The seeds of Wellspring Cooperative emerged from discussions between Emily Kawano, drawing on her work as Coordinator of the US Solidarity Economy Network, and Director of the Center for Popular Economics, and Fred Rose, growing out of his experience as Lead Organizer of the Pioneer Valley Project in Springfield. They convened local community leaders who were interested in finding more cooperative and sustainable strategies to address the lack of job opportunities for Springfield city residents and implement community wealth-building opportunities.

A key inspiration was the Evergreen Cooperatives model in Cleveland that had gained national attention for leveraging the purchasing power of anchor institutions– institutions that are grounded in the community such as hospitals and universities– to create a dependable source of income for large-scale cooperatives. 

Springfield, like Cleveland, is an older industrial city whose largest employers are now the region’s non-profit hospitals, colleges, and universities that anchor the regional economy. In line with the Evergreen Cooperatives’ Cleveland Model, Wellspring Cooperative developed formal partnerships with anchor institutions and researched viable cooperatives that would satisfy their outsourcing needs, as well as needs of the community. 

Another key inspiration was the Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain which is the largest cooperative economy in the world. While Mondragon grew out of economic isolation in Franco’s Spain, perhaps anchor institutions could provide the scale of committed purchasing power needed to build a cooperative economy in America.

Wellspring Cooperative’s first worker-owned business, Wellspring Upholstery opened its doors in December 2013 in Springfield with an initial contract from Berkshire Dining Hall at the University of Massachusetts. Wellspring continued to investigate and grow cooperatives from this approach including Old Window Workshop and Wellspring Harvest.   

While Wellspring was initially focused on developing worker cooperatives through its own business plans, the focus has not been shifted to prioritize technical assistance for groups forming their own co-ops. This shift reflects the desire to support the ideas that come directly from community members. Over four cooperative businesses have joined the Wellspring network this way including Farm Bug, Chronic Trips, and Catalyst Cooperative Healing.

Another major evolution Wellspring has undergone was the pivot towards a holistic approach. With this in mind, Wellspring expanded its focus on community engagement through initiatives that meet immediate community needs. This led to the adoption of Go Fresh Mobile Market from the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts as an expansion of Wellspring Harvest’s food access mission in 2021. Community programs that complement our cooperative develop work can increase community engagement, expand people’s capacity to envision a cooperative economy, and strengthen the cooperative ecosystem.