The cooperative model serves as an alternative to traditional capitalism and has the potential to open doors for individuals and communities who may have historically been excluded from opportunities to generate wealth. Research suggests cooperatives may indeed be the key to building a more equitable, sustainable economy. But how can new co-ops get the support they need to get off the ground, grow, and thrive? One organization is working to answer that question.

Meet Start.coop

Formally known as Cooperatives for a Better World, Start.coop was designed with cooperatives — and their members — in mind. Start.coop’s mission is to “cultivate the next generation of cooperative businesses at scale…” To do this, the organization has three primary programs: an incubator program, an accelerator program, and design and coaching services. 

To this end, Start.coop has also established a sister organization, The Equitable Economy Fund. A pilot fund of $2 million, The EEF was designed to match angel investors to co-ops to ensure said co-ops have the capital they need to succeed within the shared ownership model. 

Co-directors Greg Brodksy and Jessica Mason are the driving forces behind both Start.coop and The Equitable Economy Fund. Brodsky is a seasoned start-up and co-op strategist and founder and co-director of the accelerator program. He also runs the Equitable Economy Fund. Prior to his current role, he founded the Bike Cooperative and helped launch the nation’s first purchasing co-op for craft breweries. 

Like Brodsky, Mason’s work centers on helping co-ops address the challenges associated with shared ownership head on. An angel investor herself, she previously was the founder of The Social Impact Studio. In addition to her work with Start.coop, Mason is on the faculty of Foster America (an organization that sponsors a fellowship program to equip the next generation of child welfare leaders) and is a board member of the artist-owned cooperative Ampled, which previously benefited from the resources offered by Start.coop’s accelerator program.

The programs in action

The Equitable Economy Fund is a pooled investment fund exempt from registration with the SEC. As such, only accredited investors are able to invest in the Fund. Investors have access to a diversified portfolio that contains several different cooperatives, as well as other shared-ownership companies — all of whom are graduates of Start.coop’s accelerator program. If a cooperative or shared ownership company shows exceptional potential, then accredited investors have the option to invest more in a subsequent round (known as follow-on capital). 

Start.coop’s annual accelerator program is based around a cohort model. Over the course of 16 weeks, the virtual program offers coaching, mentorship, platform service access, and an investment of $10,000 per team. Graduates who are considered high-performing are eligible to apply for $50,000 in follow-up funding. Eight companies were selected as part of the most recent 2022 accelerator program:

• Freelancer Guilded Cooperative provides contract management, tax preparation, and healthcare for freelance artists. 
• The first breast milk bank owned by nursing mothers, Mother’s Milk Cooperative provides breast milk to premature babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). 
• A joint venture between Navajo Power and Iluméxico (which provides affordable solar energy in Mexico), Navajo Power Home provides solar power to homes on Navajo and Hopi lands that were previously without electricity. 
• More than just a creative writing software program, Novlr also allows writers to make money from their writing. 
• Montreal-based Radish Cooperative is an online food delivery service owned by restaurants, consumers, and couriers. 
• SMAT provides tools for journalists to analyze hate and disinformation online. 
• Owned by its members, StyleCrush is an online resale market offering sustainable fashion curated into “mini-collections.”
• Based in Southwest Atlanta, The Guild is dedicated to building affordable mixed-use real estate for community members and activists as a way to “build a pathway to ownership for Black and Brown people.”
• The Nearness is a digital cooperative fostering “small-group rituals and soulful conversations” through a spiritual community.

Addressing pervasive inequities in funding

In putting forth its mission, Start.coop recognizes that “only a tiny fraction of the 30,000 co-ops in the United States are Black-owned”. With its focus on funding cooperatives owned by women and people of color, Start.coop is dedicated to ensuring that these often-excluded cooperatives have the resources they need to thrive. Funding recipients’ missions often address pressing issues that are often overlooked by traditional accelerator programs, but can have real implications for marginalized people and communities. These include the rise of the gig economy, the exploitation of workers in fast fashion, the rise of fake news, and the skyrocketing cost of housing.

In 2020, Y Combinator (a well-known American technology startup accelerator who Start.coop has been compared to) released data on the diversity of the companies it funded. Of the nearly 200 companies hosted in their summer 2020 cohort, only 16 percent o had a woman founder and only 9 percent had a Black founder. 

With the Equitable Economy Fund, Start.coop hopes to paint a different picture for the future of funding. Noting in its mission that historical inequities in access and capital have stifled marginalized communities’ ability to thrive in traditional (and cooperative) economic spaces, Sart.coop says it is working “to address systemic racism and the root causes of inequality.” 

Success stories and long term vision 

Several startups have benefited from both Start.coop’s accelerator program and the Equitable Economy Fund. Two “alumni” include Obran Cooperative and UPROOT Homes. Obran Cooperative is a worker-owned staffing company with a focus on empowering people of color, including formerly incarcerated individuals. One of its two brands is Core Staffing, a staffing agency for returning citizens (people who are returning to society after being released from prison). Employees work in various industries,including food processing, light manufacturing, and warehouse operations. 

UPROOT Homes, recognizing that 650,000 military families relocate every year, is dedicated to helping these families access homeownership and its financial benefits. UPROOT allows a succession of short-term homeowners to pay down a mortgage together and all access the long-term benefits of having a paid-off home. 

Speaking to The Rework Podcast, Start.coop’s co-director Greg Brodsky says, “…a lot of our business curriculum might look like Y Combinator, or 500 Startups. But the two pieces that look really different are the governance aspect, and then the fundraising aspect. [When you invest in cooperatives] the goal is to create long term ownership within that community, whether that community is workers or consumers or farmers or musicians.” 

In this way, Start.coop and its Equitable Economy Fund are determined to help cooperatives,and the often-marginalized communities they serve,hone their potential and find their footing. Brodsky continues, “We’re not trying to sell the company; we’re trying to bring that company wealth and voice.”

Check out these related articles:

• ‘Solidarity investing’ club helps plant a new crop of co-ops in Vermont
• Racism in finance has sparked a grassroots response. Meet the Boston Ujima Project.
• Acquisition-conversion: the promising new strategy for scaling worker ownership

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After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Superior in 2000, Abeywickrema worked for Oracle, PayPal, and then LinkedIn. In many ways, he was living the dream; he had a house in Silicon Valley and a job with a high-profile technology company–LinkedIn.

