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Works For All
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Cincinnati is an historic city, just across the Ohio River from Kentucky in the heart of the American Midwest. In the years when people were fleeing slavery in the South, the city became a way station on the underground railroad. And since 2011, it has been home to Co-op Cincy, a unique network of activists and unionized cooperatives that are building "an economy that works for all."
Works For All visits several of the diverse worker owned cooperatives in the network, many led by people traditionally marginalized in the U.S. economy, and shows Co-op Cincy's remarkable work to transform and provide training and support for these businesses. Particularly significant for the future is the effort to help convert existing businesses where owners are retiring, to cooperatives.
"The Cincinnati union co-op movement should be an inspiration to everyone looking for what racial and economic justice looks like in practice. Black workers, immigrants, women, youth, and working people shut out by corporations are nurturing a solidarity economy in Southwest Ohio. Works For All provides us with a glimpse of beautiful stories from these communities, stories I think we will look back on as seeds for what came next." Esteban Kelly, Executive Director, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
"Works For All shows us the magic - as well as the hard work, detailed planning and education - that goes into developing co-ops through Co-op Cincy. The film provides vivid and inspiring glimpses into the workings of co-ops such as Shine Nurture Center, Heritage Hill, Sustainergy, Our Harvest, and Gem City Market. These are not simply community businesses, but social mission driven, people-centered enterprises, built on the values of mutuality and solidarity, democratic participation, equity, the sovereignty of labor, and humane as well as ecological sustainability. Co-op Cincy helps us to see the road worth traveling. Works For All takes us on a journey along that road, so we meet the people behind moving us toward transforming our economies, and see how close we are getting to creating a just future." Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development, John Jay College - CUNY, Author, Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice
"Works For All is so needed at this time. It captures the connection between what Co-op Cincy and Mondragon does for local and just economic development, for Cincinnati and Dayton and beyond. As a worker owner says beautifully in the film about what true dignity at work can look like, 'If we're not happy with something [happening in the company] we can evaluate it, talk about it, and fix it.' This film projects the right mix of vision for a more just world with the practice and business acumen required to let our workplaces take us there." Rebecca Lurie, Founder, Community and Worker Ownership Project, Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
"Works For All will be a hugely useful addition to any class on worker ownership and more broadly, on building a just society. It's full of concrete examples of cooperatives at work featuring smart, down to earth worker-owners explaining just why worker ownership works so well and what it means to them. It also does a great job of explaining why and how cooperatives need to work together, of the ways that this kind of work can rejuvenate a community, and of the resources that the group needs to succeed." Rebecca Henderson, University Professor, Harvard Business School, Author, Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire
"This beautifully crafted documentary both inspires with vision and details the practical realities of communities who are determined to own their lives and businesses. When people get together in mutual support systems anything can happen and everything is possible - Works For All is exactly that, breaking barriers and healing hearts. It shows us how the reality of co-operative networking as demonstrated in places like Mondragon and Co-op Cincy can lead to replication and quality employment. What an example to us all!" Julian Manley, Centre in Community Connectedness and Co-operation, University of Central Lancashire, Director, Preston Cooperative Education Centre
"Works For All is a beautiful and compelling glimpse into the inspiring work of Co-op Cincy. I loved getting to see inside these businesses, the people who make them run, the union partnership in their successes, and how worker ownership has moored the values of cooperation, sustainability, and dignified work. Those of us working for movements of organized labor and worker ownership need to see more examples and stories like these to connect our work and vision with the impact of seasoned practitioners like Co-op Cincy." Ra Criscitiello, SEIU - United Healthcare Workers West
"Works For All gives us first-person accounts about the power of worker-ownership from the workers themselves. Over a hundred years ago, suffragettes and Union organizers called for Bread for All, and Roses too where Bread meant money for basic necessities like food, shelter, and clothing, and Roses meant dignity on the job, fewer working hours, and a better quality of life including the enjoyment of art, music, and nature. Listening to these first-person accounts, the common threads of doing work with meaning, having dignity at work, participation in the ownership of their work, and earning more from their work, shows how Co-op Cincy and Co-op Dayton continue to turn Bread and Roses from words into action." Rob Witherell, United Steelworkers
"A must see...A wonderful and inspiring short film...Organizers and workers talk about the promise of a growing network of mutually supportive co-ops to build a more democratic, equitable and sustainable economy where workers own, control and build wealth as their businesses prosper. We hear about co-ops in a range of sectors including childcare, cleaning, weatherization, farming, and a food co-op. This unique and important film highlights both the role that unions have played in supporting co-op development, and looks at the context of building co-ops in struggling communities, where many of those involved are people of color." Emily Kawano, Co-director, Wellspring Cooperative
