The Learning Curve from Cut Off the Spigot

Listen to THE FIRST EPISODE of The Learning Curve!I spoke with Matthew Epperson, a solidarity economy practitioner, educator, and community organizer by passion and by training, on shared ownership structures.We discuss shared-ownership models like Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP), worker and consumer co-ops, different company examples, how employee ownership works with unions, and what is giving us hope in the shared ownership space.Join Matthew on Zoom April 29th at 2 pm EST for the Boston Impact Initiative's Advancing Regenerative Capital (ARC) fellowship showcase! He'll be presenting for the Hive Mind Community Investment Cooperative, a multistakeholder cooperative permanently affordable housing fund focused on housing historically marginalized folks in the Deep South.Resources & Ways to ConnectMatthew Epperson’s LinkedInEmployee Ownership Centers by stateLocal Co-Op Development Centers affiliated with CooperationWorks!I also recommend searching for “co-op development center [your city/town]” to find those unaffiliated with CooperationWorks!US Federation of Worker Cooperatives: Co-op directory to find ones near youCo-Op Development & Work Resources: job-finding, professional development, training and education, and connection among the co-op and solidarity economy sector.Union Toolkit for Cooperative Solutions: report from CUNY (City University of NY) School of Labor & Urban Studies on strategies used by labor unions to support shared ownership like co-ops and employee-owned businesses.  Links to Items Discussed:Companies: MondragonResonate: Note, Resonate seems to be defunct/not accepting new members, but Subvert is a similar music streaming co-op. FairBnB (Website seems to be down temporarily)Driver’s Cooperative (NYC) New Era Windows CooperativeSouth Mountain CompanyApis & Heritage Capital Partners EB PREC (East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative)Walmart & other major national chains’ employees requiring government assistance. More info on REI, Patagonia. Room & BoardBob’s Red Mill Correction: Joann’s Fabrics articleMedia:The Take documentary“From Founder to Future” by John Abrams Margaret Mead Quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."Notes on ProductionThis is my first time making a podcast, let alone a video version! I produced and edited it myself, so if there are some minor audio issues I apologize. I am learning, and while there are always ways to improve I'm really excited with how this first episode turned out.I also made the theme song myself! I hope you like it, it's the first piece of music I've published and I'm quite proud of it too :)Feedback: I'd love to hear from you on the episode content - was it helpful, clear, or felt like something was missing? (Please be nice - I'm aware that I say "um" too often, I'm working on it for the next one!)