But change was in the air. Social networking was changing how people connected with one another, climate change was on everyone’s minds, and a global financial crisis was just around the corner. These factors would eventually lead Abeywickrema to found a company in the sharing economy, a trend that was just starting to heat up.  

But in June 2008, all Abeywickrema wanted to do was borrow a wheelbarrow from his neighbor. This ordinary occurrence inspired Abeywickrema to start a sharing economy business. He quit his job at LinkedIn and committed fully to his entrepreneurial venture. 

He began by co-founding Rentalic, short for Rental in Community. Rentalic was a peer-to-peer online rental marketplace. In March 2009, he won the 2009 PayPal X Developer Challenge Innovation award for his work on Rentalic. His winnings included a $50,000 prize and $50,000 in deferred PayPal fees. The funds allowed the company to build and maintain Rentalic’s platform in-house, which helped the company save money as their traffic grew.

When Rentalic won the PayPal award, the platform had 1,000 users in five states. By October 2010, Rentalic had grown to over 4,500 users in 146 cities, all by word of mouth. People were excited to monetize unused items and invigorated by the prospect of implementing new sharing-related economic practices, as Abeywickrema put it at the time, of “renting to and from each other.”  The future looked bright, but trouble was just around the corner. 

Two years after Abeywickrema’s “wheelbarrow moment,” he found himself staring at the “For Sale” sign in his front yard. He had lost everything in pursuit of his startup dream. He moved back into his parents’ home in Sri Lanka. Growing up in Sri Lanka, Abeywickrema was used to the idea of people in a tight-knit community helping each other. He wondered why that simple concept felt less feasible in the United States. And he questioned what had gone wrong with Rentalic. 

His mother told him a story about a spider building a web; even if the wind knocks the web down, the spider continues to build the web until the wind can’t knock it down. His mother said, “Learn from the spider. Don’t give up. Keep going. You can do this.” Abeywickrema described this conversation as a turning point that prompted him to analyze Rentalic’s failure. 

He took a methodical approach to analyzing what worked and what didn’t. The foundation of the business was sound; sharing resources just made sense. But there were business model, marketing, user experience, and other challenges. To address these challenges, Abeywickrema decided to ask consumers. He formed focus groups, listened to users, and gained value insights.

He also he built a software development team in Sri Lanka to reduce expenses. To be better focused, he decided that his next company would be laser-focused on the travelers who needed to rent items while at their destination, at least at first. 

Using what he learned from Rentalic, Abeywickrema started a completely new company called Cloud of Goods. Initially, the company grew quickly attracting attention from as far away as South Africa. When COVID-19 hit, the company, like many others, sales plummeted. Its bank account went negative, they lost all their in-house inventory, and the future looked bleak.

But Abeywickrema had a plan. On January 1, 2021, Cloud of Goods shifted it’s model: Instead of the company or individuals supplying rental inventory, partners would. Cloud of Goods became a platform that enabled any existing or new rental business to set up an online rental shop.

The ingenious move revived the business and made Cloud of Goods a successful gig and sharing economy platform. Today, Cloud of Goods bills itself as “the largest equipment rental marketplace on the planet” and has operations in over 50 U.S. cities. 

What’s next for Abeywickrema? In addition to growing Cloud of Goods, he’s also started two other ventures: iLabs.lk, and JobEka.lk. iLabs provides is an offshore software development company service Silicon Valley startups. It also maintains Cloud of Goods’ platform. JobEka.lk is a website that allows Sri Lankans to search for remote job opportunities from around the world.

Abeywickrema’s choice to invest in Sri Lankan professionals is a testimony to how much his heritage has influenced his personal path and success. His work also conveys his greater belief that sharing ideas and successes should be a fundamental practice of our collective future.

In a July 2011 conversation with Shareable’s Neal Gorenflo and Henrietta J. Burroughs, Abeywickrema described the sharing economy as a worldwide movement, saying “the environmental factors, economic factors, and the cultural changes are fueling the movement.” It’s a movement worth fighting to maintain, and one that Abeywickrema never gave up on. 

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However, many libraries are starting to employ people in new, non-librarian roles to better meet the changing needs of the communities they serve. The below nine cutting-edge jobs within libraries showcase the evolving role of this uniquely flexible public institution, an institution whose value as social infrastructure only seems to grow as crisis after crisis rocks society.

Public Health Nurse

In Arizona, the Pima County Public Library has forged a partnership with the Pima County Health Department in which a team of public health nurses provides services to library patrons from Tucson and the surrounding area. One nurse works full-time in the library, and they’re all dedicated to ensuring the physical and mental well-being of patrons. These nurses educate patrons on nutrition, perform blood pressure screenings, engage in case management, and refer patrons to outside services if needed. 

Homeless Services Coordinator

Many unhoused individuals rely on libraries for a safe place to stay during the day, a computer to use for job hunting or email, and a sense of community. Libraries recognize this growing cohort of library patrons and are responding to their needs. In Dallas, Texas, a full-time homeless coordinator works at the Dallas Public Library’s Central Library. In San Francisco, a full-time psychiatric social worker coordinates services for the homeless. And in both Tucson and Dallas, library patrons with a personal connection to the cause are also taking up the torch to help those currently experiencing homelessness. The San Francisco library employs a team of formerly homeless patrons as health and safety associates, known as HASAs. These staff members seek out those in need of help and connect with them on a personal level. And in Tucson, a team of unhoused individuals volunteer at the help desk and help run the homeless engagement programs. 

Farmers Market Manager

When you think of libraries, you don’t usually think of food; after all, eating is typically forbidden in libraries! In North Carolina, however, the High Point Public Library is the site of the local farmers market, which runs from April to October. During those months, the High Point Farmers Market is open every Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and features healthy, fresh produce, herbs, and even crafts from local vendors. 

Lee Gann, a city contractor, is the farmers market manager at the library. The grandson of tenant farmers, he was involved in farming until age 17, when he went off to college. Upon graduation, he worked in corporate America for 20 years until the Great Recession of 2008 led his company to downsize. That’s when he decided to return to his roots. He works land owned by his uncle and sells cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, and corn. His farm is just one of five farms and eighteen stalls represented at the market, which accepts government food payouts to help reduce food insecurity among low-income individuals and improve access to healthy, local food to curb the obesity crisis. 

