Our motto is Think, act, critique, learn. We want to help you do those things, too, which is why we’ve expanded our store to include a bunch of our favorite books, games, and educational tools. Check them out below! John Curl’s For All the People A hidden history of cooperation, cooperative movements, and communalism in[…]
We have heard a lot about Cuba’s agricultural sustainability and worker-cooperative transitions, so it was exciting to read this article and see the two share space together. Whats more, the article also explores Cuban land policy as an engine to help build agricultural cooperatives, and keep Cuba’s resources from being grabbed up by foreign multinationals. […]
Submissions Wanted! TESA is excited to announce that we are re-opening our call for submissions of tools, resources, games, curricula, and more! (Check out what we currently distribute on our site.) We would love to review your existing or new resource, and if it is a match, distribute your resource on our website. We are[…]
Cultivate.coop is seeking a MediaWiki savvy programmer for contract work on an as-needed basis. The right person will be conversant in PHP and other relevant server-side languages as well as the front-end stuff. MediaWiki experience and know-how is required, wiki site management experience preferred. There are several immediate tasks to be completed by June 30th,[…]
Crowdfunding campaigns can achieve success beyond cash, especially if you put community first. In this webinar workshop, you’ll learn a campaign approach that starts from the question, “Who is your community? Do they see you as a member?” Part 1, 50 minutes: The Basics with Danny from Peak Agency We’ll cover the basics of low-stress,[…]
Three weeks ago, I returned from a week long 60+ hour training at the Inside Out National Training Institute, just outside Philadelphia. As described by Inside-Out, the “Program is a creative link between two of the largest and most highly-funded institutional and social structures in our country: academia and prisons. These institutions traditionally have very different functions and goals in terms of education, control, and political influence, and they are, in general, alternately oriented towards the most advantaged and disadvantaged social strata in our society.†The program was formalized in 1997, and since then, has used its transformational pedagogy to bring thousands of students from the inside and outside together to learn about a range of subjects from Criminal Justice to Philosophy. This fall I will be teaching Creating Farm and Food Cooperatives in the Franklin County House of Corrections (FCHC) through a partnership between FCHC and Greenfield Community College (GCC), where TESA has taught for the last two years. Given TESA’s and GCC’s plan to teach the Cooperative class to a blended class in the prison, with both inside and outside students, the Inside- Out training was a necessity for us.
The worker-cooperative movement continues to grow, which means more and more people are being introduced to business ownership and the practices of workplace democracy that drive the movement. On its own, starting a new business is extremely difficult, add in new practices like member meetings, democratic decision making, and horizontal management techniques, and the challenges facing a new cooperative or group of cooperators only appear more daunting. Moreover, even as an educator of cooperative techniques and methods, I constantly find myself in need of new skills and advice, whether it be basic accounting, or techniques to educate about non-violent communication. Thankfully the cooperative movement is full of knowledgeable and talented people.
While the economic democracy movement has been expanding, the mainstream media have not kept up. Workplace democracy is no easy task, and many of those looking to make change simply do not have access to the information they need. That’s why we’ve started working with the intrepid journalists at GRITtv to document the movement by interviewing the frontline activists who are fighting for a new economy. This film will be a vital tool to help create a new economy by designing better policies and starting new co-ops.
Our Behind the Project series will give you the scoop about our work. We want to show you what we do and how we do it. We’re proud of our work, inspired by the work our partners do, and we’re committed to transparency as an organization. You’ll get an inside look at what we do and the kinds of projects we can do with you.
The War Resisters League (WRL) has been resisting war at home and war abroad since 1923. Today, as one of the leading radical voices in the antiwar movement, they challenge military recruitment and war profiteering, organize nonviolent direct action, and offer on-the-ground tools to end the current war and all wars.
We worked with WRL to update, develop, and overhaul curriculum, infographics, and interactive activities for WRL’s Tax Day Flyer and nascent Anti-Tear Gas Campaign. Working with WRL facilitators, organizers, and researchers, TESA was able to provide an in-depth and interactive curriculum to be used in correlation with WRL’s yearly tax day activism, and as a gateway workshop to their expanding Anti-Tear Gas Campaign.
Our Behind the Project series will give you the scoop about our work. We want to show you what we do and how we do it. We’re proud of our work, inspired by the work our partners do, and we’re committed to transparency as an organization. You’ll get an inside look at what we do and the kinds of projects we can do with you.
TESA worked with the NCBA to create the Cooperative Teach-In program to connect learning communities and campuses around the country with nearby cooperatives and educational resources on cooperatives. By the time this year-long program was over, TESA had helped to facilitate nearly 100 co-op education opportunities around the country, benefiting thousands.