Festival of Grassroots Economics asks: Where’s That New Economy? Offers powerful answers
“Let’s
take back our economy. Let’s decentralize and democratize it,” Heather
Young said, kicking off the panel called “Building the Alternative” at
the Festival of Grassroots Economics, held September 26 at the Humanist
Hall in Oakland.
Heather Young was one of the main organizers of
the festival, a free, day-long gathering of several hundred Bay Area
people who gathered to meet and discuss how to evolve alternative
economies that benefit working people, support local small businesses,
support pay equity, and address work through the framework of race,
class and privilege. Young, a co-founder of Bay Area Community Exchange
wanted to make sure everyone arriving for the day understood that
finding new economic models was the essence of the festival, whose
slogan was “Building an Economy for the People and the Planet.”
Held in Humanist Hall just north of downtown Oakland, the event was organized with no external funding by JASecon
(Just. Alternative. Sustainable. Economics) and a handful of local
citizens and workers in cooperatives and non-profits interested in
finding new ways to do business in the local economy. Some of these
new ways adopt different ownership models and some don’t involve Uncle
Sam’s dollar at all.
Bernard Marszalek, another central
organizer, noted, "A goal of the Grassroots Economics Festival is to
bring together a variety of economic projects for the public to see
close up and to appreciate the creativity and value of bottom-up
efforts to fulfill real needs."
At the heart of the festival
were four panel discussions titled 1) Co-op 101, 2) Resources for the
Grassroots Economy, 3) Urban Food Security, and 4) Building the
Alternative. Each one provided concrete examples of the new economy in
action and ideas on how to advance it.
Worker Cooperatives: Keeping Jobs, Profits and the Economy Local
Even
as the main hall was abuzz with people exchanging information and
networking, the festival kicked off in the main yard with a discussion
of worker co-operatives as concrete and successful models of
alternative economic enterprises that are locally rooted. They result
in more equitable workplace structures and provide multiple community
benefits. The panel was a primer on democratic workplaces, covering
organizational, legal and financial aspects of worker-owned
cooperatives, while highlighting concrete examples of how one
functions.
The main presenter for the panel was Kasper Koczab, a worker-owner at Rainbow Grocery and a staff representative of Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives
(NoBAWC, pronounced “no boss”). Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco’s
Mission District is one the Bay Area’s premiere worker co-ops and
NoBAWC is an association of 37 businesses and organizations.
First,
Koczab made it clear that most worker co-operatives are in the business
of making money, among other things, and underscored that co-ops are
“not some hippy-dippy enterprise.” The critical difference is that the
money generated doesn’t go to outside investors, but rather the surplus
is divided between all the worker-owners.
There is “no one
single model” for worker-cooperatives, Koczab said. Yet there are
certain key features and advantages of worker-owned cooperatives. They
are all businesses that are owned and controlled democratically by
their members, not by investors, typically on the principle ‘one
worker, one vote’. Koczab described how at Rainbow Grocery profits are
divided based on labor (hours worked, longevity). Part is paid out in
cash and part is retained in an internal capital account (ICA) for
capital improvements or expansion to support the business.
Koczab noted that not everybody is accustomed to taking on the responsibility of being their own boss.
“We’re
educated to be part of a hierarchical system. The expectation is to be
exploited or climb the corporate ladder. That mentality is hard to
break. We’re simply not taught about democratic work-places, all the
way up to MBA programs. They have their own set of needs on which we
need to be educated, instead of how to generate profits for people who
are already fuckin’ rich,” Koczab said.
At Rainbow, he
continued, “you either take on the responsibility of being an
owner-member or you move on. We don’t want two classes of workers,”
again underscoring the egalitarian and democratic principles that guide
worker-cooperatives.
Coops flourish in the Bay Area
The
United States has relatively few worker cooperatives--just over 300,
according to the U.S. Federation of Worker Co-operatives. Yet worker
co-ops are well-represented in the Bay Area, ranging from bike shops (Box Dog Bikes), bakeries, (Nabalom, Arizmendi) and a juice bar (Juice Bar Collective), to graphics and print shops (Design Action, Inkworks Press)—even a San Francisco peep show called Lusty Lady, which has the recognition of being the world's only unionized worker-owned peep-show cooperative.
There
are also organizations set up to help facilitate cooperatives. The two
oldest Worker Cooperative Development Agencies in the Bay Area are
Arizmendi and WAGES.
Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives is a cooperative made up of five
member businesses, four cooperative bakeries (Cheese Board, Arizmendi
Lakeshore, Arizmendi 9th Avenue, Arizmendi San Pablo) and a development
and support collective. The mission of WAGES (Women’s Action to Gain
Economic Security) is to build worker-owned green businesses that
create healthy, dignified jobs for low-income women. (See here for list of Bay Area cooperatives)
Not
wanting to give the impression that worker-coops are perfect, Koczab
acknowledged that whenever you have 250 people you are going to have
250 different personalities. He noted that sometimes consensus
decisions take longer, but the results are well worth that
“inefficiency.” He then summed up the “endless” benefits, listing the
rewards of being an active citizen, being part of a participatory
democracy, giving your voice, keeping money local, having more
responsibility to the local region, and living where you work.
