Co-op Development
In 2021 Wellspring broadened our mission to include support for cooperative, community-based initiatives – ways that people can collectively provide and decide – such as community gardens, mutual aid, skills shares, workshops on growing/processing food and wellness, tool libraries, and community-based democratic decision-making. These are all examples of solidarity economy practices (see Solidarity Economy page for a more detailed definition). Wellspring’s work remains focused on building our network of worker-owned co-ops, but we believe that building the local solidarity economy is not only important and valuable in its own right, but also complementary to building co-op businesses. It provides a more accessible on-ramp for people to get involved with cooperative and collective practices of self provisioning and participatory democracy, which in turn helps to inspire people to become a co-op worker or start up their own co-op business.
Grow IO
Grow IO is a collaboration of organizations and individuals working to build a thriving and healthy community in Indian Orchard (IO) through solidarity economy initiatives such as community gardening, mutual aid, wellness and exercise programs, workshop and skill shares, and building community engagement in neighborhood planning.
Current organizational members include Wellspring, IOCC (IO Citizens Council), IO Library, Community Survival Center, Orchard Covenant Church and the Greater New Life Christian Center.
We meet on the 2nd Monday of the month from 5:30-6:30 at the IOCC building, 117 Main St., Indian Orchard, MA 01151.
One of the projects that Grow IO was part of was a community visioning process led by UMass Landscape and Architecture class to provide input into redesign projects for Main St. and adjacent areas in Indian Orchard.
Go fresh mobile market
The Go Fresh Mobile Market brings fresh, local produce directly to food deserts in Springfield. We currently have 20 sites that include senior housing, public housing and community centers. People can use their SNAP (formerly food stamps) and HIP (Healthy Incentives Program) benefits to purchase produce. As of 2022, Go Fresh is operating year round thanks to a grants from the state and Health New England.
State Wide Solidarity
Wellspring is proud to have been, and continues to be, at the core of statewide solidarity economy and worker co-op organizing. We believe that building the solidarity economy (SE) is a critical part of developing a supportive ecosystem for co-ops and conversely, that co-ops are a essential part of the SE.
Massachusetts has a relatively long experience with SE. In 2007, the Center for Popular Economics, based at UMass Amherst, co-founded the US Solidarity Economy Network and staffed the network in its early years. Prior to that the term was barely recognized in the U.S. In 2009, the first national SE gathering was held at UMass, Amherst which really launched the SE into public awareness.
In the years that followed, there were a number of SE gatherings and initiatives across the state. In 2018, a loose group of SE organizers invited Kali Akuno from Cooperation Jackson to a gathering in Springfield to discuss Cooperation Jackson’s joined up strategy of connecting the “build” of solidarity economy to the “resist” of grassroots social movements and electoral work.
A year later, in 2019, at our next statewide Solidarity Economy Gathering in Worcester, the participants agreed to launch two sister networks: MASEN (MA Solidarity Economy Network) and COWOP (Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power – see below for more details). MASEN also connects the local SE movement with the national US Solidarity Economy Network, which in turn sits on the Board of RIPESS, the Intercontinental Solidarity Economy Network.
MASEN (Massachusetts Solidarity Economy Network)
The Massachusetts Solidarity Economy Network (MASEN) was founded to connect up the communities, practitioners, neighbors, and organizers active in solidarity economy initiatives across the Commonwealth. MASEN also connects our statewide SE organizing to the national US Solidarity Economy Network, which in turn sits on the Board of RIPESS, the Intercontinental Solidarity Economy Network.
COWOP (Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power)
The Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP) is a growing statewide network that aims to bring together worker co-ops and developers, grassroots organizations and labor unions, and funders and investors to resource and coordinate the advancement of a worker ownership movement across Massachusetts.