1. Co-ops, Community Wealth Building—and a quick guide to community building careers Steve Dubb The Democracy Collaborative University of Maryland, College Park sgdubb@yahoo.com www.community-wealth.org NASCO Institute Ann Arbor, Michigan November 2, 2013

2. Community Wealth Building democratizes wealth: promotes common ownership of productive assets (businesses) anchors capital and jobs locally stops the leakage of dollars from communities contributes to local economic stabilitycomes in many forms — co-ops are one form of community wealth building among many (broader solidarity economy)

3. 30,000 U.S. Cooperatives 73,000 Places of Business Assets $ 3 Trillion Revenues $ 654 Billion Economic Impact of U.S. Co-ops: Wages & Benefits $ 75 Billion 2 Million Jobs 857,000 direct

4. Co-ops in Canada 9,000 cooperatives and credit unions in Canada 18 million members (more than 50% of population) Employ 150,000 people 100,000 volunteer directors and committee members Highest per capita credit union membership in the world

5. What is a CDC? Community development corporations are community-based non-profits that work in low and moderate income communities (typically, 80% of area median income or below). Founded as part of civil rights movement in the 1960s; goal is to allow low-income residents to exert economic control over their communities.

6. CDC National Groups LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) Enterprise Community Partners NeighborWorks America These groups are known as intermediaries because they funnel dollars either from banks and private donors (LISC & Enterprise) or the federal government (NeighborWorks) to local CDCs. They also provide technical assistance & education.

7. What is a CDFI? Community Development Financial Institutions include credit unions, loan funds, banks, and venture capital firms that finance development in low-income communities. Many CDFIs were founded as part of civil rights movement to combat red-lining. Loan volume has climbed from $2 billion in 1999 to over $60 billion today. Although not certified as such by the government, the Kagawa Fund is effectively a miniature CDFI.

8. CDFI National Groups Opportunity Finance Network represents banks & loan funds (including Northcountry, NCB Capital Impact & Cooperative Fund of New England) Association for Enterprise Opportunity represents micro-lenders. National Federation of Community of Community Development Credit Unions (Natfed) represents low-income community credit unions.

9. What is a community land trust? Non-profit board typically has one-third residents, one-third non-resident community members, and one-third government officials (can vary). Most commonly “shared equity”—for instance, residents may get 25% of the equity gain while the other 75% of the gain is held by the trust. Trade association: National Community Land Trust Network

10. National Community Organizing Networks Church-based Direct Action for Research & Training (DART) Gamaliel Foundation People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO) Individual membership based Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) National People’s Action (NPA) Washington DC advocacy-based Center for Community Change (CCC) National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)

11. Co-op Websites (courtesy of Nicholas Harvey) Quite a long list of job openings at Organic ValleyOrganic Valley Farmers Cooperative jobsFarmers Cooperative Jobs with Energy CooperativesEnergy Cooperatives NCBA/CLUSA big list of job openingsNCBA/CLUSA US Federation of Worker Cooperatives job boardUS Federation of Worker Cooperatives

12. Nonprofit Job Sites (courtesy of Nicholas Harvey) Philanthropy News DigestPhilanthropy News Digest job classified page Nonprofitjobs.org nonprofit-jobs.org Idealist.org BridgespanBridgespan - nonprofit job board Common GoodCommon Good careers (mostly management) opportunityknocks.orgopportunityknocks.org ("Jobs that change the world") DeepSweepDeepSweep - a small nonprofit job board Nonprofit OpportunitiesNonprofit Opportunities site

13. Educational Resources COMM-ORG - http://comm-org.wisc.eduhttp://comm-org.wisc.edu Lists community organizer and university-based community development education programs. Saint Mary’s University (Halifax, Nova Scotia) http://www.smu.ca/academic/sobey/mm/ Provides cooperative and credit union management education. Highlander Research and Education Center www.highlandercenter.org Based near Knoxville, TN and in operation since 1932, known for its civil rights work. Midwest Academy www.midwestacademy.com Provides training in direct action organizing. Trainings held regionally throughout the United States.

14. Leading Graduate Schools for Community Change Work General Community Economic Development: U of Illinois at Chicago, Concordia (Montreal) Building nonprofit organizations; Nonprofit management Community economic development; Housing development Community Organizing and Public Policy Planning and Urban Studies (MIT, Cornell, UCLA) GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping Housing; Economic and social planning Participatory planning and participatory research Study of roles of public, private, and nonprofit sectors Source: Andrew Mott, University Education for Community Change (2005)

15. Leading Graduate Schools for Community Change Work Schools of Social Work (U. of Maryland-Baltimore, U. of Michigan-Ann Arbor) Analysis of social problems and programs Community organizing; community process skills Organizational development; study of race and diversity Public Policy (Carleton U. (Ottawa), U. of Maryland- College Park) Critical analysis of democratic practice Community organizing; participatory techniques Source: Andrew Mott, University Education for Community Change (2005)

16. Steve Dubb Research Director, The Democracy Collaborative sgdubb@yahoo.com www.community-wealth.org Thanks! Questions?