Gann is also involved in other initiatives and serves on the board of Growing High Point, which helps residents working in urban gardens to sell their produce at the library. Gann says the city has been a strong supporter of the library and the farmers market. “We do the best we can to improve High Point,” he says, including services like blood pressure screenings, which have also been performed inside the building. According to Library Director Mary Sizemore, who is heavily involved in the farmers market and is there most Saturdays: “Everything that we do in the farmers market was just the same thing that we were doing inside the building. We’re just taking it outside.”

Program Coordinator for Indigenous Placemaking 

In Canada, the Calgary Public Library has made great strides in honoring the Indigenous communities within the Treaty 7 area of southern Alberta. At the heart of this initiative is the idea of Indigenous placemaking. Livia Manywounds, a former reporter for the CBC, recently became the library’s program coordinator for Indigenous placemaking. According to Manywounds: “Through Indigenous placemaking, the Library welcomes Indigenous artists from or connected to the diverse nations and communities within Treaty 7 territory to create permanent artwork installations for Library locations. The creation of these works inspires collaboration among artists of all disciplines, backgrounds, and experience levels.” 

Starting in 2017, with a goal of “making Indigenous visual and oral storytelling more prominent in Library locations,” the library and the members of the Indigenous Place Making Council of Canada received input from Stoney Nation, Siksika Nation, Tsuu’tina Nation, Métis Nation of Alberta, and the Aboriginal Friendship Center of Calgary. Three branches of the Calgary library system now feature art by Indigenous artists.

These include Lionel Peyachew’s sculpture Education is the New Buffalo, in which Indigenous words cover the surface of a buffalo sculpture. Commenting on Peyachew’s work, the library writes: “The North American Bison, who like the Indigenous cultures was on the brink of extinction and like the Indigenous people, has recently [begun] to grow in numbers.”  

The Calgary Public Library’s Indigenous services team also shares Indigenous art via social media, and runs a three-month, paid artist-in-residence program.

Social Worker

At the Long Branch Free Public Library in New Jersey, David Perez is the only full-time, library-based social worker in the state, according to NPR. Library social workers teach technology courses, help job seekers find employment, connect patrons to mental health and legal services, and refer homeless patrons to local social services. (Patrons in need often feel more comfortable asking for help from library-based social workers, because there is no stigma attached to entering a library.) The role of social workers in libraries continues to evolve. For example, the Long Beach Free Public Library even carries two doses of Narcan to treat opioid overdoses in an emergency.  As community needs shift, many libraries are striving to meet patrons where they are.  

Youth & Family Services Consultant

Libraries have long prioritized children’s programming, from story hour to summer reading initiatives to personalized book recommendations. However, there are only 50 librarians nationwide who specifically work at state libraries on statewide initiatives to support children. Beth Crist, youth & family services consultant at the Colorado State Library, is one of them.  

“The Colorado State Library is the third state library I’ve worked for, actually, and it’s a niche I really enjoy. The position requires a lot of project management, training, and collaboration,” says Crist. “I have the wonderful opportunity to work with library staff from all the public and military libraries across Colorado that work with kids and teens, and I’m constantly inspired by their dedication to kids, their communities, and the highest level of customer service; their creativity and resourcefulness; their enthusiasm for sharing with their colleagues; and their true passion for kids and librarianship.” 

Crist is particularly proud of two initiatives. The first is Check Out Colorado State Parks. Crist explains: “With our amazing partner Colorado Parks and Wildlife, another state agency, we provide state park passes and nature backpacks with binoculars, four field guides, a Leave No Trace outdoor ethics card, a fishing basics guide, and a state park brochure to libraries statewide.” Each participating library can circulate these materials to their patrons for a week at a time. 

Another initiative, Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy, supports local librarians serving children 6 years old and younger. The program includes recorded songs and rhymes appropriate for early childhood pre-literacy development and are available in 10 languages. “I enjoy the state-level perspective of this role,” Crist says, “and really getting to know the libraries across the state and engaging with their staff.” 

Deaf Literacy Coordinator

The Tampa Bay area is home to nearly 350,000 deaf or hard of hearing individuals—the largest such community in Florida, according to the Florida Association of the Deaf. To better serve this population, the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative houses the Deaf Literacy Center.

The program first began as an initiative in the city of Safety Harbor and eventually spread to the rest of Pinellas County. Why is the Deaf Literacy Center important? A history of language deprivation means that deaf individuals often have lower reading levels than hearing peers. To address this, Deaf Literacy Coordinator Rosa Rodriguez and a team of four staff members coordinate programming, which includes American Sign Language classes, an Optimist Club, a deaf-art workshops, a deaf summer camp, and a “Deaf Battle of the Books,” according to Deaf Literacy Center Program Assistant Jessica Rottloff. 

The Deaf Literacy Center provides services so that deaf patrons can not only access the library’s offerings, but can also thrive within the library setting. 

Health and Wellness Coordinator

At the Kansas City Public Library, Amanda Landayan, the Library’s health and wellness librarian, is dedicated to helping patrons reach their health and wellness goals, according to Northeast News. The Northeast Branch of the library offers a variety of fitness classes, from cardio kickboxing to tai chi, all facilitated by a personal fitness trainer. In Nashville, the Be Well at NPL initiative, coordinated by Elizabeth Roth, is also focused on library patrons’ physical health. At the Roseland Free Public Library in New Jersey, Sandra Michelson, the cataloguing specialist, is also a certified mindfulness instructor and has a second role as the library’s health and wellness coordinator. While the library has long been a place to exercise your mind, these jobs prove that libraries are expanding their role to include physical exercise and mental health too. 

Little Free Library Coordinator 

The Port Washington Public Library on Long Island in New York State has placed two Little Free Libraries in its community, each of which provides books in more than one language. The program is overseen by the library’s director of children’s services, Rachel Fox, who also serves as the Little Free Library coordinator, according to The Island Now. Shareable previously covered the Little Free Library movement in an article about the legacy of the movement’s founder, Minnesota native Todd Bol. According to the Little Free Library nonprofit, there are at least 80,000 Little Free Libraries located in all 50 states and at least 91 countries. But you don’t have to go far to find a Little Free Library. As demonstrated by the Port Washington Public Library, this mini book-swap opportunity might be just around the corner.

