server Net is made up of two main member groups: designers, developers, writers, editors, photographers and videographers; and small business owners seeking web services. “Members, including
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Winners Take All by Katie Bohri Restaurants create a lot of waste. There’s food waste, and the wasted fossil fuels that go into keeping a full menu available year-round. But there’s also a waste of human energy: the energy that workers must spend to manage the stress imposed by an industry that pits employees against
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