Everything Co-op With Vernon Oakes

July 13, 2023 Gary Hampton, Business Growth Consultant, and Vice Chair of the Association of Cooperative Educators' (ACE) Board of Directors, discusses the upcoming Climate, Cooperatives and Resilience conference, sponsored by ACE, on August 7-10, 2023, in San Juan Puerto Rico. Gary W. Hampton is an expert on organizational development, fundraising and community-based economic development. He advises, trains and coaches' businesses and nonprofit organizations on strategic growth and development. Hampton has nearly two decades of experience in IT and strategic development across different industry sectors (Technology, Financial, Government, Private, Non-profit, Retail, Education). Mr. Hampton is also active in community-based cooperative economic development and a member owner of the Ajani Group Cooperative. He is a passionate cooperative and community supporter. Hampton currently sits on the boards of Create WV, Compensation Committee and Association of Cooperative Educators, Vice Chair. He holds a BA fr

June 22, 2023 Vernon Interviews Mark Goehring, Manager of Columinate and Common Good Management Services (Common Good); and Alejandra Chavez, Community Service Representative at Common Good. Our host, Vernon Oakes, is a member consultant of Columinate, and has been on the Common Good development team since its inception in Fall 2018. Vernon and his guests discuss the overarching goals and objectives of Columinate, and the many facets of Common Good. Mark Goehring is the Manager of Columinate, a cooperative of consultants who share strategies, tools and skills that help organizations build and empower community. Mark also assists with the development of tools and resources to support effective governance, and provides ongoing management and board support. Alejandra Chavez is the Community Service Representative for Common Good. She manages three different Mobil Parks, offering local resources to its residents and promoting social justice in everything she does. Her dream is to continuing raising community aw

Vernon interviews Erika Allen, Co-Founder and CEO of Operations for Urban Growers Collective. Erika discusses the Urban Growers Collective's apprenticeship program, and how the cooperative business model can be used to address food insecurity in urban areas. Erika Allen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Operations for Urban Growers Collective, President of Green ERA Educational NFP and Co-Owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners. Previously, Allen founded and was the Director of Growing Power — Chicago from 2002 to 2017. She is the co-founder of the Chicago Food Policy Action Council, serves on the board of Grow Greater Englewood and Leadership Council for Growing Home, and is an advisor for the Community Food Navigator project. Allen has been appointed by IL Governor J.B. Pritzker for the IL Leadership Council for Agricultural Education (ICAE) for a 3 Year term (2022–24). Allen was recently appointed by the Biden Administration to join the Farm Service Agency Committee for Illinois. She is also a Co-Chair of t

May 25, 2023 Julian McKinley, Senior Communications Director, at Democracy At Work Institute (DAWI), discusses DAWI's work with the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives to track, measure, and support worker co-ops through research, and the launch of its bi-annual census with Robert McClinton and Pat Thornton. DAWI staff are excited, because when the results of the census are evaluated, they will be able to look at 10 years of worker co-op data for the first time in history. Julian McKinley leads DAWI's communications initiatives in support of its work to expand worker ownership. He is a passionate and mission-driven storyteller with deep roots in community empowerment and economic development, previously leading organizational storytelling and strategic communications around community and systems-level economic change at United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut and Capital Institute. Julian began his career as a community news editor in Connecticut, where he founded and managed operations of multi

April 6, 2023 Vernon interviews Bob Allnutt, and Leslie Nordin. Vernon and his guests Bob and Leslie will discuss how co-ops are solving housing needs for their adult children with special needs, Bob and Leslie also introduce The Neighborhood of Maryland, Inc, and the Big Wave Project, two programs they have established as a vehicle for their efforts. Bob Allnutt is a real estate broker and developer in Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. Bob and his wife Amy are parents to three children, daughters Elizabeth and Emma, and their son Jack. Non-speaking and autistic, Jack learned to communicate via typing at age 10 and was mainstreamed in the public school system. Now 21, Jack has graduated from high school and will start college to pursue his interest in finance and the stock market. Jack was one of the stories featured in the 2017 documentary Far from the Tree, based on the Andrew Solomon bestseller. Bob has used the knowledge and contacts accumulated from over 40 years of real estate experience – suppleme