What is driving this new trend among libraries? According to Noah Lenstra, assistant professor of library and Information science at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, “the trend driving this movement is the turn of public libraries towards community-centered needs.” The next time you walk into your local library, don’t be surprised by the wide variety of staff working there.

Check out these related articles:

• The Library of Things: 8 Spaces Changing How We Think About Stuff
• Community gardens are cropping up at public libraries everywhere
• Public libraries are giving away an insane amount of free food

The post 9 unique library jobs that have nothing to do with books appeared first on Shareable.

The Sacramento Public Library has built up one of the largest and most respected Libraries of Things in the nation. At two locations and expanding into a third, its Library of Things catalog lists 120 items including handheld metal detectors, an air compressor, projectors, button-making machines, games, musical equipment, digital cameras, pressure washers, sewing machines, telescopes and even a post hole digger. 

Across the country in  Illinois, the Kankakee Public Library has just started  a Library of Things with 17 items – including a ukulele. One challenge they face is that organizers don’t currently have a place to display the items, so they rely on a binder to advertise the library’s existence. 

What does it really take to start a Library of Things within an existing library? While every librarian or community member might have a different perspective, it is important to identify community needs and obtain objects that will serve those needs. Libraries must be open to feedback and adapt to member needs. Passion is important but so are logistics – that’s why building a Library of Things within the strong infrastructure of a public library can lead to a very successful LoT.

Five steps to start a library of things within a library

1. Gather a multidisciplinary team and build resources

When first developing a library-based Library of Things, it’s important to have clear goals. “We thought the idea of the Library of Things would [be] fun, useful, and helpful.  One one hand we thought of purchasing items that you use only once a year and therefore don’t need to invest money into.  Instead of going to the store or borrowing from a neighbor you can come straight to our library. On the other had we also thought it would be a great way to try a product before purchasing it,” says Vicky Forquer of the Kankakee Public Library in Illinois. Once you have clear goals, it’s important to gather a team that can support the achievement of those goals. 

While the idea for a Library of Things might come from one librarian, no one should embark on this endeavor without a support system. Think about what you might need to get the project off the ground, like legal advice and a marketing plan, and clearly define roles for each member. These roles might already exist within the library, but tackling a new project will require renewed commitment from all involved.

Next, seek out the resources you will need to get off the ground, remembering that you don’t have to start from scratch. Share Starter has published documents with advice on everything from bylaw wording to marketing strategies. Learn from pioneers  like Gene Homicki, the cofounder and CEO of MyTurn, a software program used by over 400 Libraries of Things to catalog and organize their items. 

While a committed team is essential, make sure that the program is bigger than any one person. If a program leader quits, will the Library of Things be thrown into a tailspin? More than one Library of Things has fallen apart following the sudden departure of a core team member. Distribute tasks and set up a system of checks and balances to ensure that power is decentralized. 

2. Develop a budget

Even within an existing library system, the Library of Things still depends on funding, so develop a clear and realistic budget. How much should be invested in the project at the beginning? Set up a realistic and sustainable system for fees, returns, and fines to make sure that items are returned on time and in good condition. Many public library-based LoTs are totally free, but others may charge a small fee to use big-ticket items like lawnmowers or expensive power tools. It may be possible to tap into the library’s existing budget to fund a new Library of Things or leverage its nonprofit or government status to apply for grants. Molly Milazzo, Youth Services Librarian at the Sacramento Public Library’s Arcade Branch, says their Library of Things began as a grant-funded initiative but has since been absorbed into the library’s general budget.

Along with a budget, don’t forget about insurance. Public libraries may need to get an additional rider on their insurance policy when starting a Library of Things, but they may also be fully covered under their municipality. Either way, read the small print before stocking potentially dangerous items like chainsaws.

3. Do market research in your community. 

Every community is different, so no two Libraries of Things are exactly alike. To ensure that your LoT fulfills a purpose, librarians must be attuned to the needs of the community—both immediate and long-term. Vicky Forquer of the Kankakee Public Library in Illinois said geography was a factor: “I would suggest starting small. Also, what works for one library won’t work for another. For example, we heard of a library checking out fishing poles. We didn’t think this would be popular in our community.” Fishing poles may not be popular in Kankakee but in Mesa, Arizona, a hiking kit or telescope (both available at the Stuffbrary) might fly off the shelves. In an urban food desert, gardening equipment could fill a need, while board games would be a welcome addition to a community with many young families.

Milazzo encourages librarians to “reach out to individual community members and local organizations for feedback; some of their suggestions may surprise you and will make for a richer collection.” Once you’ve identified community needs, consider posting a wish list if you are soliciting donated items. Doing basic local market research will ensure that the Library of Things makes an impact. 

4. Plan storage and organization.

Many physical objects at LoTs can be bulky, which creates the challenge of how to store and display the items. Milazzo says, “Think as deeply as possible about the possibility of expansion (adding new items to the collection), maintenance, and storage of the collection. How large or small of a collection can your site conceivably support?” Storage is one challenge that the Kankakee Public Library system is facing right now. Forquer says, “As of right now, we don’t have a display case to show the items. We have a binder with all the items, which works for now but we want the items to shine!”

You also need to catalog the items and set up a system for lending them. Some libraries have incorporated the items into their existing catalog systems, while others use MyTurn, including the Sacramento library. One advantage of donated items is that the entire community often feels a sense of ownership and responsibility regarding the items, making it more likely that the items are returned on time and in good condition.

5. Keep an open mind.

Starting and running a library-based Library of Things is not without its challenges, which is why it requires an open mind. Learning about the objects is a significant aspect of ensuring that the community benefits from them but it can be time-consuming. If librarians embrace it as part of their daily life, the community will benefit. The librarians who oversee the Sacramento Public Library’s Library of Things have taken a hands-on approach from day one. They polled the community and, once the items were acquired, they used them themselves to make sure they knew how to show members how to use them. Milazzo said that having staff handle the items themselves — taking a GoPro on vacation, using a sewing machine, and testing a hedge trimmer and leaf blower — helped them anticipate potential complications and buy additional supplies like needles and thread.” As with any area of the library, such experimentation has allowed us to speak with greater authority about this collection and the different ways our patrons can use it.” 

