Events

Come & Learn Lawn Party

Sunday October 3rd, 2021

Join us to learn more about WELLSPRING COOPERATIVE and the many benefits of cooperatives in Springfield.

Meet Wellspring co-directors Fred Rose & Emily Kawano, Board co-chair & Indian Orchard Citizens Council president Zaida Govan, and learn more from some of our cooperative worker-owners.  Zaida will also share information on Indian Orchard Citizens Council’s Grow IO initiative to build community and wellness in their neighborhood. There will be refreshments too.

Location:  Lawn of Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse - 121 Pinevale Street, Indian Orchard

Time: 3 to 4:30pm

For everyone's safety, all local and CDC precautions for outdoor activities will be followed.

Hope to see you there!

Please RSVP here.

If necessary, rain date will be Sunday, October 10th

Recent Events

Wellspring is involved in local and national initiatives that educate the public about solidarity economy and cooperatives! Be sure to check out some of the educational events we've been a part of below-- click on the links to learn more.   

The Industrial Commons: Scaling Up a Co-op Ecosystem Through Value Chain Development

Learn about the revival and transformation of the textile industry in western North Carolina. The Industrial Commons is an economic ecosystem of employee-owned social enterprises and industry cooperatives that brings workers and manufacturers together to find triple-bottom-line solutions to entrenched manufacturing issues. This conversation and kick-off event discussed the possibilities of utilizing economic 'Value Chains' to create a cooperative ecosystem in Springfield.

Business Continuity and Ownership-Transition Options Panel

On Monday, May 17th, 2021 Our Co-director Fred Rose joined the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center in a virtual panel to discuss transition options for businesses to become cooperatively owned.

Solidarity Economy & Pathways to a More Just and Sustainable World

Wellspring partnered with a Sexual Domestic Violence Taskforce to provide a three-part training series for SDV advocates and allies around the tenets of solidarity economy. 

To view the recording of these trainings, click on the following links below: 

Workshop 1

Workshop 2  

Workshop 3  

Remaking the Economy: Envisioning a Restorative Future of Work

Our Co-Director Emily Kawano joined in a Non-profit Quarterly Webinar “Remaking the Economy” series  to look at “the workplace of today while exploring how our work lives might be transformed to support health and wellbeing, promote restorative justice, and provide not just ‘jobs’ but livelihoods.”

Beyond the Great Reset: The Systems Change Summit. 

Listen to Emily Kawano share about the solidarity economy and system change work as a part of the Systems Change Summit. 

Wellspring General Assembly

Unions & co-ops: Promise, potential, and a pathway forward

Sponsored by Wellspring Cooperative & Western Mass Area Labor Federation

Thursday, Sept 3, 2020 - 4:00-5:30pm ET via Zoom

Registration required

We are at a crossroad in history where the pandemic, racial justice uprisings, climate change, and a downward economic spiral are creating openings to push for deep change. In honor of Labor Day, this webinar will explore the common roots between cooperatives and unions, as well as the potential and current initiatives to forge union-co-ops so that workers are not just fighting for a bigger piece of the pie, but for control of the whole damn thing.

PROGRAM

4:00-4:05    Welcome & Interactive Exercise - Lydia Wood, WMALF & Kristan Bakker, Wellspring

4:05-4:30   Wellspring & Wellspring Labor/Co-op Committee/ Why Co-ops?

4:30-4:45    Co-ops and Labor - Patrick Burke, WMALF

• • • • • • • National Labor-Co-op movements
            • History of co-ops in labor and economic justice struggles. 
            • How can unions be more proactive rather than reactive

4:45-5:10    Concurrent Session Breakouts

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Co-ops 101 - ask me anything (Wellspring)
            2. Co-op Cincy – how Cincinnati Union Co-op got its start and functions now (Ellen Vera, Co-op Cincy/Jeff Jones, UFCW 1459)
            3. Co-ops born of struggle: New Era Windows, Chicago, IL and Collective Copies, Amherst, MA - (Steve Strimer, Collective Copies/Jon Weissman, Wellspring Labor/Co-op Comm.)
            4. WorX Printing, Worcester, MA: A co-op born of the Anti-Sweatshop movement & Steelworkers-Mondragon partnership (Kevin O’Brien, WorX/Lynn Duggan, Wellspring Labor/Co-op Comm.)

5:10-5:30    Brainstorm: Potential to Collaborate
 

Registration required

For more information, contact Jon Weissman, unionyes@gogtt.net

Springfield City Council, Economic Development Committee Meeting

with Wellspring Cooperative

"Inclusive economic development through worker co-ops: the case for supportive policies in Springfield"

Thursday, February 13, 2020, 5:00 pm

Room 200, City Hall, 36 Court St., Springfield, MA

Background documents:

Comparisons of City Policies Supporting Co-ops

Registration link: https://forms.gle/jxQMrVaedyGq9TVQ8

For more information email emilykawano@gmail.com or call 413-461-8203

Wellspring worked with UACT (UMass Alliance for Community Transformation) to organize a Building a Co-op Ecosystem visioning process in Springfield a couple of weeks ago. The session included folks from various sectors that we need to work together to support a cooperative economy. It was really great, very energizing, and the ideas/discussions were captured in a stunning graphic mural which will be unveiled at this event.  We hope that folks who participated in the visioning session, as well as anyone interested in joining in the conversation, or getting involved in building a co-op ecosystem will come!