"This is an uplifting and informative look at how Co-op Cincy is building a network of worker-owned cooperatives and an economy that works for all. Activists have a rich history fighting for social justice and against corporate greed, which is so often an uphill battle. Co-op Cincy is providing a welcome balance by creating pro-union companies owned and run by the workers themselves. These co-op networks give us a glimpse into the world that we ultimately want to see." Richard Bensinger, former Organizing Director, AFL-CIO
"This is an outstanding and inspiring look at another side of the labor movement: the efforts to build an alternative and sustainable economy. Works For All shows people taking control of their lives and challenging the basic assumptions concerning work. Inspired by the Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region of northern Spain, the efforts described in the film are every bit as relevant to our experiences, needs and desires in the USA." Bill Fletcher, Jr., writer, activist, trade unionist, former president of TransAfrica Forum
"Could the Queen City soon be America's leading co-op city? Works For All tells how union and worker co-op organizers in Cincinnati came together to develop a network of worker co-ops not only in their hometown but beyond. Drawing on a model of mass worker ownership from the Mondragon co-ops in Spain's Basque Country, but creating a transformative vision uniquely their own, the stories of these organizers will inspire you." Steve Dubb, Senior Editor of Economic Justice, The Nonprofit Quarterly
"Works For All captures the relationships, spirit, and a work-place community vision for today. Giving meaning to democracy, transformation, rights and responsibilities, the film loudly and lovingly says: Another Cincinnati is happening." Rich Feldman, James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership and Freedom Dreams
"Works For All brilliantly captures the essence of solidarity, social justice, and an economy centered on the people. Diving deep into Cincinnati's Co-op Cincy network, this documentary offers an enlightening view of how worker-owned cooperatives are reshaping industries from food to childcare. A must-watch for anyone passionate about building an inclusive economy that truly values our shared humanity." Leon Prieto, Director, Center for Social Innovation and Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Professor of Management, Clayton State University
"The vibrant scenes in Works For All capture the thriving cooperative ecosystems in Cincinnati and Mondragon. This film should be part of the curriculum of any high school, undergraduate, or professional course about labor, employment, business, or the future of work. It will generate lively discussion about democratic companies that treat workers as human and provide jobs that are family-sustaining." Ariana Levinson, Professor of Law, University of Louisville
"A must-watch...Works For All shows us that coops are not just one of the corporate governance options but a way of creating engaging and inclusive workplaces, building stronger, safer, and thriving communities, and valuing the labor that has long been devalued. Full of inspiring stories, it encourages us to think about innovative ways to tackle various problems our communities, economy, and society are facing." Jungook Kim, Assistant Professor of Business & Data Science, Chatham University
"As one worker co-op member astutely points out in this film, 'Our management learning is outdated.' Works For All helps to correct that by showing some of the day-to-day operations within the Co-op Cincy network of cooperatives and cooperative support agencies. Worker co-ops are a growing area of the economy that is increasingly providing new opportunities for low-income BIPOC communities, fostering connection between workers (including through unionization), increasing environmental sustainability, and offering more dignity and better income to often overlooked workers. Those looking for ways to bring portraits of economic democracy and unexpected examples of worker solidarity into the classroom will find this a rare and valuable film." Joan S. M. Meyers, Associate Professor of Sociology, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Author, Working Democracies: Managing Inequality in Worker Cooperatives
Citation
Main credits
Dworkin, Mark (film director)
Dworkin, Mark (screenwriter)
Young, Melissa (film director)
Young, Melissa (screenwriter)
Other credits
Photography and editing by Mark Dworkin.
Distributor subjects
American Democracy,American Studies,Business Practices,Capitalism,Cooperatives,Economics,Labor and Work Issues,Local Economies,Poverty,Social Justice,Sociology,SustainabilityKeywords
short film,works for all,alternative economics,alternative economies,worker owned, worker-owned,cincinnati,worker rights,coop,co-op,cooperatives,co-op cincy,worker-owner,labor studies,local economy,local economies,labor history,unions,unionized,small business,small businesses,; "Works for All"; Bullfrog Films; documentary; doc; social issues; shod;
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[boat horn blowing]
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[upbeat funk music]
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[music and indistinct chatter]
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Working as a labor organizer,
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I had been on a lot of different campaigns,
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where it was amazing to see people stand up for their rights
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and realize their power,
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but it was also just so hard and devastating
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to see people crushed over and over again.
