By Juan Leyton Editor’s Note: In July 2013, Juan worked with the MIT Community Innovators Lab to lead a delegation of U.S. community and labor leaders to visit the Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain. This was his second trip. In this article, Juan describes Mondragon’s model and history and his reflections onContinue reading Reflections on the Mondragon Cooperative Model: An Approach to Human Values and Workers Owned Businesses
What is the Color of the New Economy? And Why it Matters
October 12-18, 2013 is the first New Economy Week, sponsored by the New Economy Coalition. These seven days celebrate efforts to build “an economy that is restorative to people, place, and the planet.” Post-Occupy, there has been a growing buzz about what kind of economy we need to address wealth inequality, environmental unsustainability, and lackContinue reading What is the Color of the New Economy? And Why it Matters
Real Pickles and the Path to a Co-operative Economy (repost)
[Thanks to Rachel Gordon for passing on this post about a western Massachusetts company’s process of converting into a worker cooperative. Original post at: http://realpickles.blogspot.com/2013/08/real-pickles-and-path-to-co-operative.html.%5D We are excited to share a few words written by Erbin Crowell, Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) and local expert on cooperative business. Erbin was aContinue reading Real Pickles and the Path to a Co-operative Economy (repost)
CERO Cooperative Launching
COOPERATIVE ENERGY, RECYCLING & ORGANICS COOPERATIVA PARA ENERGIA, RECICLAJE & ORGANICOS The CERO worker cooperative is launching its startup financing campaign! Workers supported by Boston Workers Alliance and MassCOSH began planning for this recycling business about a year ago. Check out their video and their website: http://www.cero.coop/. Below is a reprint of a recent articleContinue reading CERO Cooperative Launching
Cultivate Your Food Economy
By 2013 Tufts Practical Visionaries Field Project team: Kathleen O’Brien, Marcy Ostberg, Becca Schofield, Hannah Sobel, and Heidi Stucker Food isn’t just what you eat – it’s also an economic system that we all interact with. Because it is so fundamental to our lives, food is a powerful window through which to better understand howContinue reading Cultivate Your Food Economy
Transforming the Food Economy
By Ian Adelman The food movement has grabbed the attention of many of us interested in realizing a just and sustainable future. Food is a starting point for discussions of equity, environment, culture, race, health, and the economy. In the following post I will share how I have used the food lens to explore transformativeContinue reading Transforming the Food Economy
Towards a More Transformative Community Economic Development
By Ian Adelman, Emily Earle, and Penn Loh [Note: This article is based on Adelman and Earle’s 2012 Masters Thesis for the Tufts Urban & Environmental Policy and Planning. To download: Earle Thesis – FINAL Adelman Thesis Final] Why transformative? At the global level, it is easy to see the excesses, if not the fatalContinue reading Towards a More Transformative Community Economic Development
April 13 Cultivating a New Food Economy: Putting People and Planet First
The Tufts New Economy Group (led by Practical Visionaries Workshop students) is hosting an all-day summit on April 13. Register now! Cultivating a New Food Economy: Putting People and Planet First April 13th, 2013 8:30am – 4:30pm Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the barrage of negativity surrounding our food systems? Daily we are madeContinue reading April 13 Cultivating a New Food Economy: Putting People and Planet First
Transformative Economic Development: Summary of the March 14th Forum
By Penn Loh and Jonathan Feinberg On Thursday March 14th, more than 30 gathered for the Practical Visionaries Forum on Transformative Economic Development (see video here). The session featured MIT urban planning professor Phil Thompson and MassINC Research Director Ben Forman. In addition, Aaron Tanaka (formerly of Boston Workers Alliance) and Juan Leyton (formerly ofContinue reading Transformative Economic Development: Summary of the March 14th Forum
Practical Visionaries Forum March 14: Transformative Economic Development
The word “transformation” is on the tips of many tongues these days, especially for those wanting an economy that works for all our communities. The next Practical Visionaries Forum will feature two transformative economic strategies designed for cities that have been left behind and hardest hit by the economic crisis. MIT’s Phil Thompson will talkContinue reading Practical Visionaries Forum March 14: Transformative Economic Development