Sometimes change means downsizing or expansion. The Sacramento Public Library is considering expanding its Library of Things to South Sacramento. Milazzo explains, “We’re considering both the individual needs of South Sacramento communities and using data accumulated from the Library of Things on the most/least popular items, as well as which items require more attention than others (i.e. a lot of accessories that we’ve had to keep track of). Ultimately, this will likely manifest in an online poll and in-person feedback from patrons, since those methods have served us well in the past.” 

When libraries decide to start a Library of Things, they leverage their reputation as a well-known, trusted community resource to meet a community need. With a clear plan, flexibility, and a dedication to patrons, Libraries of Things have the potential to change members’ lives for the better. 

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This post is part of our 2020 editorial series on libraries of things. Download the free ebook from the series here.

The post How to start a Library of Things inside an existing library appeared first on Shareable.

Why are Mother Centers needed in South Korea? The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020 ranked South Korea 108th out of 153 countries in gender parity (including economic participation and empowerment, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment). As a result, women are often expected to take primary responsibility for child-rearing in lieu of a career, but many lack the resources to do so. 

The Korea Herald cites a 2018 report from the Korea Population, Health and Welfare Association, which found that 63 percent of unwed mothers cannot afford medical treatment, while 70 percent suffer from depression. Only 11 percent of mothers surveyed were receiving child support from their child’s father, likely because failure to pay child support is not a crime in Korea. Of those surveyed, 61.6 percent said that they had no earned income. Government assistance can only go so far. Mother Centers provide a sense of hope — again, for all parents, not just single mothers.

In the city of Chuncheon, the capital of the northern province of Gangwon and a city of around 280,000 people located in a river basin, the Chuncheon Women’s Cooperative Mother Center is leading the way. Opened in October 2013, it is affiliated with the Chuncheon Women’s Organization, and provides childcare and education services to women. It is run as a cooperative and identifies as a feminist community opposed to neoliberalism.

This attitude extends to every aspect of the center, as members are empowered to take charge of their health, wellbeing and futures. Community meetings are a cornerstone of the program, and any member can call a meeting. Small groups include one for yoga; a nonviolent conversation group; a feminist reading group; and a writing club. There is also a community nursery, library and café.

Community stretches into the digital space as well, with members exchanging ideas on an online notice-board forum. The impact of the Mother Center extends far beyond its walls, as it reaches into the community to support individuals who may or may not be members. 

One of the latest initiatives to spring from this Mother Center is the MotherBox, a project of the Chuncheon Social Living Lab. The program aims to level the playing field for all families with new babies, ensuring parents and children start off on the right foot. The boxes contain various items, including books on childcare, organic cotton diapers, baby nail clippers, and even eco-friendly detergent. These products are purchased from local cooperatives in Chuncheon City. The storage boxes can be re-used to store toys or clothes. The program’s commitment to families does not end with the distribution of the boxes. MotherBox recipients also receive up to six parenting lessons. The Mother Center represents a community-based, nonjudgmental resource for all parents.

Chuncheon Women’s Cooperative Mother Center is not the only Mother Center in South Korea. Gwanak-gu Happy Village Mother Center, based in the Gwanak-gu neighborhood of Seoul, also provides services. There are also hopes for a Seongnam Mother Center, and community meetings have been held to promote the idea. Supporters even held a cooking class at a local library where the community learned how to make healthy children’s snacks.

In addition to building up the Mother Center network in South Korea, community leaders are eager to connect with other organizations on a global scale. As part of policy training held in France and Germany in February 2019, Han-young Kim, president of the Happy Village Mother Center wrote about visiting the Familienzentrum Adalbertstraße, a family center in Berlin, and Eltern-Kind Zentrum in Potsdam. Why Germany? The Mother Center concept is based on a German model and Germany boasts 400 formal Mother Centers, with another 500 multi-family homes being run as informal Mother Centers.

More than 800 centers worldwide are part of the Mother Centers International Network for Empowerment (MINE), located in such countries as Argentina, Austria, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Cameroon, The Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United States. The goals of MINE are extensive and multifaceted: to help at-risk families; to facilitate the participation of marginalized individuals in society; to promote child and maternal health; to bridge generational divides; and to serve as incubators for new ideas.

At its heart, the Mother Center movement is dedicated to removing the social and economic barriers that prevent all children from thriving. By acting as a community hub for all things parenting, These centers benefit local communities and empower members of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in the child-rearing process.

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Housed on the site of a former oxygen plant in West Oakland, California, O2 Artisans Aggregate bills itself as an eco-industrial park that is “home to a network of artisans working collectively to develop and promote environmentally progressive projects,” according to its website. Paul Discoe of Joinery Structures founded the community, which houses a variety of shops and studios, including a sawmill, a community composting hub, a sake brewery, and a “snackeria” focusing on the indigenous foods (including insects) of the pre-Columbian era. The public can visit the studios (email them for details), and 02AA hosts an annual Open Studios & Craft Fair. According to blacksmith Jay Morgan, the collective would like to hold regular Open Houses in the future. The intimate connections forged between artisans are at the heart of the community, however. “There [are] people that are just super talented at what they do and we’re all able to kind of be in the same yard and kind of help each other out,” says blacksmith Jay Morgan.

Independent ceramicist Stephanie Intelisano agrees. She joined O2AA when she needed space to work on a commission and felt ready to manage her own shop.  “Joining this collective has been a transformative experience for me and my work,” she says. “At first I was hesitant to be the only ceramicist in a studio setting but have found nothing [but] support from the community here. I also love being around craftspeople, artists, and fabricators that work in different mediums than me at such a high skill level.”

The first time Jay Morgan forged iron, he found it exhilarating and immediately wanted to do it again. So he loaded up an RV and left Connecticut — and a career in graphic design — to forge a new life in Oakland. He now makes knives in a studio at 02AA, which he calls “the yard.” Says Morgan, “The yard allowed me to essentially move to the most expensive real estate market in the country and practically start my career over and it’s kind of given me a place to re-establish myself and it’s been amazing.”

