Cleveland Owns

Cleveland Owns is an incubator that equips groups to build wealth and power through collective ownership.

We believe who owns what matters. To build an equitable city, we must have an equitable distribution of ownership.

In a Cleveland owned by its residents, everyone has a stake in businesses and commercial real estate and other productive assets. Groups of workers and neighbors prosper alongside the city, and have the power to exercise control over what affects them.

As more people own assets that appreciate in value, we'll shrink the ownership gap, which is inextricably tied to the racial and gender wealth gaps. This is one step towards addressing the historical and present-day effects of white supremacy, patriarchy, and an economic system built on exploitation and extraction.

We support groups of workers and neighbors as they seeks to turn what they have into what they need to demand their share of the region’s prosperity.

Our work touches on food access, digital equity, collective purchasing for nonprofit organizations, and energy democracy, which you can read more about here. The common thread for all our work is building new, democratic institutions controlled directly by the people their serve.

Read the environmental policy platform for Cleveland we contributed to

12/17/2020 12:53 PM

Cleveland Owns joined a coalition of local environmental justice and advocacy groups to create a progressive policy agenda for environmental justice in Cleveland.

Introducing the Energy Democracy Initiative at Cleveland Owns

12/15/2020 08:54 AM

Through the Energy Democracy Initiative, Cleveland Owns promotes community stewardship of renewable energy assets and advocates for a more humane utility system