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[crowd chanting]
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I know that we have to do the defense work,
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we have to fight back,
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we have to be pushing for those incremental changes,
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but I also wanted to be a part of something
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that was really about proactively creating
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the type of world we wanna see.
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I am all about creating a beloved community.
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So I grew up here in Cincinnati, this is my home.
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This is a place that I feel very, very connected to.
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And I have had a strong desire in my life
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to be about building community where everyone is valued,
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resources are shared more equitably,
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the Earth is revered holistically,
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and conflicts are resolved creatively,
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constructively, non-violently.
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I'm originally from Birmingham, Alabama.
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I came here to Cincinnati specifically
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via Proctor & Gamble.
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So I worked in scaled marketing,
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business and mergers and acquisitions,
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sales team, corporate strategy.
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And those experiences are the experiences
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I'm leveraging here in my role here at Co-op Cincy,
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for purposes of building more family sustaining jobs here
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in Cincinnati that are worker-owned jobs.
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[upbeat funk music]
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Childcare workers do not get paid a lot of money,
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and so that's one of the pluses,
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we wanna pay our teachers the top dollar
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that we can afford to pay them.
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And then also being a part of the co-op
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means that you are making the decisions
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about your job and your career,
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and so if you're not happy about something
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you can bring that to the group and say
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"We need to evaluate this and talk about it and fix it."
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[kids chattering]
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We were able to address issues
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that are important to each classroom
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and we're able to order them
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in the way that makes the most sense
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for the building as a whole
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versus just one person's perspective,
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'cause I don't know everything,
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and there's no way I could ever.
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So having four people working together to decide
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while listening to the other workers,
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everybody gets to participate.
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When we saw the kids playing down in the woods,
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that seemed nice.
Oh, that's wonderful.
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They love the woods.
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They love the woods.
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I like that they get out there
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and they get to be in nature
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and it's not a lot of toys out there,
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so the things that they're having to do
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is coming from nature, and the ground,
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and they have to use their imagination and be creative.
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And a lot of kids don't get that, so that's wonderful too.
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[indistinct chatter]
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We work directly with business owners.
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We help them, one, just understand,
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what is worker ownership?
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How could you sell to your workers?
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And then we walk them through step-by-step along the way,
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help them really dig in and see if this is something
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that could work for their company,
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you know, help to put together those plans,
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do kind of those valuations to understand
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what's the true value of the business,
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and then help put together a package deal
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and help finance the transition.
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And then we continue working with that co-op long-term.
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Yep. Confirmed.
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Yep.
Okay, cool.
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And this is really our signature item.
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I tell people, "Hey, get this one,"
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and they join our tribe.
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So this is the one we're really proud and happy.
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We've been seeing people wearing it around the city.
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I owned the company, I was 100% owner and founder,
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and it's always been really important for me to make sure
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that I was at least including the people
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who are a part of it.
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I thought about, hey, we should be a co-op.
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And then it just became,
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how do we legally organize ourselves?
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How do we then leverage some of the tax benefits?
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How do we do it properly?
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Brandon was actually one of the first members
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of our cooperative management program,
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where we actually take leaders and professional managers
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who have experience in managing people,
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who have experience in managing companies,
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and we introduce them to the cooperative concept
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and we give them tools to be able to take with them back
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into the places they work or lead.
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Like, hey, you've been heavy on this.
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You come from corporate America
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when you kind of have that corporate background
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and you operate with kind of a singular goal,
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especially if you're a individual contributor
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in those corporations.
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You have a retention goal,
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a dollar amount that you have to meet, and that's it.
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Being in a co-op just kind of opens up
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so many different things,
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because it's so much bigger than just that.
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So, making sure that the decisions that I make in my role,
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understanding how they affect every single
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part of our organization, of our co-op, is huge.
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[machine thrumming]
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It starts to work really hard for us.
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But whenever a customer goes online or calls and says,
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"I wanna place an order,"
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we'll go and grab it off of the shelf right here
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and then bag it.
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So once I bag it, I'll put, you know,
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the receipt and stuff in there, their invoice.
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Pretty much all of our items that we have
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are designed in-house, is created in-house.
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We do the embroidery here,
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we do the printing here, we do everything here.
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Now, we can have a customer that says,
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"Hey, I got this design in mind.
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"Can you create this for me?"
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And then Brandon uses his mastermind
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and he creates these designs for people.
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Atlanta, FAMU, Grambling State, Hampton, Howard,
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Jackson State, Morehouse, Fayetteville State.
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Historically black colleges and universities,
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be much better for us to partner with the schools,
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especially from an educational standpoint,
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introduce their students to e-commerce, marketing, business,
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how to scale business, cooperative ownership.