Besides supporting its artisans, O2AA is dedicated to sustainable initiatives. A few years ago, Paul Discoe asked Michael Veneziano, an arborist with more than 35 years of experience, to take over the on-site mill, and Veneziano also took an ownership stake in 02AA. Since then Veneziano has pioneered several sustainability initiatives through his company Ponderosa Millworks, which takes urban trees that have been cut down and turns them into beautiful slabs. “One part of it is diverting those trees from the waste stream,” and another aspect of his initiative involves the reuse of sawdust, which he gives away “to local gardeners and landscapers and to Pollinate, which is a business in Oakland that teaches people how to keep bees and keep chickens… So there really is a lot of connection,” according to Veneziano. The relationships among the artisans are palpable. When interviewed separately, Veneziano mentioned Morgan, and Morgan mentioned Veneziano, who sometimes supplies him with wood for knife handles.

Oakland is not the only city where innovative maker villages can be found. Along a once-neglected strip of land next to a railroad track in Utrecht, Netherlands, a unique tiny house community has emerged to fill a creative void. Co-founded by Biana Ernst, Hof van Certesius is a set of interconnected tiny houses that serve as studios for local artisans, entrepreneurs, and educators. In an interview for EU Green Week 2018, Ernst explained the concept. There are woodworkers, metalworkers, and a furniture designer. A bakery makes bread using the leftover malt from a nearby brewery, while a vegetable garden hosts educational workshops for local children. A free co-working space provides an inviting atmosphere for the public to come and work. 

Sustainability is at the core of the Hof van Certesius. The houses are made of 90 percent recycled materials, and many of the materials are leased so that after 20 years, they can be reused. Principles of great design were applied within a sustainable context. The design of the urban village fosters an open, collaborative community, as each interconnected tiny house features large glass windows looking out on an inner courtyard. During the next 20 years, Hof van Cartesius will expand, building three more villages but keeping its membership capped at 100 people so they can maintain a sense of intimacy.

If Hof van Certesius is intimate, DARWIN is expansive. When the former Army barracks in Bordeaux, France shuttered in 2005 and fell into disrepair, founders Philippe Barre and Jean-Marc Gancille took the 10,000 square meter space and converted it into DARWIN, which includes a coworking space, offices, a bar, artisanal shops, and a grocery store selling more than 10,000 organic products. Taking its name from Charles Darwin, the space, which opened in 2008, is built around the idea of adaptation and evolution. By day, “Les Chantiers de la Garonne” or “The Garonne Shipyards” are the domain of a local nautical club. But by night, the space — a former shipyard that manufactured wooden boats — transforms into a bar, serving Darwin-branded beer. Barre and Gancille have faced criticism for having ties to corporations that are not known to be eco-friendly and they lack the permits for certain areas, including the skate park. Despite the controversy, grassroots sustainability initiatives are thriving in the space. L’Étincelle is a bike repair shop that also sells hand-built bikes for €150-400 ($165-440 USD). Guided by a vow to never let a bike go into the garbage, the shops reuses bike parts so virtually nothing goes to waste.  

Maker villages are having an impact in cities across the globe, empowering local artists through resource sharing and the cultivation of a creative community bound by shared values. When speaking of her maker village 02AA, the ceramicist Intellisano said, “It pushes me to work harder and opens the door for collaboration in ways I didn’t consider previously.”

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This post is part of our Winter 2019 editorial series on waste reduction. Get our free ebook on this series: “Beyond Waste: Community Solutions to Managing Our Resources.” Shareable is a partner of this project with Greenpeace. 

Take a look at the other articles in the series:

• • Celebrate the radical power of DIY during MAKE SMTHNG Week
  • Communities worldwide prepare to host MAKE SMTHNG Week events
  • Fashion Detox Challenge invites people to pause, reflect and change
  • How the MyMizu app is creating community and fostering sustainability in Japan
  • Bring sustainability to the party with reusable party packs
  • Right to Repair movement invites us to review the way we produce and consume electronics
  • Using ancient values to solve modern problems at the Eunpyeong Sharing Center
  • Community cupboards feed neighborhoods despite legal hurdles

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Todd Bol, who in 2009 created a little wooden library in honor of his mother, has inspired an estimated 75,000 little libraries in all 50 states and 88 other countries.

His brother Tony Bol has organized the “Little Libraries, Big Heroes” children’s book launch party and swap in Stillwater, Minnesota, which aims to encourage neighbors to spend time getting to know one another and sharing resources. The book was written to honor Todd.

A city of about 19,000 along the St. Croix River that divides Minnesota and Wisconsin, Stillwater, Minnesota is the Bol brothers’ home town. Tony recalls, “My brother and I had an upbringing that was filled with stories of Scandinavian settlers starting farm co-ops and rural sharing systems.” Drawing from that background, it is no wonder that Todd would go on to found the Little Free Library movement. People in the movement were stunned when Todd passed away suddenly from pancreatic cancer in 2018. Determined to continue the work he started, Tony, along with other members of the Bol family, started Share with Others, which sells little free libraries, little free pantries (the movement expanded to include provision sharing), and other tools to enable resource sharing. All proceeds go towards establishing the Foundation for Front Yard Sharing. Tony said its goals were “innovation and sharing-system support.”

“Big Heroes, Little Libraries,” written by Miranda Paul and illustrated by John Parra, was published on September 3, 2019, and depicts Todd’s childhood and the seeds of his idea. It aims to inspire children to make a difference in their communities through sustainable initiatives. Miranda Paul will attend the book swap and launch party in downtown Stillwater’s Teddy Bear Park on Saturday, September 14 after reading to children at area schools on Friday, September 13. According to Tony, “A children’s book about his little library passion was well in the works before the time of his passing. I, along with other Bol family members, was able to read early drafts of ‘Little Libraries, Big Heroes’ to Todd during his time in hospice. As my brother faced his final days, he took great joy in a story that came from his heart and now is a book inspiring people to run with an idea and do something good.” 

Part of the party will also include the Big Free Children’s Book Swap, in which families are encouraged to bring a few books and take a few, continuing Todd’s legacy of book-sharing. While some may write off Stillwater as too small to make an impact, that is far from the truth. As we have seen with library-based bike-loan systems, the Midwest leads the pack when it comes to sharing solutions. When asked what makes the Midwest an ideal place to foster a sharing movement, Tony recalled his upbringing and said, “The Midwest I know always had some resource sharing that is unusual and a source of pride. Even the Green Bay Packers are not owned by millionaires but rather an odd collective arrangement.” 

