Democratic Ownership

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stories

Nenad Stojkovic via Flickr

Gar Alperovitz on how change happens over “pizza and some beer”

by Gar Alperovitz

Gar Alperovitz talks about how the democratic economy can come into being much as movements did in the 1960s: “Six friends get together and get some pizza and some beer.” read more
Movement Strategy & History Democratic Ownership
Mylan/Viatris plant protest

The US is about to lose its largest generic pharmaceutical plant. It doesn’t have to.

by Dana Brown

We support a call on the Biden administration to use the Defense Production Act to keep the Viatris Morgantown, West Virginia drug plant open, and to adopt an industrial strategy that prioritizes public health over private greed. read more
Democratic Ownership Health & Wellbeing
Electric infrastructure

Biden’s infrastructure plans are a good start—but we must ensure democratic control

by Thomas Hanna

One of the major punchlines during the Trump era in Washington, D.C. was the ever-occurring ​“infrastructure week”: that ill-fated read more
Democratic Ownership
All health is public health

All health is public health: Busting the myths of choice and commodity

by Dana Brown, Tinashe Goronga, Siddhartha Mehta

For decades, we have been sold a myth of private health. It is a myth that our health is largely a product of individual choices and personal responsibilities. It is a myth that our healthcare is a service that private corporations can provide, and for which we must pay to survive. read more
Health & Wellbeing Democratic Ownership
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Democratic Ownership Stories

videos

Economic Update host Richard Wolff interviews John Duda

Worker co-ops rising

Democracy Collaborative communications director John Duda explains in this edition of “Economic Update with Richard Wolff” how worker cooperatives have become a rising movement that is shaping mainstream economic development strategy around the country. read more
Democratic Ownership
Joe Guinan on Raising Incomes panel

The role of worker ownership in raising incomes

by Isaiah J. Poole

The Next System Project’s Joe Guinan called for a “democratic ownership revolution” at a Washington forum organized to discuss strategies for addressing extreme wealth inequality in the United States. read more
Democratic Ownership

Video: Community Land Trust

by Jarrid Green

CLTs are nonprofit organizations that acquire and steward land in a “trust” for the permanent benefit of low-income communities. This video explains what they can achieve. read more
Community & Place Democratic Ownership
Default Image: Fire

Video: Resident-Owned Community

by Jarrid Green

Resident-owned communities (ROCs)—manufactured housing neighborhoods in which the land is community-owned and managed–are one of the leading sources of affordable housing in the U.S. This video explains their benefits. read more
Democratic Ownership Community & Place
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Democratic Ownership Videos

collections

Circles rising above a cityscape

Principles of a Pluralist Commonwealth

by Gar Alperovitz

Our time demands we meet the challenges inherent in an era of deepening despair and accelerating crises—political, ecological, and economic—that is also potentially the prehistory of transformative and fundamental systemic change. read more
Democratic Ownership
Energy democracy panel RG

Supporting energy democracy through a Green New Deal

by Johanna Bozuwa, Timothy DenHerder-Thomas

To achieve the dual mission of decarbonizing our energy use and addressing economic inequity, the Green New Deal must invest in an energy future based on democratic governance and community control. Here is a suite of policy tools essential to that mission. read more
Environment & Energy Democratic Ownership
Democratic public ownership panel

Ownership futures

Public ownership of railways and road networks, land and natural resources, water and electricity utilities, and banking and postal services helped build the infrastructure, institutions, and technologies of the mid-20th century. Today, public ownership once again has a key role to play in laying the foundations for a transformative and prosperous 21st-century economy. read more
Democratic Ownership
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Democratic Ownership Collections

reports

Health innovation policy for the people

Health innovation policy for the people

by Shobita Parthasarathy

Healthcare innovation policy in the United States has yielded some benefits but has also done harm, specifically when it comes o health equity. This paper identifies four such harms and offers recommendations that address the needs of marginalized communities and produces for all of us the innovations we really need. read more
Health & Wellbeing Democratic Ownership
Regeneration not gentrification

A “new direction”: Rediscovering community wealth building in an age of gentrification

by Nishani Frazier

To preserve communities in the throes of displacement, cooperative movements and new economy advocates must pivot in a new direction that blends place and the democratic economy. This “new direction” actually borrows from an idea nearly 50 years old. read more
Community & Place Democratic Ownership
Revisiting community control of land and housing

Revisiting community control of land and housing in the wake of COVID-19

by Thomas Hanna

As the nation’s housing crisis deepens during the COVID-19 pandemic, we urgently need new approaches and institutions that center permanent affordability, community ownership and control, and the long-term goal of decommodification. read more
Community & Place Democratic Ownership
COVID-19 and 21st century public ownership

COVID-19 and 21st century public ownership

by Thomas Hanna, Mathew Lawrence

COVID-19 has made the case for reimagining the ownership and governance of our economies on both sides of the Atlantic more urgent than ever. To meet the needs of the moment, an agenda to extend democratic public ownership is essential. read more
Democratic Ownership Democracy & Governance
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Democratic Ownership Reports