Empowering Economics: How Worker-Owned Cooperatives and TimeBanks Re-Value Labor and Community

University of Southern Maine Sociology Professor Ed Collom will be speaking at Local Sprouts Café on Thursday, May 31st at 2pm on “Empowering Economics: How Worker-Owned Cooperatives and TimeBanks Re-Value Labor and Community.” Other speakers include Jonah Fertig and Heather Blersch of Local Sprouts Cooperative, and Orion Breen of Hour Exchange Portland. The event is being presented by  the University of Southern Maine Student Sociology Association.

Ed Collom’s research focuses on community currency (an alternative to the mainstream economy), home schooling (an alternative to the public education system), and workplace democracy (an alternative to bureaucratic control structures). A book by Ed Collom with Judy Lasker of Lehigh and Corinne Kyriacou of Hofstra entitled Equal Time, Equal Value: Community Currencies and Time Banking in the USA will be published this August through Ashgate Publishing. http://www.usm.maine.edu/sociology/ed-collom

Hour Exchange Portland creates an alternative local economy of neighbors helping neighbors. Neighbors exchange service cash-free and tax-free based on the currency of time, where everyone’s time is equal no matter what the service being provided. Over the years Hour Exchange Portland members have exchanged over 150,000 hours of community service and provided over 25,000 hours of free health care. Anyone interested in finding out more or joining Hour Exchange Portland can visit their website www.HourExchangePortland.org<http://www.hourexchangeportland.org/>

Local Sprouts Cooperative is worker-owned cooperative that provides local and organic food and holistic learning through cooking food for our community. They have a Cafe on Congress St, provide local and organic catering and learning programs in collaboration with non-profits and schools in Portland. www.localsproutscooperative.com The United Nations has declared 2012 International Year of Cooperatives.

WHO: University of Southern Maine Sociology Professor Ed Collom, Jonah Fertig and Heather Blersch of Local Sprouts Cooperative, Orion Breen of Hour Exchange Portland, and USM’s Student Sociology Association
WHAT: Empowering Economics: How Worker-Owned Cooperatives and TimeBanks Re-Value Labor and Community
WHERE: Local Sprouts Café, 649 Congress Street, Portland, ME
WHEN: May 31st at 2pm

For more info contact hourexchangeportland@gmail.com of call 207-619-4437.
http://www.facebook.com/events/348463738554653/
Also mentioned in this Portland Daily Sun article:
http://portlanddailysun.me/index.php/opinion/columns/6881-maine-needs-a-healthy-head-start-or-we-will-fall-behind

2011 Year in Review

2011 was an exciting year for the Cooperative Development Institute, and 2012 is shaping up to be great as well. We're thrilled to be participating in celebrations of the International Year of the Cooperative. See our Year in Review:
http://www.cdi.coop/cdi-Year-in-Review-2011.pdf

ROC USA on All Things Considered (NPR)

The NH public radio story that aired last week has now hit the national airwaves on NPR's All Things Considered: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/02/151863518/home-sweet-mobile-home-co-ops-deliver-ownership. We'd like to point out that we are working day and night to help the community referred to in the first part of the story, in Carver, MA, to buy their park. Here's hoping that they can achieve peace of mind along with all of the other Resident Owned Communities being assisted by ROC USA!