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I think a lot of our management learning is outdated.
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It's all, like, Industrial Revolution, you know,
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very, very production kind of driven stuff
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and using people as robots.
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[machine clacking]
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...and you gotta press it before it can dry.
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I see.
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Then we throw over here
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before we can put the picture on the machine,
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and then we fold it up and ship it on out.
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So I grew up, you know, very rooted, you know,
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with a very much so understanding
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of the power and beauty of African people.
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Me and my mother were on the phone one day,
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and I was working for a payday lending company at the time.
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It was real nasty, nasty work.
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And I said, "Man, I want to create a company
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"that at least has a mission that's worth pursuing."
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Yeah, I just wanna make my ancestors proud.
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And I'm like, wow, that's a great saying.
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That's a great mission.
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And for us, you know, it's really centered around
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trying our best to be anticapitalistic
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in our business practices,
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without being like, "Gimme, gimme, gimme!"
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The person, me as the leader, kind of captain of the ship,
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you know, requires a certain style of servant leadership,
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I think to say, you know, the "we" is bigger than me.
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Making sure that the people
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who are part of this organization,
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the people who are part of the community,
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they have some kind of way that they benefit.
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It isn't, you know, let me make sure my pockets are fat.
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And I've worked for three different Fortune 500 companies
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in my lifetime, which, I've learned a lot.
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I've been really blessed
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for some of the opportunities that I had,
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but none of them have really been as meaningful
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as the time that I've been able to spend
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with Heritage Hill as a co-op.
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[traffic whooshing]
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I think the last couple years have reinforced
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how important the everyday, average working person is
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to the community.
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If the lights come on, the plumbing works,
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the electricity comes on, if the garbage is picked up,
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if the ambulance comes, if the firefighters are running in,
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we did that.
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The economy should work for people,
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not people working for the economy.
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[indistinct chatter]
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[relaxed jazz music]
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[machines buzzing]
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The organization that Kristen worked for,
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The Inner Community Justice and Peace Center,
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had been taking groups of individuals
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to go see the Mondragon cooperatives
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back in the '80s and the '90s.
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And on one of those trips,
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the head of the Building Trades Union
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was so, just, enthralled by what Mondragon was able to do
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within about 25 to 30 years,
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of transforming a whole region that had way higher levels
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of unemployment and poverty, right,
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than we have here right now.
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So just like Mondragon has 80,000 jobs
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in around 50 years they got there, that's what we see.
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That's what our goal is.
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And so it's a pretty big goal,
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and so we need to be kind of,
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we just need to be rockin' and rollin' and tapping
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into every bit of our collective intelligence
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and working with as many partners as possible.
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But we truly believe it's possible.
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[lift truck whirring]
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[horn beeping]
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[indistinct chatter]
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We do a free energy audit of the house.
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Typically that recommends to do attic insulation.
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Now we're doing solar panels.
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So it's more cost effective for people to do
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the energy efficiency first,
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and then they need a smaller solar array.
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That's our model.
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[speaking in Spanish]
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I was an undocumented immigrant for seven years
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and that's where I got involved into social justice issues,
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immigrant rights and worker rights in general,
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being a blue collar worker,
being exploited.
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Then I learned about Mondragon in Spain
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and how they've been able to create profitable businesses.
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My education is in finance.
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Through the co-ops, I was able to merge my passion
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for social justice with businesses and do it together.
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[speaking in Spanish]
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We all compliment each other.
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It's not a traditional business,
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like a CO tells people what to do.
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It's more like we come up with ideas
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that make sense for all of us, and we move forward.
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[speaking in Spanish]
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[power tool buzzing]
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So this is making it even broader than just worker-owners.
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[speaking in Spanish]
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Co-op Cincy compliments us by focusing
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while they do training,
and they're very good at it.
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Financial literacy, those type of skills
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that we are lacking.
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They help us build the worker-owner mentality.
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...who has control,
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but this co-op should be something that's beneficial.
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My goal is to create as many jobs as we can
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and impact as many people as we can
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with family-sustaining jobs,
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jobs that have the right to a union, good wages,
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health insurance, benefits, dividends, patronage,
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those type of things.
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[birds chirping]
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They moved to the United States
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because they have a dream or they want employment,
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they want to keep helping their family.
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And then when they get to this country,
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they're, like, not finding jobs
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because there's so many barriers
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like the language barrier, transportation, childcare.
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[vacuum cleaner whirring]
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When I was asking them
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for the type of work that they are looking for,
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they would say, "I do cleaning,"
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"I clean houses,"
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but that was about probably 90% of these women.