One
attendee, Michael Tank, commented, “I think it’s fantastic that co-ops
like Rainbow are successful enough that they can start to offer
themselves as models to learn from. It was very empowering to be able
to look at the governing structures of co-ops so clearly in the Co-op
101 workshop, from what structure is right for how many people, to how
co-ops could even be franchised."
Resources Panel: Accessing Money, Land and Other Tools
Discussion
at the conference made it clear that one critical issue with the
current economic system is that resources are less and less owned by
communities, wealth is increasingly concentrated with a few people, and
the financial system serves and is controlled by a limited group of
people. In this environment, communities need access to financial and
development resources to meet their needs and build their assets,
invest in their own ideas and jump start their projects. Panelists
discussed the concrete and potential resources available to community
projects.
The panel consisted of Ian Winters, Executive Director of the Northern California Land Trust (NCLT), Jeannine Esposito of People’s Federal Credit Union, a division of Self-Help Federal Credit Union, in West Oakland, Jenny Kassan of Katovich Law firm, and Erin Kilmer-Neel, Program Officer at OneCalifornia Foundation. The panel was moderated by Janelle Orsi, attorney and co-author of The Sharing Solution with Emily Doskow.
Winters,
also a resident of one of the NCLT’s cooperative housing properties,
discussed the Community Land Trust Model (CLT) and the importance of
taking land out of speculative real estate market. He said that under
a coop model the value is keyed roughly to inflation, rather than the
ups and downs of the real estate market, which results in less
fluctuation or more stable prices.
“It is not just about having
affordable housing, but about creating alternative ownership models,
and tying community together.” Winter added.
Kilmer-Neel
described OneCalifornia Bank as being founded to redistribute wealth
and reinvest in the local community and programs. She said all profits
go back into Foundation.
“I’m passionate about what we can do individually on day to day basis when we spend our money,” she said.
Esposito
spoke on behalf of PFCU, the only deposit--taking financial institution
in West Oakland. People’s is like a bank, but is non-profit, and when
you open an account you become member and can vote on bank board
members.
“There are numerous check cashing financial
institutions but individuals can not open accounts there or save money
like they can at a deposit-taking institution. There is one
church-based credit union which is only open to members of the parish
and one employer-based credit union open only to its employees. There
are no commercial banks here, they all left in the 60’s,” Esposito
noted.
One of the more novel ideas--and one that got people
talking excitedly--at the entire conference was proposed by Jenny
Kassan during this discussion. She suggested an alternative “new
stock-exchange for local, socially-conscious businesses,” citing
Michael Schuman’s book, The Small-Mart Revolution.
“There really is no such thing yet as a mutual fund of local, small businesses.”
When
you invest in mutual funds, explained Kassan, you are sending your
money far away and perhaps benefiting non-socially conscious businesses
and projects. The NYSE doesn’t care about your neighborhood. Part of
the problem is that security exchange laws which makes the legal
requirements prohibitively costly for most small businesses. Could an
alternative stock exchange be a way to invest in local business, boost
local jobs, and increase accountability?
She asked: “How can we create a tool-kit for local businesses to go public?”
Bay Localize, an organization dedicated to promoting a self-reliant, sustainable, and socially just Bay Area, recently launched its Community Resilience Tool-Kit.
A community financial resources section could be added to the ‘Jobs and
Economy’ chapter or a similar tool-kit could be launched by a
collaboration of like-minded individuals.
Kassen also proposed
the creative use of business improvement districts. “Property owners
vote to tax or assess themselves for events, cleaning sidewalks,
etcetera. What if you used it in creative other ways? For example,
hire a consultant to lessen carbon impact,” she said.
During the
discussion, Winters noted that for-profit businesses essentially get an
immediate 30% credit for every $1 investment in renewable energy. “How
do we use for-profit models in ways that benefit community?” he asked.
One likely answer he suggested is to use the worker co-op model,
instead of big money corporate model, or for non-profits to create
for-profit subsidiaries to take advantage of these tax benefits.
The
audience was engaged, asking sometimes tough questions. One gentleman
asked, “What mechanisms are in place as these projects scale up to keep
it accountable and responsible to the community?”
Good
question. Among the answers proffered were keeping ownership local
(Kassen), utilizing B corporation (Kilmer-Neel) ratings, and imposing a
limited lifespan (Winters).
