Emerging Cooperatives

... On whose broad shoulders we stand. [Fannie Lou Hamer statue in Ruleville, Sunflower County, Mississippi.]

... On whose broad shoulders we stand. [Fannie Lou Hamer statue in Ruleville, Sunflower County, Mississippi.]

[Medgar Evers statue outside the public library in Jackson. Thanks to photographer Trip Burns of the Jackson Free Press.] In developing Cooperation Jackson, we pay homage to our Movement's ancestors ...

[Medgar Evers statue outside the public library in Jackson. Thanks to photographer Trip Burns of the Jackson Free Press.] In developing Cooperation Jackson, we pay homage to our Movement's ancestors ...

We aim to build a Federation or Network of associated/interconnected cooperatives. This is going to take time, training, capacity building, extensive resource generation and mobilization. Cooperation Jackson plans on developing cooperatives over the course of the next five to ten years. We have a very ambitious vision and we aim to build it step by step to create the new economy our communities and our planet so desperately need.  

Cooperation Jackson began the process of developing cooperatives by having members form working groups to explore ideas for cooperative businesses based on the need, opportunities and interest.

Currently our emerging network includes Freedom Farms Cooperative and The Green Team Landscaping Coop. Over the past two years the Community Production Cooperative has been in development and is set to launch in 2019. In addition to these cooperatives, our Fannie Lou Hamer Community Land Trust has been established with over 30 properties in the surrounding area of our Balloon Center.

Early on Cooperation Jackson envisioned a number of cooperatives that can meet the need for jobs and much needed services along with the opportunity of the existing skills here in Jackson. We see cooperatives, especially worker cooperatives as a tool in creating a sustainable community exercising self-determination. Some of the ideas include:

Waste Management Cooperative

Recycling (Sorting) and Composting Cooperative

Security services

Arts and Cultural Production

Construction Worker/Skilled Labor Cooperative

Day-Labor/Temp Worker Cooperative

Solar Insulation/Green Retrofitting Cooperative

Auto Repair Cooperative

Food Service/Catering Cooperative

Health Care Cooperative

Child-Care Cooperative

We look forward to continuing our work towards building a solidarity economy and expanding beyond the cooperatives even towards alternative exchange models and relationships.