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[speaking in Spanish]
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[speaking in Spanish]
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Basically, like, we help the co-ops create goals,
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and then we sort of, like, are cheerleaders for them
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to kind of meet those goals.
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So we meet with them every week or every two weeks,
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depending on each co-op, and kind of, like, keep track
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of, like, where we are, where we need to go,
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and what we need to do to get there.
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[relaxed jazz music]
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This is Walnut Hills, a historically black neighborhood.
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I love living in this community, working in this community.
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It's very unique.
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Everyone tries to look out for one another.
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Every Friday from 1 to 3,
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a lot of us provide free produce, meals,
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things of that sort to residents who are in need.
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Queen Mother's Market Cooperative began
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when we lost our grocery store.
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Grocery store pulled outta the neighborhood
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and residents really wanted to figure out,
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what are we gonna do next?
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The initial response was, let's get another grocery store.
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And everyone said, "No."
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They said that the neighborhood, we were too poor.
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Yet food is a basic necessity,
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and so we started talking about other options.
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So, CSAs, Community Supported Agriculture,
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cooperatives, and a lot of the residents loved the idea
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about a cooperative, being that you could be a worker-owned,
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a community-owned, the social and economic benefits
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of a cooperative, the fact that you have control.
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You have input.
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And they collectively decided,
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"Okay, we're gonna go for a cooperative."
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And so we've been working on that for the last five years.
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A long journey, but hopefully we're getting to the point
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where we can actually put a brick and mortar store here
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for the community.
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I never imagined we'd be here, right?
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When someone approached me and said,
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"Hey, we need a grocery store,"
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never imagined that we'd be here today,
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nor knowing where we aspire to be in the future.
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It's obtainable, it's possible, right?
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And a lot of times we just think, oh, that's just too far.
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That's just too much.
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And when you are in community
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with so many people who believe as well,
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there's no limit to to what's possible.
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What Co-op Cincy has to do is really distinct
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from how it happens in the Basque region.
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Whereas here in the United States,
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we tend to think about,
like, the American Dream
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and we tend to think about, like, maybe a family thriving
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with their white picket fence, versus the entire community.
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And basically for this approach to work and be successful,
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we have to really have that bigger, wider
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collective community mindset.
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Here in the United States, it's not that that mindset
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doesn't exist, it does.
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I mean, it exists in all sorts of places,
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one of which is in the best practices of the labor movement.
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You know, myself, I came out of the labor movement,
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11 years working for labor unions.
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Phil Amadon, one of our other co-founders was, you know,
343
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over 32 years as a railroad mechanic
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and president of his machinist union.
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Not only are we, you know, saying,
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"Okay, we're worker-owners
347
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"and we need to have our owner hat on,"
348
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but we're also workers.
349
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And so on our labor committee, we want to make sure
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that we're thinking about the wages,
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we're thinking about the benefits,
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we're thinking about the working conditions
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and how we work through conflict within that business.
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We view building the network of co-ops
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as absolutely critical
356
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to having the deep sort of change we wanna make.
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In terms of moving the dial on poverty and inequality
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in the ways Mondragon has, they've created this really
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resilient network where each of the co-ops
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gives at least 10% of their profits
361
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back to the larger whole.
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You know, there are up cycles and down cycles in business.
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When companies are going through those,
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if they're part of a larger network,
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a network that can provide them rainy day funds,
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if they have a group that can support
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research and innovation, or education,
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or even new co-op development,
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it's incredibly resilient,
and we see that
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through the Mondragon experience.
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[tractor engine puttering]
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[upbeat rock music]
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I would say it's been the best start to the season
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that we've ever had.
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Some crops are suffering from, like, the extreme heat
376
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we're seeing right now,
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but other crops would really like that.
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It's nice to have different people on the farm
379
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enjoying the beauty of the farm
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and all that it has to offer.
381
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So this is the first co-op that we created, right?
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And this co-op has been our guinea pig. [laughing]
383
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It's gone through everything.
384
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We learned so much with them.
385
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You oftentimes see farmers who just work themselves
386
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nonstop to the bone,
where these folks
387
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because they're doing it in a cooperative way,
388
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are able to rotate who's gonna go water on the weekend.
389
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[bird chirping]
390
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I may be the farm manager,
but I'm not making
391
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all the big business decisions on my own.
392
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I'm only one person and one vote,
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and help implement the vision of the total group.
394
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We want to be going according to nature as much as possible,
395
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try to pay our workers a fair wage
396
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and have some benefits as well,
397
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be able to also function as a business
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and not be losing money.
399
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So we have to try and balance all three of those aspects.