Sharing resources is another way of distributing cost and risk. Moderator Janelle Orsi’s new book The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simply Your Life & Build Community,
published by Nolo, covers in depth the legal and practical issues
surrounding the sharing of food, housing, transportation, tools,
workspaces, and childcare. The book concludes with two informative
appendices of Resources and Forms.
Orsi closed the panel
discussion by saying, “This has been an exciting panel. There have
been so many inspiring ideas; it is rare that you listen and hear not
just the problems, but real solutions.”
This is a sentiment that many attendees echoed with regard to the whole festival.
Food Security: Sustaining Ourselves Locally
“We
really need food as part of the green jobs discourse. And we have to
talk about food justice and economic justice together,” Gavin Raders of
Planting Justice said.
The
Urban Food Security panel was the only one dedicated to a single
sector, consisting of Gavin Raders of Planting Justice, Dana Harvey and
Dennis Terry of Mandela Marketplace, and David Roach of Mo’ Better Food—all
Oakland-based. Like other cities across the nation, the Bay Area has
pressing issues of food insecurity, health issues, and an unsustainable
food system, There is a desire to put food production and choice back
into the hands of the community. Individuals, organizations, and
governments are asking how we are building just, sustainable, and
locally-based food systems that meet our communities’ needs and provide
meaningful work.
Harvey explained that nine Oakland community members work at and own Mandela Foods Cooperative, the most recent worker-coop in Oakland that focuses on selling healthy, organic, and locally sourced food.
“This is the other green economy,” that you don’t hear about as much in the national conversation, she said
Mo’
Better Food’s mission is to promote good food, healthy living and
economic sustainability in underserved communities and to reconnect
African-American farmers back into neighborhoods.
David Roach,
a long-time Oakland organizer around issues of food security, stated
“We are conditioned to eat cheetoes and soda. Food isn’t looked at
enough as a preventative measure.”
Roach then charged that the
area of urban food security “has become such a non-profit industry…When
you are out grassroots organizing you are not thinking policy, but
survival.” This was perhaps in response to the new Oakland Food Policy Council
that has received foundation and city money recently. The subject was
broached but not pursued. It was perhaps the beginning of a serious
conversation that needs to take place.
One audience member
raised the issue of gentrification, citing the case in the Bronx where
beautification of a neighborhood via gardens lead to higher taxes and
higher rent. Keeping such issues in mind will also likely have to be
part of the conversation moving forward.
Raders responded to
some of these issues by proposing that there are two models for
community betterment: “One is charity. The other involves empowerment,
employment, paid workers.”
Harvey concluded: “Take community
seriously, they know the problems and how to fix them. Put economic
control in their hands,” again stressing that it is not just about
getting more food or even better food in our communities, but about
getting assets into the hands of people.
Roach ended the panel with a final plea: “And by the way, take the fences down off our community gardens.”
Building the Alternative: Scaling up the Movement
“We are going to live more locally, regionally by design or by force,” panel moderator Gopal Dayenini of Movement Generation bluntly declared.
The
final panel got under way as the afternoon sun progressed, and both the
panels and the audience followed the shifting shade. The purpose was
to ask ‘How can we grow all this? How can we nurture a local economy
that gives working folks power and control over the economy and their
work lives, leveraging available resources? How can we build a just,
sustainable economic alternative to scale?’
Gopal “The first
thing is it actually has to represent a real different way of doing
things. It has to be meaningful, that is, accessible and replicable to
the vast majority. In a word, it has to be ‘transcendent’—it can’t be
dependent on the current market system.”
Panelists included Ali Ar Rasheed, AAR Development Consultants, Rhea Serna of the Mission Asset Fund, Tom Wetzel, a founder and past president of the San Francisco Community Land Trust, and Heather Young of Bay Area Community Exchange and one of the main organizers of the festival.
Ar
Rasheed struck an introspective note and stressed self-reflection and
shared values. “We have to start to live a new life based on shared
values.” He encouraged creating “institutions that reflect the values
of the people gathered here today and build that future day by day.”
“Answers reside in us, as seeds of change. But all this work starts with self.”
Wetzel
discussed two types of organizing: organizing for self-management and
organizing for struggle, represented by unions and environmental
justice communities. He then spoke about the 7 year anti-eviction
struggle by tenants in San Francisco, adding that in the current
movements there “hasn’t been sufficient level of organizing and
struggle.”
Rhea Serna of the Mission Asset Fund discussed how
a part of the profit from the sale of Levi-Strauss Factory in the
Mission was not divided up among dozens of non-profits as originally
intended, but rather put into a fund to build and maintain wealth in
the Mission communities as that was seen by the community as the
greatest need. “We help people become part of the financial
mainstream,” by aiding in asset management and ownership.
Heather
Young highlighted a problem: “Every struggle ends up running into a
better funded corporation and powers that be and the question is 'can
we fight this?' And often the answer is 'no.'”
The solution--take back the economy.
