Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 18 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

Co-ops are democratizing the food chain

Jaisal Noor

June 10, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The food-supply business is known for exploitative pay and poor working conditions. But Brooklyn Packers, a Black-owned cooperative launched in 2016, pays its owner-workers and vendors fair wages and is founded on traditions in the Black community of food sovereignty and mutual aid. Those values paid off at the start of the pandemic, when demand for fresh produce deliveries exploded. Brooklyn Packers retooled its business model to meet the demand, showing that a non-hierarchical business can move quickly.

Read More
Go to Original Story
A business without bosses

Euan McKirdy Jaisal Noor

June 03, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

ChiFresh Chicago is owned and run by formerly incarcerated women of color. The business' five owner-workers responded to the pandemic's effect on food insecurity, in neighborhoods that already had high rates of that problem, by providing healthy, culturally appropriate meals to the communities hardest hit. In the longer term, ChiFresh's goal is supporting the community's food sovereignty while managing their own livelihood on their own terms.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The forgotten worker

Jaisal Noor

June 01, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Homecare aides traditionally receive low wages in an industry with high turnover and great stress during the pandemic. Women of color typically care for their companies' elderly or disabled clients. Cooperative Homecare Associates started in 1985 as a worker-owned cooperative, to be run democratically. It is now the nation's largest co-op, with 2,000 employees, half of them owners. During the pandemic, it partnered with other co-op homecare companies to line up personal protective equipment supplies, one example of how it prioritizes worker safety and satisfaction over profit.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Worker cooperatives prove your job doesn't have to be hell

Jaisal Noor

May 26, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

In service industries that traditionally pay and treat workers poorly, worker-owned cooperatives serve as a humane alternative. Worker-owners at eight co-ops in four states describe the difference their jobs make in their working conditions and their lives. They also tell how larger collectives and cooperatives pool resources to help smaller co-ops with the funding and expertise they need, especially when confronted by a disruptive event like the pandemic.

Read More
Go to Original Story
These co-op restaurants didn't need to open indoor dining to survive the pandemic

Jaisal Noor

May 20, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Two Baltimore restaurants, Red Emma's and Joe Squared, show how running or starting as worker-owned cooperatives gave them pandemic-survival skills in a business climate that killed many other small businesses. By tapping into larger networks providing financing on favorable terms and other expertise, these co-ops used their workers' ingenuity to offer services that didn't depend on sit-down dining. Like many co-ops, they were able to survive the pandemic and preserve jobs where so many traditionally run businesses were not.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How co-ops across the US weathered COVID-19 by prioritizing their workers

Jaisal Noor

May 13, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Documentary |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

Worker-run co-ops in the food industry and in the care sector, industries hard hit by COVID-19, have proved resilient in weathering the pandemic. Some, like Cooperative Home Care Associates, partnered with other co-ops to provide discounted PPE supplies for workers. Others provide job opportunities for people who have trouble getting a foothold, like ChiFresh Kitchen’s formerly incarcerated women worker-owners and Red Emma’s in Baltimore. Worker-owner models can also pivot operations more quickly, which helped Brooklyn Packers respond to the pandemic by providing fresh produce to those in need.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Taharka Bros: Ice cream with a side of worker ownership

Jaisal Noor

May 06, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore ice cream maker Taharka Brothers is six Black men, worker-owners, who lost most of their business accounts at the start of the pandemic. They saved their business, and their jobs, by starting home delivery and tapping into collectives that help worker-owned cooperatives with financing and business advice. Gratitude for a decent job, good working conditions, and pride of ownership help sustain such a business through tumultuous times.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How Baltimore CeaseFire Cuts Violence In Half

Jaisal Noor

October 17, 2019 |

The Real News Network |

Broadcast TV Programs |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

The Baltimore Ceasefire movement -- which asks community members to put away their guns for specific weekends -- began in 2017 when its organizers had enough of the gun violence in their city. Now, the ceasefire weekends, which happen 4 times a year, have resulted in 30-60% fewer gun-related deaths during designated weekends.

Read More
Go to Original Story