Cooperative Development Institute

Marsha P. Johnson was a prominent advocate for homeless LGBTQ+ youth. She, along with Sylvia Rivera, founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a mutual aid group “dedicated to sheltering young transgender individuals who were shunned by their families.”

STAR was important to Marsha because she herself had experienced homelessness when she was only 13 years old. During Pride Month, we want to take a moment to honor Marsha who believed in the power of cooperation and dedicated her life to protecting LGBTQ+ youth and other marginalized people in New York City.

Read more about Marsha by visiting The National Women’s History Museum’s website here: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson

In this second video in our Cooperative Resilience series, CDI's Pável Uranga interviews Enrique Cal, president of Uruguay’s Federation of Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM).

FUCVAM, founded in May 1970, serves 35,000 families through 760 cooperatives in a nation of approximately 3.5 million inhabitants. With a cooperative school for children and numerous consumer, distribution, and worker cooperatives linked to their vision, they are shaping a brighter future.

Enrique Cal moved to the cooperative with his parents at age 13. Watch the video to hear from Mr. Cal as he discusses the ways cooperation has helped communities in Uruguay solve challenges including a housing shortage, economic adversity, and childcare needs: https://cdi.coop/video-series-cooperative-resilience/

If you live in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine area, here's your chance to steer the vision and direction of the new Lewiston Auburn Community Market!

LACM has purchased the former police station building in downtown Lewiston and has plans underway to safely and responsibly demolish it and transform the location into a vibrant, community-owned marketplace and cultural hub designed for everyone in our community.

By becoming a member you can enjoy an exclusive discount at the register, you will have a vote on decisions made at the co-op, and you can help elect the co-op's next board of directors.

The co-op will be holding its next annual meeting on June 12.

Learn more about how to become a member here: https://lacommunitymarket.com/membership/https://lacommunitymarket.com/membership/

Fiston Lowatiwiya believes that life gets better when your home is clean. That’s why he took eight hours cleaning one house when he was only supposed to spend a couple of hours.

“My husband is a clean freak,” said Azinaida, Fiston’s wife. They both are both worker-owners of Clean With Passion Co-op. “He loves cleaning. He believes that cleaning improves your life and relieves stress. He feels he should provide the gift of cleaning to everyone.”

Clean With Passion Co-op launched last year and today has six worker-owners. They clean both homes and commercial spaces in the greater Lewiston-Auburn, Maine area, Azinaida said.

Azinaida is drawn to the co-op model because it lets worker-owners with various skills work together and can offer training and flexible schedules, which is important for many cleaners who have to take care of children and family members, she said.

“For immigrants, it is really hard to learn how business works in America,” said Azinaida, whose role at the co-op is to help structure the business and ensure systems are working correctly. “In a co-op, everyone brings their skills and supports each other. It’s easier to do it together than to do it alone."

Read the full story here: https://cdi.coop/clean-with-passion-lewiston-maine/

Congratulations worker-owned cooperative Dean's Beans Organic Coffee Company for being named Rural Business of the Year for Massachusetts by the U.S. Small Business Administration! We are so happy to see all of your hard work and dedication recognized! 👏👏👏👏

Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Named Rural Business of the Year Small Business Development Center Advisor Anita Elison guided the transition of Dean’s Beans to 100% employee ownership BOSTON – The U.S.

When the team at Nextstage Design learned that they had won a contract to renovate a multimillion-dollar performance center for the University of Massachusetts with 1,900 seats, the whole team cheered and pumped their chests, said NJ Ollsten, a worker-owner and general manager at the Connecticut-based firm.

“Everyone, even those who didn’t touch the teaming effort or previous study, felt a piece of getting that money and feeling like they contributed,” NJ said. “That’s just one example of how profoundly things have changed since we became a cooperative.

“There’s more ownership over mistakes and victories. There’s more agency, more willingness to critique or put your neck out to try something new. It’s incredible to work in that kind of environment.”

Nextstage Design, founded in 2014, officially became a worker-owned cooperative on January 16, 2026. The company, which now has five worker-owners, designs theaters and performance spaces for clients around the globe, from high school auditoriums to performing arts centers.

Read the full story to learn why the NextStage team decided to go co-op and how they made the transition: https://cdi.coop/employees-of-connecticut-theater-design-company-form-co-op-to-buy-out-business/

CDI is hiring an executive director! We're looking for a leader who can help our organization continue to thrive and grow.

Working remotely and reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director provides strategic leadership for CDI and is responsible for the overall management of staff and operations. The Executive Director excels in building connections, maintaining and establishing relationships with donors and partners, and representing the interests of CDI and its clients.

If you're someone with leadership experience who enjoys facilitating in a participatory management workplace, including constructively receiving input, to produce organizational decisions supported by and supportive of staff, this is the position for you!

Learn more about the position and apply here: https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=76b9cbd1-6aa1-4bd1-ba33-d9c01c06913f&ccId=19000101_000001&source=CC2&lang=en_US&selectedMenuKey=CurrentOpenings&jobId=559043

Did you know that 72% of Cambridge business owners are 55+? Many beloved businesses in our community will face ownership transitions in the coming years—but succession planning resources can be hard to find.

Join us for our Succession Stories discussion panel on May 1 at City Hall.
Local business owners will share how they bought or sold a Cambridge business and what they learned along the way.

If you’re a business owner thinking about the future, this conversation is for you.

Register at https://camb.ma/4mRF79b

On Earth Day, we want to take a moment to appreciate our Water Infrastructure Support Program (WISP) that is currently working on a project in Vermont to improve the electrical systems for 233+ low income households!

In Colchester, two adjacent resident-owned communities, Breezy Acres Cooperative and Hillcrest Resident-Owned Community, have only 60-amp electrical service going to each home. This is not up to code and means residents don't have enough electrical capacity to replace fossil fuel heating with heat pumps. WISP helped the co-ops raise $4.4M in grant funds to upgrade their electrical infrastructure to 150 amps.

By replacing aging, undersized electrical services and installing code compliant, larger capacity electrical services, this project removes a key barrier to increasing electrification, allowing homeowners to lower their fossil fuel usage and participate safely and affordably in a transition to cleaner energy.

Everyone deserves to have safe drinking water, a working sewer system, and a choice in how they heat their homes! Happy !

Learn more about our WISP Program here: https://cdi.coop/wisp/

The employees of Earth Sky + Water, a New Hampshire-based publisher of laminated, fold-up field guides, formed a cooperative and bought the business from their boss this month.

Steven Lewers, 77, started and ran the company for 25 years before deciding to sell it to his employees. About a year ago, Mr. Lewers started thinking seriously about what to do with the business when he retires.

“I knew book publishers who were interested in buying my company, but naturally I was worried what they would do with it,” Mr. Lewers said. “I concluded that Earth Sky + Water would have the best chance of surviving and thriving if the people who work here owned it, rather than if I sold it to an outsider or to a large company.”

“A part of my thinking was, of course, my legacy; I want the company to do well after I leave, and I also felt an obligation to my employees and to the community we’ve worked in all these years,” Mr. Lewers added.

When he floated the idea of transitioning to a worker-owned cooperative to his staff, many were incredulous.

“It seemed too good to be true,” said Heather Carver, one of the worker-owners who has worked at Earth Sky + Water for the past seven years and has now taken on the position of General Manager. Among other questions, Heather wondered, “could the employees really come up with the financing to buy the business?”

Read the full story here: https://cdi.coop/earth-sky-water-new-hampshire-publishing-worker-owned-cooperative/