For
Young this means taking back the money supply, using credit unions,
experimenting with participatory budgeting and complementary
currencies, local procurement policies, and keeping things regional.
When
asked to clarify her claim that we can’t fight those powers, she said,
“I don't mean to make it sound like these are not worth fighting for at
the national level, but that we have a lot of influence at the local
level. There is much more participation, transparency, responsibility
and accountability at the local level, which is nearly impossible going
up against these better funded corporations, the federal government,
the World Bank, etc. that we have almost no influence over given their
scale and inordinate wealth and power and given that the capitalist
structure is inherently designed to reward profit over any other
value. The cards are stacked up against us in so many ways beyond the
local level.”
The BACE Bucks, passed out by Bay Area Community
Exchange, were a big hit. BACE Bucks are meant to be a type of
complementary currency to offer a service to your community. Young
mentioned the success of other complementary currencies such as the
Berkshares, money printed by the community in Berkshires,
Massachusetts. “Trust is the only currency” is the title of the Bay
Area blog dedicated to regional complementary currencies.
Young said, “at least one of these BACE Bucks was traded with a vendor for a good, Chris Carlsson's book Nowtopia.”
Carlsson
is a Bay-Area writer, editor, graphic & web designer, and activist,
whose book carries the subtitle ‘How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw
Bicyclists, and Vacant-Lot Gardeners Are Inventing the Future Today!’
It is published by Oakland-based AK Press, yet another worker-run collective.
When
asked what he sees as most hopeful and most challenging in efforts to
build the new economy, Carlsson noted, “So many people are already
doing it, and not waiting for the initiative to arise from the
government, or from someone else. The most challenging problem is to
really break away from the surrounding economy that demands growth,
wage-labor, prices, and the commodity form, even when self-managed...
that's a real tough nut to crack.”
So according to these
panelists, scaling up these efforts involves a variety of tools and
strategies, including getting more assets in the hands of the local
community, having more say in how are tax dollars are spent,
experimenting with complementary currencies and alternative ownership
models, organizing and fighting for what you want and need, minimizing
divisive boundaries, sharing more, and building a more collective
mind-set.
“If we have everything solid and in place, then when
things collapse we will have that great local economy we’re always
dreaming of.” Young concluded.
The Bay Area: Moving toward new economic models
“I
believe we are on the cutting edge of a movement that will inevitably
change the world more than we had ever hoped maybe even just 5 years
ago,” organizer Heather Young said.
The festival was an
exchange of novel ideas and a forging of new partnerships. Of course
in one day you can’t cover all the issues, nor all sectors of the new
economy. For example, many projects and models could only be alluded
to, such as time banks and complementary currencies. Other ideas that
floated to the surface were questions about how to give grants to small
businesses, alternatives to 401ks, how to use for-profit models to take
advantage of tax advantages on renewable energy but using cooperative
models, and using the concept of business improvement districts in new
and creative ways.
Since the festival, Michael Moore's film
Captialism: A Love Story has been released, a special showing of which
was announced at the festival. The film profiles two businesses as
alternative work-place models: Alvarado St. Bakery, a worker-owned co-op in Petaluma, CA and Isthmus Engineering,
a worker-owned co-op in Wisconsin that designs and builds automated
systems, to provide a real face to these supposedly eccentric
enterprises. Such models are getting wider exposure than ever before
and perhaps have been given a boost in visibility by Moore’s film.
Regardless,
I suspect this is the beginning of more robust sharing of ideas and
learning from others in the Bay Area. The new economy isn’t the one
that politicians are talking about in Washington, D.C. or the one being
boasted about as being in revival on Wall Street. It’s the one that
innovative community organizations and socially conscious local
businesses are building one idea, one job, and one local dollar at a
time in the Bay Area.
So when the question is posed, “Where’s that new economy?” The answer is--it is already here in the making.
[See feedback from participants and attendees of the festival HERE]
Take action:
Join the discussion on Oakland Local’s alternative local economy forum.
For more on Just, Alternative, and Sustainable Economies, email info@jasecon.org or get on the JASecon list-serve.
To learn more about NoBAWC and Bay Area cooperatives, contact Kasper Koczab or Dave Karoly at info@nobawc.org.
To stay in the loop about alternative currencies in the Bay Area, visit Bay Area Community Exchange or join one of their list-serves.
Put your money in a local bank or credit union.
To learn more about building local living economies, visit BALLE (Business Alliance for Living Local Economies).
To participate in building a shareable world, visit Shareable: Design for a shareable world.
To learn more about the concept of a local stock exchange, visit Small-Mart.
To learn about consciously supporting local businesses and artists, visit Oakland Grown, Buy Local Berkeley, and the Sustainable Business Alliance.
To meet like-minded people and share in discussions, join the Bay Area Community Exchange Community on their social networking site.