The Bol family, author Miranda Paul, and the residents of the St. Croix Valley Area want to make sure that resource sharing is not seen as something odd but rather as the foundation of vibrant communities. They are working to sustain an intergenerational movement that began in the front yard of the Bol matriarch’s Wisconsin home. They recognize that this future belongs to the children who will settle down to crack open the pages of ‘Big Heroes, Little Libraries’ and be inspired to join a sharing movement that maybe started small but has a big impact.

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As renewed fears about the future of the environment spark worldwide calls to action and millennials flock to urban centers — eschewing American car culture for public transportation and biking — communities are taking notice. Some, like New York City, are creating more bike lanes to improve access for cyclists. Others are going a step further by improving access to bicycles. Some communities are taking a unique approach by using the public library system to loan out bikes. 

1. Lorain Public Library (Lorain, Ohio)

Ohio established itself as a national leader in library bike-sharing programs when the city of Athens first established their “Book-A-Bike” program in 2013. Since then, nine library systems in the state have joined the movement. The latest addition is Lorain. Launched on May 18, 2019, the Go Lorain Bike Share Program allows patrons of the Lorain Public Library system to check out bikes, helmets and locks.

Go Lorain is part of the Lorain Connected Collaborative, with many facets of the community involved. Lorain County Public Health, a partner in the program, counts addressing obesity as one of its priorities, and getting active with bike riding can help curb obesity.

In the same vein, Lorain County Community Action Agency, another partner, empowers low-income families, and bikes can serve as a form of transportation for those individuals who might not be able to afford a car.

The Lorain Police Department supplies the bikes, while local youth repair them as part of a job-training program. A portion of a grant to Lorain County Public Health funded the bike share, and these funds also enabled the community to install bike racks and distribute educational material about cycling. 

This nascent bike-sharing program is a true representation of how a community can come together to effect small changes that have the potential to make a significant impact on the well-being of residents.

2. Bethlehem Area Public Library (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)

A city of 75,000 in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, Bethlehem hosts the Bike Bethlehem! initiative, which provides free loaner bikes through the Bethlehem Area Public Library, the local YMCA, and a local bike shop. While it might seem counterintuitive for a bike shop to loan out bikes for free, what better way to have the potential customers test drive the merchandise or maybe get bitten by the bicycling bug?

One program partner —The Coalition for Appropriate Transportation (CAT) — provides educational programs encouraging biking, walking, and the use of public transportation. Similar to Lorain County Public Health’s sponsorship of Go Lorain, St. Luke’s University Health Network is the key sponsor of the Bethlehem bike-sharing program. This demonstrates how some community health organizations are prioritizing preventative care and wellness in the hopes that it will lead to positive public-health outcomes.

3. Kent District Library (Kent County, Michigan)

The Kent District Library, which serves the Greater Grand Rapids area in Michigan, offers Breezer Uptown EX 8-speed bicycles for patrons to check out. Sixteen library branches have four bikes each. The library, which encourages riders to use the hashtag #KDLCruisers on social media, reports that many patrons enjoy taking a bike ride on their lunch break.

4. Sierra Vista Public Library (Sierra Vista, Arizona)

While most library-based bike-sharing programs only have adult bikes available, Sierra Vista Public Library’s Borrow-a-Bike Program ensures that kids don’t get left behind. In addition to a full gamut of adult bikes — from multi-speeds to cruisers to adult tricycles — this Arizona library has kids’ bikes available. Launched in 2016, the program solicits bike donations from the community, cultivating a sense of ownership over the program, which allows bikes to be checked out for three days, plus one renewal. 

5. Georgetown Public Library (Georgetown, Texas)

Austin might be known as the progressive bastion of Texas, but Georgetown — a city of 50,000 people 30 miles north of Austin — is not to be outdone, having established their own bike-sharing program. Using their library cards, patrons can check out one of ten bikes — each equipped with eye-catching red baskets perfect for carrying a picnic to the park. Cyclists can pedal downtown or along many local trails. Loan periods are 24 hours, and helmets are also available.

6. Grand Rapids Library (Grand Rapids, Minnesota)

As part of the Grand Rapids Community Bike Share, the Grand Rapids Library in Minnesota also loans bikes to patrons. One unique feature of this program is its incorporation of an app that encourages users to get active. Get Fit Itasca, an Itasca County public health campaign, encourages users to download the My City Bikes app to discover local bike paths in the area.

7. Norwich Public Library (Norwich, Vermont)

Vermonters have taken the bike-sharing movement to new extremes with the introduction of electric bikes (or e-bikes). According to the Norwich Energy Committee, transportation eats up 44 percent of Vermont’s energy use, and contributes to 53 percent of its carbon emissions. Many Vermonters recognize that bikes could be a solution to this problem, but Vermont’s many hills can make cycling a challenge. 

Enter e-bikes. The Norwich Public Library (NPL) recently began loaning out e-bikes. The NPL will host the bikes for five weeks before they move on to other libraries and community organizations throughout Vermont. It’s a program of Local Motion, a non-profit founded in 1999 with a goal of encouraging Vermonters to make biking and walking a bigger part of their daily routine. A partnership with Vital Communities and the Norwich Energy Committee allowed the NPL to host the bikes. Loan periods last four days, from Thursday to Tuesday, and have filled up quickly. For those still hoping to take these unique bikes for a spin, the NPL is inviting patrons to take them out in half-hour slots on Wednesdays. After the bikes leave the library, the NPL will set up a 24/7 bike repair station and a new bike rack in front of the building, ensuring that they’re not abandoning their commitment to being a bike-friendly library.

This list represents just a fraction of the communities — from Idaho to Michigan to Florida — where library patrons can check out a bike. University libraries are also getting in on the action: The University of Massachusetts, University of Georgia, Rollins University, Tufts University, and Franklin & Marshall College all offer students and faculty access to bikes through their respective library systems. 

Communities with library-based bike-sharing programs are making real change, but they aren’t reinventing the wheel. They’re using existing infrastructure — the local library — in the service of a common goal. They are also working with different sectors of the community — from youth employment programs to police departments to hospitals — to create sustainable initiatives. These initiatives  have the potential to improve public health outcomes and level the playing field for those who want to hit the open road — or the local bike path.

