Ten Years of Cooperation: What We’ve Done, What We Didn’t Do, and What’s Next

Lauren Hudson is a cooperative and Solidarity Economy organizer and researcher in New York City. She is a cofounder of the Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC, a former collective member of SolidarityNYC, and a current collective member of the Solidarity Economy Principles Project. She holds a doctorate in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the City University of New York Graduate Center. Because of the continued disinvestment in higher education, Lauren has also had the opportunity to teach courses in feminist urban geography and Geographic Information Systems at Sarah Lawrence College, Parsons, Hunter College, Medgar Evers College, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Now, after ten years of adjuncting, Lauren is an Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies where she teaches Economic Democracy as part of their Workplace Democracy and Community Ownership program.

Apple Eco Cleaning was founded in 2012 with the goal of empowering women who work as day laborers in New York City. AEC’s vision is to help workers become business owners and leaders in their communities, provide high-quality cleaning services, and take care of our clients’ health and the environment through eco-friendly cleaning practices.

Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union is a community credit union serving Central and Eastern Brooklyn. Founded in 2001, Brooklyn Coop is a certified CDFI (community development financial institution) and a Minority Depository Institution. The coop innovates financial services and products that suit the needs of these neighborhoods. Brooklyn Coop does not originate loans that do not build local assets. It does not sell loans to outside investors with the result that Brooklyn Coop maintains a stake in the long-term economic health of its members.

East New York Community Land Trust is a membership organization that stewards the built, social, and natural environment through community organizing, planning, education, and democratic control of community-owned land. Its mission is to protect, stabilize, and expand the stock of affordable homes, locally owned small businesses, worker co-ops, and green spaces in East New York and Brownsville for the benefit of longtime low-income and working-class Black, Latine, Asian, and other communities of color. ENYCLT focuses on building members’ capacity to collectively own and democratically manage land and housing, ensuring that the community holds the power and is able to shape its own thriving future.

Brooklyn Packers was founded in May 2016 as a Black-led, worker-owned cooperative reclaiming the local food system for the people. Brooklyn Packers stands as a bridge between the land and the block, connecting small to mid-sized farms and sustainable food producers to communities and wholesale partners who reflect the co-op’s values to build true food sovereignty from Hudson to Brooklyn and beyond.