400
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So these are tomatoes out here,
401
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but we have a student group from Aiken High School.
402
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And there's hair-thin margins in a farm,
403
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so it's very helpful to actually work with these groups.
404
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The amount of work that we've been able to
405
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just go through in the past year,
406
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working with our volunteer groups,
407
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has been really, really incredible.
408
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They have their own garden space,
409
00:21:46.339 --> 00:21:48.510
but then we farm all day, we do a lesson.
410
00:21:48.510 --> 00:21:52.710
So we just did a lesson about, you know, insect management.
411
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And then we come out, we kind of show 'em what we do.
412
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"Here's the backpack, here's how you spray the tomatoes."
413
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You inevitably get the opportunity to train people.
414
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You know, you want people that are young to come into this
415
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and to learn it because after a certain age,
416
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I mean, you just cannot do this kind of work.
417
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[people laughing]
418
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...provide a little bit of knowledge base.
419
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We get in return some volunteer work that--
420
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We're getting to tasks and projects that we would
421
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never get to with just our crew.
422
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I always wanted to actually teach kids...
423
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My mantra has always been
424
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I can go, you know, faster by myself,
425
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but I can go further with others.
426
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I first got hired here, I was like,
427
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"You want me workin' on a farm?"
428
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But it's crazy because, like, six months,
429
00:22:40.530 --> 00:22:45.150
I got into juicing and I was learning about conventional
430
00:22:45.150 --> 00:22:48.093
and organic vegetables, and what's the difference.
431
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If I ain't supposed to be there, where am I supposed to be?
432
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We pick up from the farm,
433
00:22:56.520 --> 00:23:00.030 line:15%
we put together our CSA shares,
434
00:23:00.030 --> 00:23:03.060 line:15%
and then we also do wholesale orders
435
00:23:03.060 --> 00:23:06.570
which go out to, like, restaurants
436
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and places like Findlay Market.
437
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It's awesome being able to work with food
438
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and especially the quality of food
439
00:23:14.460 --> 00:23:17.343
that we have with Our Harvest,
it's just different.
440
00:23:18.210 --> 00:23:20.010
Cucumbers and lettuce is goin' in.
441
00:23:21.623 --> 00:23:24.780
So before I worked at a chicken processing plant, you know.
442
00:23:24.780 --> 00:23:28.830
I got a raise one or two times at 50 cents, and that was it.
443
00:23:28.830 --> 00:23:33.630
I didn't receive another raise for the next four years, so.
444
00:23:33.630 --> 00:23:35.220
And I trained people there
445
00:23:35.220 --> 00:23:40.110
and eventually they became my boss.
446
00:23:40.110 --> 00:23:41.970
Different here, because I feel like
447
00:23:41.970 --> 00:23:45.810
I'm treated like a person and it's not a big corporation
448
00:23:45.810 --> 00:23:49.530
where, you know, the CEO is making millions and millions
449
00:23:49.530 --> 00:23:51.660
and millions of dollars while, you know,
450
00:23:51.660 --> 00:23:54.993
the workers are gettin' peanuts.
451
00:23:56.580 --> 00:23:59.460
If I had a choice,
I wouldn't work anywhere else
452
00:23:59.460 --> 00:24:00.990
besides a co-op.
453
00:24:00.990 --> 00:24:04.705
Just being able to be heard, to have your...
454
00:24:05.943 --> 00:24:07.401
...your voice noticed.
455
00:24:08.910 --> 00:24:11.730
On a regular job,
you might have an opinion
456
00:24:11.730 --> 00:24:13.630
on how to make something work better,
457
00:24:15.090 --> 00:24:17.370
and you might tell your manager, your supervisor,
458
00:24:17.370 --> 00:24:19.863
but they're not really interested in hearing it.
459
00:24:21.360 --> 00:24:23.190
Whereas being a part of the cooperative,
460
00:24:23.190 --> 00:24:25.860
I'm also a part of the board.
461
00:24:25.860 --> 00:24:28.496
My opinions are going to be heard.
462
00:24:30.330 --> 00:24:32.310
I don't have nobody chasing me around
463
00:24:32.310 --> 00:24:35.100
because the color of my skin or 'cause I'm tall
464
00:24:35.100 --> 00:24:39.540
or 'cause I'm big, you know, and people really don't think
465
00:24:39.540 --> 00:24:41.640
that that happens these days,
but it does.
466
00:24:43.290 --> 00:24:45.270
So yeah, I was a pork truck driver.
467
00:24:45.270 --> 00:24:48.213
I was there at that company for about four or five years.
