The Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour

In June the Cleveland Owns team joined partners across the state on the Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour, a journey to visit co-ops in Ohio that are planting the seeds of an economy that works for all.

Over three days, we visited a dozen worker-owned co-ops, two housing co-ops, a community land trust, two Black-led community-based nonprofits, and a food store owned by seven workers and more than 5,000 community members. It felt like we’d stepped onto the Magic School Bus with Ms. Frizzle – a childhood favorite of mine! – and discovered a hidden world of worker power rather than highly paid CEOs, of solidarity rather than exploitation, of community ownership rather than corporate control. (Here's a delightful 1-minute video recap of the tour from Co-op Dayton!)

In other words, it felt like another world entirely. The wild thing is, that world is already here, embedded throughout Ohio, out of sight and out of mind for most Ohioans. For three days in June, The Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour brought that world to light. 

Shining a light on the small but thriving world of the solidarity economy in Ohio feels urgent at a moment when right wing authoritarianism is on the rise. Today oligarchs are wresting power from workers and communities and the environment in a way that’s more open and unapologetic than ever. Public sector institutions are under attack. Even the rule of law is under threat.

The Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour created a moment of hope in a world in turmoil. It reminds us that people created the economic system we live in, and that people can change it. Indeed they already are. 

Every group of Ohioans building a new cooperative around the principles of the solidarity economy – solidarity, democracy, equity, sustainability, and pluralism – challenges the status quo and takes a step towards a new way to structure our economy. The seeds of this new system are all around us in Ohio and beyond. We had to go visit.

So we rented a Magic bus, filled our tank with solidarity, and with 40 worker-owners, entrepreneurs, organizers, and co-op developers from across Ohio, set out together to connect the dots of economic democracy across the state.

Cleveland

The first stop on the Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour was right here in Cleveland. Our Cleveland Owns team organized a tour of 50 people to visit the Forest City Community Land Trust and Rust Belt Riders. People’s Plumbing and Good Building shared their work as well. The tour drove by Hessler Housing Co-op and Steiner House Co-op, a student co-op near Case Western.

We then gathered with 60 folks at NuPoint Community Development Corporation in Union Miles for Co-op Circles, an event Cleveland Owns hosts every other month with our friends at Rust Belt Riders, IRTF, People’s Plumbing, Little Africa Food Co-op, and the Forest City Tech Co-op. There we shared what motivated us to organize this tour: To create a moment of hope amidst a challenging political context.

Writer Mariame Kaba teaches that hope is a discipline -- wisdom from social movements passed down across generations. In the context of a state and federal government intent on enriching the wealthy and immiserating the working class, hope can feel hard to hold onto. The Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour reminded us of the many reasons to find hope amidst the moment.

Ms Mikki of Little Africa Food Collaborative and I welcomed the crew and thanked the local orgs of Co-op Circles, the Ohio orgs of the Ohio Worker-ownership Network, and the sponsors of the Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour (New Economy Coalition, Resource Generation, the Democracy Collaborative, and Mask Bloc NEO - THANK YOU!). We then spoke about how we apply the principles of a solidarity economy to our work at our orgs. We traced the history of our movement for a solidarity economy to ancestors and visionaries that inspire our work, like New Communities Community Land Trust, Mondragon, and Kwanzaa’s Nguzo Saba principles. You can see the presentation we shared here.

Amaha shared an update from Co-op Dayton and a message of reflection and inspiration (as always!), C and Cristobal led us in song, and Prerna debriefed the Cleveland tour. Then, in an activity we call ‘Planting Seeds’, five people proposed and led breakout groups in conversations about solidarity economy topics that come up for them. Those included Energy Democracy, unions and the co-op movement, and trust building.

Our time in Cleveland hinted at the power of what we were about to experience on the tour: People coming together across race and class with a common vision for an economy that works for all, feeling motivated as they met people bringing that vision to life day by day.

Friday morning 40 or so of us from Cleveland, Dayton, and Cincinnati loaded up the magic buses and we were off to Columbus! 

Columbus

There the team from Co-op Columbus introduced us to Pattycake Bakery, an awesome worker-owned vegan bakery in Clintonville. Next we visited The Maroon, a theater in Bronzeville formerly known as the Pythian Theater that is today stewarded by the Maroon Arts Group. Designed by and for a Black fraternal organization 100 years ago, the building is a powerful legacy of Black economic power and artistry in Columbus, a history the Maroon Arts Group honors today. Co-op Columbus and Black Men Build shared their work, and Prerna and I shared more about the solidarity economy – what is it, what wisdom inspired it, how do we apply it at Cleveland Owns. Co-op Columbus ended with a clever activity: they asked the presenters to ask questions to the attendees. Soon the room was buzzing with conversation.

Dayton

By the afternoon we were back on the magic buses, this time headed to Dayton, where Co-op Dayton hosted the Co-op Kickback at Edgemont Solar Garden. Edgemont opened in 1980 as Dayton’s first community garden. Today it has a large hoop house and outdoor growing area. We ate, shared stories, and danced by the bonfire to tunes provided by the amazing Luv Locz Experiment until the tour group was good and tired.

Saturday morning started at Gem City Market, the amazing community- and (newly!) worker-owned food store built in a zone of food apartheid in West Dayton. Gem City Market is a national model. It is beautiful, full of colors and designs and patterns that reflect the cultural heritage of the historically Black neighborhood. It offers fresh, nutrient dense food in a small full-service grocery store format. It is a highlight of any magic school bus trip to visit the economy of the future.

It’s also the project that launched Co-op Dayton, which today stewards the Market alongside the Market’s board and also supports a host of other co-ops. We visited two on Saturday: the worker-owned Guided by Mushrooms, and the community-led West Side Makerspace at Central State University, one of two HBCUs in Ohio. Both were fascinating and particularly photogenic 😊

Cincinnati

The last stop was Co-op Cincy’s Co-op Fest, the annual gathering of the worker co-ops in the Co-op Cincy network. Co-op Fest happens every year at Our Harvest, a (surprise!) worker-owned farm that is the first project Co-op Cincy supported nearly 15 years ago. It’s a lush, peaceful setting with a great story and delicious greens they served to all 150 or so attendees with beans and chicken and rice for dinner. It tasted as good as the farm looks. 

Old Growth Cooperative, Sustainergy, Comp.coop, and Shine Nurture Center were some of the co-ops featured at the event. The Cleveland Owns team got to know some of the worker-owners from these and other co-ops through an online cooperative management program we took together this winter, so it was fun to meet folks in person and hear more about their very cool work.

It was also a joy to watch the Co-op Cincy ecosystem in action. Co-op Cincy brings to life the experience of an economy that works for all like no one else can! (Here's a powerful case study on Co-op Cincy that shows the depth of their work - such an inspiration!)

Two buses returned weary travelers to Cleveland that night, and the Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour was officially complete!

Some takeaways

I feel fortunate that Cleveland Owns is building the solidarity economy in Ohio alongside a deep community of co-op developers, worker-owners, cooperators, and values-aligned people throughout the state. The Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour brought that community together to feel our power in a new way. It was fun, energizing, (also tiring!), motivating. Together we began to see and feel what a new Ohio economy, one that works for all and not only for the billionaire class, one that values cooperation over competition, could look like. Here's to more tours and more inspiration and more solidarity. 

Jonathan