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Coliving spaces, often formed as intentional communities, are increasingly meeting the needs of young creatives for affordable and supportive housing, and art has begun to imitate life. On Freeform’s hit TV show Good Trouble, for example, young professionals — including a lawyer, app developer, and an artist — live in a shared loft space called The Coterie. Here are some real-world examples of coliving spaces for creatives:

1. UP(st)ART Creative Living (Los Angeles, CA)

A quick search of LA Craigslist will yield several results for “artist’s housing” — private homes converted into dorms for new transplants who have big dreams of making it in the entertainment industry. Sleeping quarters consist of bunk beds, while sometimes there is a small recording studio or green screen room. Month-to-month leases are as low as $500. 

Catering to new Angelenos who are wary of this sort of operation, UP(st)ART Creative Living, has taken this concept and elevated it in five locations in LA. While residents still live in bunk beds or “pods” with privacy curtains and drawers underneath, UP(st)ART says its facilities are modern and clean. It has sought to replicate the best aspects of the college experience with activities including family dinners and guest lectures. In keeping their commitment to artists, they also offer dance and acting classes (included in the monthly rent of $725) as well as open mic nights. 

2. OpenDoor  (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)

OpenDoor operates nine coliving properties in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco. Through careful curation, each property has a different aesthetic and resident culture, from “The Loft” in San Francisco’s SoMa district to “The Workshop” near Lake Merritt in Oakland. Private bedrooms start at $1,200 a month, which, at first glance, seems pricey. However, it might be cost saving as Bay Area cities rival NYC in housing cost. Co-founder Jay Standish lectured about coliving at the Federal Reserve sharing math that suggests his properties meet the standard for affordable housing. OpenDoor is involved in developing BuildINC, which they claim is the first planned-from-the-ground-up coliving development. It features three six-story buildings with each floor consisting of an apartment with eight bedrooms. It will accommodate up to 230 people in the SoMa district of San Francisco. They’ll also be opening a new space in Portland soon. 

3. .908 Coliving (San Francisco, CA)

Situated between Chinatown and Russian Hill in San Francisco, .908 Coliving offers many options, from shared rooms (in which residents sleep in bunk beds) to double and even single rooms, with prices ranging from $1,500 to $2,800 a month. Mostly catering to young professionals, they offer breakfast every morning and also host community events, like barbecues, movie nights, and networking events.

4. Synchronicity LA (Los Angeles, CA) 

Located in the Harvard Heights neighborhood of central Los Angeles, Synchronicity LA is an arts-focused intentional community founded in 2008 and home to 10 long-term residents. While not a self-described coliving community, they have many of the markings. According to their profile on the Foundation for Intentional Community website, Synchronicity LA “enriches our lives and the lives of others by sharing resources and cultivating harmony, friendship, hospitality, and artistic expression.” Its website eschews clean lines and photos of perfectly-made beds for quirky pictures of cats and a showcase of residents’ artwork, putting their personalities and purpose on display. This intentional community isn’t currently open to new members, but it hosts a monthly salon where the public can share poetry, music, storytelling, and other works of art.

5. Outpost Club (New York, NY; San Francisco, CA)

New York City is the most expensive city in the U.S., and renting in trendy neighborhoods South Williamsburg  and Queens is generally out of the reach of creatives. Outpost is a club for coliving that includes housing and other services creatives need, like access to web designers, financial advisors, and legal help. It has a three-tiered membership structure. For example, Gold members pay more upfront but have lower monthly costs (which normally start at $690 for a shared room in Ridgewood, Queens and go up from there). 

These coliving spaces run the gamut from hostel-like to luxurious, and with some rooms starting at $1,200 a month, they may not always be a solution to affordable housing, but they do address another problem: loneliness. Coliving spaces often fill a void during a time of personal and professional transition for young people who long to make an impact and need supportive peers and infrastructure to make it happen.

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Lloyd Dennis, co-founder and executive director of The Silverback Society, said African American young men have largely “lost the fatherhood touch.”

“[W]e teach them, and by example, share with them the joy of a masculinity that’s based on being able to provide resources for the people that you care about.”

The Silverback Society partners men with middle school students in a mentorship program in New Orleans, Louisiana; and St. Louis and Biloxi, Mississippi. In the past decade, the nonprofit has paired 150 mentors with more than 3,600 students across 17 schools, including more than half of the K-8 schools in New Orleans. Alumni have access to an app that they can use to keep in touch with their mentors and each other.

The organization partnered with Weave after the program launched in May 2018 with a goal of addressing social disconnection. Founder David Brooks said American culture tended to prioritize individualism over a human connection, which curbed a healthy culture Brooks dubbed “relationism.”

Dennis said Weave was a natural partner for The Silverback Society because it brought together people who seek solutions for social isolation.

“Imagine what it takes for a kid to feel like he’s got nothing else to do except kill somebody. And sometimes it’s so that he can belong to a group. Some gangs, you have to do something terrible and awful so you can belong… [We] set up a place for kids to belong.” Dennis said.

“[One student] said, ‘Once I joined the Silverback Society, I have never walked alone.’ I think that’s right to the core of what Weave is kind of about.” 

This project is part of a grassroots movement, of which Brooks is a figurehead, that tries to heal the social fragmentation of American society.

In a New York Times opinion piece published in February, Brooks lamented “our lack of healthy connection to each other, our inability to see the full dignity of each other, and the resulting culture of fear, distrust, tribalism, shaming and strife.”

During the past year, Brooks has been on a “listening tour.” Over the course of 20 dinners, Brooks met with 400 people and asked them who the most trusted person in their community was and how they built relationships despite fractured social structures.

A diverse group of 300 people came together on May 14-16 for the #WeaveThePeople conference at a recently gentrified corner of Northeast D.C. now home to Union Market. Attendees, including 80 people from the listening tour, met to share stories, hear keynote speakers and form small discussion groups. “Sometimes it takes a sledgehammer to open up a new level of consciousness,” Brooks said at the conference on opening day. He encouraged attendees not to shy away from challenges. “That feeling of uncomfortableness is part of the process.”

Weave has partnered with NextDoor for a new initiative encouraging neighborly connection that will launch in July. Other partnerships include Facebook (developing resources for community leaders), the YMCA, and Reader’s Digest (Brooks recently served as a judge for their contest, “Nicest Places in America.”)

Michael Skoler, Weave’s communications director, said Weave was not a project of leadership but of empowering people to have a language and a name — weaver.

“Ultimately… our goal is to have everyone kind of say, ‘Hey, I’m a weaver.'”

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