April 27, 2023 This week Vernon continues his discussion of "Humanity@Work&life-Global Diffusion of the Mondragon Cooperative Ecosystem Experience,” with an interview of contributing author, John Holdsclaw IV, President and CEO of Rochdale Capital. Vernon and John discuss the challenges and opportunities of financing worker cooperatives, and new initiatives of Rochdale Capital. John Holdsclaw IV currently serves as president and CEO of Rochdale Capital, a newly formed, national non-profit community development loan fund that provides financing and technical assistance to cooperative enterprises and other community-based organizations. Rochdale Capital focuses on making financial services accessible to under-resourced communities, specifically to women and/or minority-owned small and growing businesses. John currently serves on the board of directors of Global Communities, Groundswell, Partners for Common Good, and American Bankers Association (ABA) Stonier Graduate School of Banking. In addition, John is the

April 13, 2023 Michael Alden Peck, Co-founder/Executive Director of 1worker1vote, and Co-editor of "Humanity@Work&life-Global Diffusion of the Mondragon Cooperative Ecosystem Experience,” and contributing author, Sara Horowitz. Michael and Sara will give an overview of the book, discuss the Build Mutualism and Humanity@Work&life campaigns, and explore next steps on the pathway to the greater common good. Michael Peck serves as executive director and cofounder of 1worker1vote. Emerging from the October 2009 collaboration MOU between the United Steelworkers and Mondragon International, 1worker1vote serves as fiscal sponsor for the 2022-2023 Build Mutualism Campaign. Peck is also co-founder and managing director of a second for-profit start-up, The Virtuous Cycle Collaboratory, a majority-minority worker cooperative and social enterprise (mission: to “flatten unequal socioeconomic curves into shared prosperity virtuous cycles”). Michael is a board member for the American Sustainable Business Network, and was

April 20, 2023 Everything Co-op continues its coverage of "Humanity@Work&life-Global Diffusion of the Mondragon Cooperative Ecosystem Experience,” with co-editor Christina Clamp, Director of the Center for Co-operatives & Community Economic Development, and contributing author, Terry Lewis, CFO at the Center for Community Based Enterprise. Christina gives an overview of the book, and Terry discusses her experience of Building Mondragon in Detroit. Christina Clamp is the Director of the Center for Co-operatives and Economic Development, and has over 40 years of teaching experience at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), as a professor of Sociology. She is also a consulting researcher on a national study of catalyzing community wealth with the American Sustainable Business Network. Nationally and internationally recognized for her work in the study and promotion of cooperative ownership of businesses, Christina has been actively involved in promoting the study of cooperatives since her dissertation, whic

November 3, 2022 John Holdsclaw IV, President and CEO of Rochdale Capital, discusses the founding of Rochdale Capital, the influence of Chuck Snyder and the mission and initiatives of Rochdale Capital. John Holdsclaw IV currently serves as president and CEO of Rochdale Capital, a newly formed, national non-profit community development loan fund that provides financing and technical assistance to cooperative enterprises and other community-based organizations. Rochdale Capital will focus on making financial services accessible to under-resourced communities, specifically to women and/or minority-owned small and growing businesses. Mr. Holdsclaw currently serves on the board of directors of Global Communities, Groundswell, Partners for Common Good, and American Bankers Association (ABA) Stonier Graduate School of Banking. In addition, John is the immediate past president of the Community Development Financial Institution Coalition (CDFI Coalition), and immediate past chair of ABA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclu

March, 30, 2023 Everything Co-op concludes its Commemoration of Women's History month with Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Ph.D., Professor at John Jay College, and social justice advocate. Dr. Nembhard discusses Black women's contributions to the co-op movement, and the Cooperative Development Fund's 2023 Unsung Heroes Inductee, Halena Wilson. Author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice (2014) and 2016 inductee into the U.S. Cooperative Hall of Fame, Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Ph.D., is a Professor at John Jay College, City University of NY. She is a political economist specializing in cooperative economics, community economic development, racial wealth inequality, Black Political Economy. She is a member of the Cooperative Economics Council of NCBA/CLUSA; the ICA Committee on Co-operative Research; an affiliate scholar with the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, University of Saskatchewan; and past board member of Association of Cooperative Educators.