468
00:24:50.100 --> 00:24:53.310
It was Barack Obama's first presidency,
469
00:24:53.310 --> 00:24:57.180
and when he got elected people were excited about that.
470
00:24:57.180 --> 00:24:59.460
They couldn't contain they-selves.
471
00:24:59.460 --> 00:25:02.400
But that next morning when we went to work,
472
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:05.730
it was like a firing squad on black males.
473
00:25:05.730 --> 00:25:07.950
And, you know, it was boom boom, one after the other,
474
00:25:07.950 --> 00:25:09.720
one after the other.
475
00:25:09.720 --> 00:25:12.420
It's like a nightmare, what I went through.
476
00:25:12.420 --> 00:25:16.590
But I guess I had to go through that to really appreciate
477
00:25:16.590 --> 00:25:19.230
what's going on here and what they trying to build
478
00:25:19.230 --> 00:25:21.497
here in Cincinnati and around the country.
479
00:25:40.337 --> 00:25:43.605 line:15%
Over 5,000 community members have paid $100
480
00:25:43.605 --> 00:25:46.083 line:15%
to own a part of this grocery store.
481
00:25:47.550 --> 00:25:49.620
We get to decide, you know,
482
00:25:49.620 --> 00:25:51.000 line:15%
what this grocery store looks like.
483
00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:53.220 line:15%
We got to decide what the building looks like,
484
00:25:53.220 --> 00:25:56.160 line:15%
what the name of the building was, what the logo was.
485
00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:58.140
Every part and every decision,
486
00:25:58.140 --> 00:25:59.853
the community was a part of it.
487
00:26:00.690 --> 00:26:02.820
You know, Cincinnati's only about an hour from here,
488
00:26:02.820 --> 00:26:05.340
so we work really closely with them.
489
00:26:05.340 --> 00:26:09.270 line:15%
If we only ever open one supermarket,
490
00:26:09.270 --> 00:26:10.320 line:15%
that will not be enough.
491
00:26:10.320 --> 00:26:12.630 line:15%
You know, we really want this to be the beginning
492
00:26:12.630 --> 00:26:15.360
of a cooperative movement in Dayton and a continuation
493
00:26:15.360 --> 00:26:18.110
of a cooperative movement that Co-op Cincy is building.
494
00:26:19.470 --> 00:26:22.500
One thing about this area was that we didn't have a lot
495
00:26:22.500 --> 00:26:24.480
of healthy produce.
496
00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:27.180
We joke all the time that at other grocery stores,
497
00:26:27.180 --> 00:26:28.050
before you left the store,
498
00:26:28.050 --> 00:26:30.360
your avocado would lose its color.
499
00:26:30.360 --> 00:26:33.060
And so it's just really great to walk into a place
500
00:26:33.060 --> 00:26:34.560
and see so many different colors,
501
00:26:34.560 --> 00:26:36.873
so many different fresh foods.
502
00:26:38.310 --> 00:26:40.470
This is my first time working as a butcher,
503
00:26:40.470 --> 00:26:41.700 line:15%
but I'm loving it.
504
00:26:41.700 --> 00:26:44.040 line:15%
I'm delighted, I'm picking up real quick.
505
00:26:44.040 --> 00:26:46.533 line:15%
Have some very great mentors and tutors.
506
00:26:47.550 --> 00:26:49.320
I help produce all this lovely meat
507
00:26:49.320 --> 00:26:50.870
you all see out here behind me.
508
00:26:52.380 --> 00:26:54.120
Nobody's the boss of it.
509
00:26:54.120 --> 00:26:56.760
We're the owners of the store, so we do what we want.
510
00:26:56.760 --> 00:26:59.220
We get to make choices based on how we feel.
511
00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:02.310
And I've used that to my benefit.
512
00:27:02.310 --> 00:27:04.380
I've put out product the way I wanna put it out.
513
00:27:04.380 --> 00:27:06.364
Nobody gets on me to tell me what to do.
514
00:27:06.364 --> 00:27:07.324
It's fine, it's,
515
00:27:07.324 --> 00:27:10.263
it's a different style of working, but I enjoy it.
516
00:27:12.360 --> 00:27:14.943
When we first started the Gem City Market,
517
00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:19.200
it was mostly community and neighborhood activists
518
00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:20.340
and they were really smart.
519
00:27:20.340 --> 00:27:22.650
They knew they needed a broad coalition of support.
520
00:27:22.650 --> 00:27:24.660
So they invited people from government,
521
00:27:24.660 --> 00:27:25.890
people from the universities,
522
00:27:25.890 --> 00:27:28.230
people from the faith community, churches,
523
00:27:28.230 --> 00:27:31.045
and then they also invited unions.