Cooperation Jackson - Kali Akuno

April 27, 2018,  6:00-8:00 pm, Mahar Auditorium, UMass, Amherst

Wellspring Harvest Community Meeting

April 18, 2018- 6:00 pm

Indian Orchard Library, 44 Oak St, Springfield, MA 01151 (Map)

Worker Co-op Boot Camp - March 1-May 31, 2018

Springfield Technical Community College, Thursdays, 6:00-9:00pm

Are you interested in co-owning your own business? Join the worker co-operative wave that is sweeping the country.

Come learn about what co-operatives are, why they are good for workers, the local economy, and communities.

For more details please visit the Co-op Boot Camp page.

Wellspring General Assembly &

Western Mass. Cooperative Economy Festival

Wellspring Harvest Ribbon Cutting

& Co-op Tour

November 15, 2017

We're almost there!

Come and celebrate the completion of the Wellspring Harvest greenhouse, followed by a tour of Wellspring's other worker co-ops.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

121 Pinevale St. Indian Orchard, Springfield, MA 01151

11:-12:00 Wellspring Harvest Greenhouse ribbon cutting & reception

12-1:00 Tour of Wellspring Upholstery & Old Window Workshop Co-ops

Please let us know if you're coming to the ribbon cutting:

Yes, Count me in for the ribbon cutting

Spaces are limited for the Co-op tour. Please register with the button below.

Co-op Conversions:

A Strategy to Save Jobs and Build Economic Democracy

• Camille Kerr, ICA Group, lawyer, business consultant, and advocate for various forms of employee ownership.
  
• Rep. Paul W. Mark, sponsor of the MA Office for Employee Involvement & Ownership bill
• Case studies: Annie Winkler, Real Pickles and Tom Ewing, Ewing Controls, two local businesses that have gone through a conversion process.

  

Why convert a conventional business to an employee owned enterprise?

• Save businesses and jobs
• Build community assets - workers profit as the business does
• Promote economic democracy - giving workers a voice in running the business
• Owners can access tax incentives for selling their business to workers
• A strategy to address the coming "silver tsunami" of small business owners from the boomer generation who are approaching retirement - many without a succession plan.

Co-sponsored by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and the Worker Cooperative Boot Camp project - a workforce training program offered through Springfield Technical Community College, in partnership with Wellspring Cooperative, Arise for Social Justice, United Food & Commercial Workers 1459, YWCA, and the Association of Black and Business Professionals.

Lunch & Learn: Play the game of Co-opoly

 

Lunch & Learn: Meet Pioneer Valley's
Worker Co-ops
where workers own their own business

Wellspring Breaks Ground on Springfield’s First Production Greenhouse:

Celebrate with us at a Press Conference and Reception:

Thursday June 8th, 2017 

11am to 12pm— at the greenhouse site (121 Pinevale St) 

12pm to 1pm—reception at the Greater New Life Christian Center (1326 Worcester St)

Cooperatives & the African American Struggle

for Justice, Survival and Economic Development

Thursday April 27, 2017

4:45-5:00 pm registration & REFRESHMENTS      5:00-7:00 Workshop

Techspring, 5th floor, 1350 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103

(Parking validation will be provided)

Copies of Dr. Nembhard’s book will be available for purchase and signing.

Jessica Gordon Nembhard, author of the groundbreaking book, Collective Courage: A History of African-American Economic Thought and Practice, will facilitate an exploration of the rich history of African American economic cooperation and its role in movements for Black Civil Rights and economic equality.

Drawing on this inspiring history, participants will:

• Understand the compelling case for using cooperatives in inclusive economic development strategies;

• Understand how cooperatives address poverty and the marginalization of communities of color and immigrants;

• Understand how cooperatives can bridge divides in the common interest of creating good jobs that are rooted in the community;

• Understand how cooperatives create opportunities for business ownership, wealth building and democratic management.

   

About the Speaker: Jessica Gordon Nembhard is a political economist and Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Africana Studies Department at John Jay College, City University of NY. She is also a member of the Grassroots Economic Organizing Collective, the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy, and the US Solidarity Economy Network; and a member of the Leadership Team of Organizing Neighborhood Equity (ONE) DC. She was inducted into the Co-op Hall of Fame in 2016.

This workshop is one of a series of public events about cooperatives that are being organized as part of the Worker Cooperative Boot Camp Project. This Wellspring Cooperative initiative brings together a range of partners to develop a worker co-op certificate program through the Workforce Training program at Springfield Technical Community College. Participants of this certificate program will learn what it takes to work in a cooperative or to start one of their own.

Worker Cooperative Boot Camp Project partners include Arise for Social Justice, Association of Black Business and Professionals, Springfield Technical Community College, Workforce Training Program, United Food & Commercial Workers 1459, Wellspring Cooperative, and YWCA.

Workshop proudly sponsored by Baystate Health and Wellspring Cooperative

Invest In Your Values

Join us for light refreshments and demonstrations of healthy cooking & hydroponics.

Learn about an exciting opportunity to invest in Wellspring Harvest,

an urban hydroponic greenhouse co-operative, creating jobs, worker ownership and

fresh, local produce all year round in Springfield, MA.

When: Wednesday, September 7, 2016 5:30-7:30 PM

Where: Carriage House at the Barney Estate, Forest Park, Springfield, MA 01108

(map & directions)

Special guest: Mayor Domenic Sarno