December 1, 2022 Jason Wiener, Principal of Jason Wiener|p.c., and co-founder of the Colorado Cooperative Developers discusses employee ownership in Colorado. Jason is the Principal of a boutique law and business consulting practice and co-founder of “Colorado Cooperative Developers”. Jason's specialty is in cooperative law, shared ownership models, cooperative finance, regenerative capital and financing strategies, sustainable economies law, teal lawyering, virtual outside general counsel, and worker-ownership. Jason has advised on more than a dozen worker-cooperative conversions, several multi-stakeholder ownership conversions, and more than a dozen platform cooperatives. Jason has also advised numerous clients through socially responsible financings, including through membership capital campaigns, private offerings, and qualified intrastate public offerings. Jason holds a B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and a J.D. cum laude from Suffolk University Law School, wher

March 23. 2023 Everything Co-op closes its commemoration of Women's History Month with an interview of Stacey Sutton Ph.D., Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago. Dr. Sutton and Vernon discuss her new body of cooperative city research, "Real Black Utopias," where she examines the infrastructure and ideology of Black-led cooperatives and solidarity economy ecosystems in multiple cities. Stacey Sutton is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy. Dr. Sutton Co-Directs the Solidarity Economy Research, Policy & Law Project and serves as the interim Director of UIC’s Social Justice Initiative. Her research focuses on solidarity economy, prefigurative politics, economic democracy and worker-owned cooperatives, racial equity, and disparate effects of place-based city policies. For the next two years, the Solidarity Economy Research, Policy & Law Project will serve as the ‘hub’ for the City of Chicago’s $15 million dollar Community

March 16, 2023 Everything Co-op continues its commemoration of Women's History Month, with an interview of Deb Trocha, Executive Director at Indiana Cooperative Development Center. Deb and Vernon will discuss the upcoming Housing Co-op Conference, and how the Co-op model can be used to address the current housing crisis. The hybrid conference is Free and will be held March 31, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm. Visit ICDC.coop for more information. Deb Trocha joined the Indiana Cooperative Development Center (ICDC) in 2006 after serving as Executive Director of the Indiana Small Business Development Center. During that time, she has worked with many different types of cooperatives, from food co-ops and food hubs, to housing, artists, agriculture, and early childhood education. She is committed to increasing awareness of cooperatives and is passionate about the cooperative business model’s ability to empower people and their communities. Under her leadership, ICDC promotes cooperatives as a vibrant model to address economic

March 9, 2023 Everything Co-op continues its commemoration of Women's History Month, with an interview of Dina Omar, founder of the Palestinian Soap Cooperative. Vernon and Dina discuss the rich history and heritage associated with Nablus soap. Dina is currently completing her doctorate degree at Yale University in Anthropology with a joint certification in Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, she completed her undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley where she studied and taught with June Jordan’s Poetry for the People 2006 and 2010. Dina is also an activist/organizer. -She was a founder of National Students for Justice in Palestine and is currently an active member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective. To learn about the history of Nablus or to buy fragrance free pure olive oil soap and other accoutrements you can visit palestiniansoap.coop. The theme for Women's History Month is "Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories." This theme recognizes "women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of

March 2, 2023 Everything Co-op kicked off its commemoration of Women's History Month with an interview of Andria Barrett, founding member of The Banker Ladies Council. Vernon and Andria discuss the evolution, history and practical use of ROSCAs (Rotating Savings and Credit Associations, and how they can support entrepernuership. Andria Barrett is a founding member of The Banker Ladies Council and is in a Partner Bank. She is a community activist from Canada and the founder of The Diversity Agency. Barrett’s focus is helping women-led entrepreneurs through mutual aid. She serves as a board member to the Culinary Tourism Alliance, HAGO (Help A Girl Out) and is a member of the Congress of Black Women. The Canadian SME named her one of the Most Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders two years in a row, and she was named the 2022 Rotman Family Entrepreneur of the Year. Andria is being mentored by Dr. Caroline Shenaz Hossein, Canada Research Chair, in Africana Development & Feminist Political Economy

