Massachusetts
On March 16th & 17th, the Another World is Here: Worker Co-ops and the Solidarity Economy conference was held in Worcester, Massachusetts. This statewide convening focused on the advancement of a worker ownership movement as well as the broader solidarity economy in Massachusetts. Cooperators joined together to lay the foundation for movement building in the Commonwealth. Attendees left with a shared commitment launching a new statewide collaborative to advance a worker ownership movement in Massachusetts.
New Hampshire
In New Hampshire, on March 20th, the leaders of the Granite State’s largest cooperatives convened at the headquarters of CCA Global in Manchester to discuss ways that the cooperative community can work closer together to communicate the important impact that cooperatives are having on the state’s economy, and to strategize how we can better communicate the value of cooperatives to the public and presidential aspirants as they make their way to New Hampshire next year.
Maine
On April 6th, in the Pine Tree state, Maine Cooperators held the 6th Annual Principle 6 Conference in Lewiston, Maine. Organized by the Cooperative Maine Business Alliance, this year’s theme was Cooperatives Build a Better Maine: Building Skills, Connections, and a Movement, featured a series of interactive workshops designed to build capacity for co-ops, to learn from each other, and to advance Maine’s capacity and resiliency as the expand the co-op ecosystem development. This year’s conference also had a national flair with Esteban Kelly of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives and Melissa Hoover of the Democracy at Work Institute featured on the keynote panel.