524
00:27:31.045 --> 00:27:34.860
Then eventually, two unions gave us the original seed money
525
00:27:34.860 --> 00:27:37.113
that would become the Gem City Market.
526
00:27:37.950 --> 00:27:42.570
Our bylaws require that not a penny of cooperative money
527
00:27:42.570 --> 00:27:45.330
or resources can be used to fight unionization.
528
00:27:45.330 --> 00:27:46.800
And so the employees at this store,
529
00:27:46.800 --> 00:27:49.110
if they wanna become union, they will be able to do that
530
00:27:49.110 --> 00:27:50.973
with no anti-union campaign.
531
00:27:52.590 --> 00:27:55.140
I really am just committed to this grocery store
532
00:27:55.140 --> 00:27:57.300
because it's not just a grocery store,
533
00:27:57.300 --> 00:28:00.600
it's a place where the community can convene and, like,
534
00:28:00.600 --> 00:28:03.693
just envision what we want our community to look like.
535
00:28:04.800 --> 00:28:08.760
Eventually, we wanna be that kind of Mondragon-style
536
00:28:08.760 --> 00:28:12.258
network of interconnected co-ops that actually
537
00:28:12.258 --> 00:28:15.480
build an economy in Dayton that is rooted here
538
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:17.283
and accountable to us.
539
00:28:20.430 --> 00:28:22.500
It's incredibly important
540
00:28:22.500 --> 00:28:25.110
to work on policy things like I used to.
541
00:28:25.110 --> 00:28:26.700
We need people working on that.
542
00:28:26.700 --> 00:28:30.570
It's incredibly important to uproot unjust systems,
543
00:28:30.570 --> 00:28:33.480
and it's really important to, you know,
544
00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:35.790
build that world that we wish to see.
545
00:28:35.790 --> 00:28:38.760
So while we're, you know, kind of uprooting things,
546
00:28:38.760 --> 00:28:40.953
we also need to build the alternative.
547
00:28:43.620 --> 00:28:48.330
I come from a heritage or history of social justice,
548
00:28:48.330 --> 00:28:51.663
of taking stands for right and righteousness.
549
00:28:52.890 --> 00:28:55.020
And so I wanted to do something that could really
550
00:28:55.020 --> 00:28:57.570
have a transformational change.
551
00:28:57.570 --> 00:29:00.360 line:15%
And for me, that is through ownership.
552
00:29:00.360 --> 00:29:03.090 line:15%
We are so thankful for all the philanthropic efforts
553
00:29:03.090 --> 00:29:06.330
in this world, but if you really want to give someone
554
00:29:06.330 --> 00:29:08.940
a chance to sustain a quote-unquote "leg up,"
555
00:29:08.940 --> 00:29:11.553
give them the ability to own a seat at the table.
556
00:29:14.430 --> 00:29:19.350
Cincy Co-op and things that work in that same way
557
00:29:19.350 --> 00:29:24.120 line:15%
I believe feed the better angels of our nature around,
558
00:29:24.120 --> 00:29:26.610 line:15%
how do we take this forward?
559
00:29:26.610 --> 00:29:29.100
How do we take this shining city on the hill,
560
00:29:29.100 --> 00:29:31.860
which has perhaps been a little bit dented
561
00:29:31.860 --> 00:29:35.919
and isn't quite as shiny as it was, and get its luster back?
562
00:29:35.919 --> 00:29:38.610
[lift truck whirring]
563
00:29:38.610 --> 00:29:40.140
We're fighting every single day to create
564
00:29:40.140 --> 00:29:42.330
the best companies possible,
565
00:29:42.330 --> 00:29:44.550 line:15%
where people are truly first and foremost,
566
00:29:44.550 --> 00:29:47.730 line:15%
where we're not, you know, just trying to fight
567
00:29:47.730 --> 00:29:50.610
for just 25 cents more, just the kind of the crumbs, right,
568
00:29:50.610 --> 00:29:51.443
of what's being created.
569
00:29:51.443 --> 00:29:54.030
Like, we truly own the whole pie, right?
570
00:29:54.030 --> 00:29:55.980
We truly own what we're creating.
571
00:29:55.980 --> 00:29:58.830
We wanna have over 80,000 folks employed in co-ops
572
00:29:58.830 --> 00:30:02.070
and truly be, you know, transforming our local economy
573
00:30:02.070 --> 00:30:04.590
and hopefully seeing this happen all across the country,
574
00:30:04.590 --> 00:30:06.190
and obviously, across the world.
575
00:30:11.998 --> 00:30:16.015
[upbeat rock music]