February 23, 2023 Everything Co-op continues its commemoration of Black History Month with an interview of Attorney Renee C. Hatcher. Vernon and Renee discuss how she has used law as a vehicle of resistance. Renee Hatcher is a solidarity economy lawyer. She is an Assistant Professor of Law and the Director of the Community Enterprise and Solidarity Economy Law Clinic at UIC Law, a legal clinic that provides free legal support to grassroot organizations, cooperatives, and other solidarity economy enterprises. Daughter of the late civil rights activist and first elected Black mayor of a U.S. city, Richard Gordon Hatcher, Renee is committed to advancing the Black Freedom Movement through her work with co-ops and communities. Renee is a member of the leadership team for the Black Abolitionist Solidarity Economy (BASE) Fellowship, and a member of Law for Black Lives Movement Lawyering Squad. Renee also serves as a board member for the New Economy Coalition and the Detroit Justice Center. Prof. Hatcher is the Co

January 26, 2023 Floran Syler-Woods, Ph.D, Director of Finance at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (Federation), discusses the important role financial systems play in the success of organizations and businesses. She and Vernon also unravel the complexities of understanding the determinants of wealth. In the capacity of Director of Finance Dr. Syler-Woods serves as the direct supervisor of the corporate accounting staff and indirect supervisor of all field accountants at the Federation. Prior to coming to the Federation Dr. Syler-Woods had an illustrious career either as a partner in public accounting firms, or director of finance in several organizations and firms. Since 1967 the Federation has been successfully working to provide Black farmers, landowners, and cooperatives in the Southern region with cooperative development, land retention, and advocacy. The Federation is a member-owned and operated organization born out of the Civil Rights Movement to do the unique work of emp

February 16, 2023 Everything Co-op continues its commemoration of Black History Month with an interview of Pastor Keith Davis, President and CEO of the Camden Dream Center’s Technology Training School in Camden, New Jersey and Julian D. Miller, Esq., founding Executive Director of the Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice, at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. Vernon and his guests will discuss Black Food Sovereignty. Reverend Keith Davis is a pastor and community leader, technologist, and thought leader in technology and workforce development. He is President and CEO of the Camden Dream Center’s Technology Training School, and co-chair of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Educations (NICE) working group to promote career discovery and multiple pathways to high-paying cybersecurity jobs. Julian D. Miller, Esq., is the founding Executive Director of the Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice and the co-founding Director of the Reuben V. Anderson Institute for Social Justice at Tougaloo College in Missis

February 9, 2023 Everything Co-op continues it's celebration of Black History Month with an interview of Jennie L. Stephens Ph.D., CEO at the Center for Heirs' Property Preservation. Vernon and Dr. Stephens discuss how the Center provides legal education and direct legal services to help families obtain clear title to family land and learn how to make the land work for them, instead of working for the land. Dr. Jennie L. Stephens has been the Executive Director of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation since its inception in 2005. At the Center, she is responsible for overall strategic planning, revenue generation, financial & staff management, and program operations. Dr. Stephens has dedicated more than 25 years in the non-profit industry and is very passionate about building relationships with people who have experienced a history of abuse when it comes to their land and their rights. Jennie holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the College of Charleston, a master’s degree in Publi

February 2, 2023 This interview with Rev. Dr. Reginald Flynn, founder and President of North Flint Reinvestment Corporation, (NFRC) is the first installment of Everything Co-op's commemoration of Black History Month. The theme for Black History month 2023 is Black Resistance. The theme explores how “African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial profiling, and police killings.” Given the tumultuous times we are living in, our team felt that it would be soothing to begin our celebration of Black History Month with a spiritual leader, who preaches, promotes and practices the Nguzo Saba Kwanzaa principles Ujamaa, cooperative economics and Kujichagulia, self-determination. Rev. Dr. Flynn shares how he has used a (w)holistic approach to community economic development, and self-empowerment. Rev. Dr. Flynn is known as a visionary leader who is a vocal advocate for spiritual renewal, economic self-sufficiency, and political empowerm