Everything Co-op with Vernon Oakes

August 7, 2025 Interview with John Holdsclaw IV, President & CEO of Rochdale Capital On this episode of Everything Co-op, John Holdsclaw IV, President and CEO of Rochdale Capital, explores the challenges and opportunities facing financial institutions and shares exciting new initiatives at Rochdale Capital. Rochdale Capital is a national non-profit community development loan fund advancing cooperative principles and community ownership. The organization provides financing and technical assistance to community-based organizations and cooperatives, with a focus on under-resourced communities, especially those led by women and minorities. In addition to his leadership at Rochdale, John serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer at the National Cooperative Bank (NCB), helping to position NCB as a thought leader in public policy, community finance, and cooperative development. A recognized leader in the cooperative movement, John chairs the Cooperative Development Foundation and serves on several national boards. His contributions have earned him major honors, including the Stanley W. Dreyer Spirit of Cooperation Award (2019) and recognition as one of ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact (2022). 🎧 Listen now to hear John’s perspectives on building financial systems that strengthen communities and expand opportunities through cooperation.

July 3, 2025 Dr. Andre M. Perry, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and director of the Center for Community Uplift, shares his insights on how community-led approaches can drive investment into historically underfunded neighborhoods. Dr. Andre M. Perry is a nationally known and respected commentator on race, structural inequality, and education. Perry is the author of the book “Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It,” published by Henry Holt. In 2020, Brooking Press published Perry’s previous book, “Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities.” Perry's 2018 Brookings report on the devaluation of assets in Black neighborhoods brought national attention to systemic undervaluation of homes and extended this research to other community assets like schools and businesses. Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by numerous national media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Bloomberg CityLab, and CNN.com. Perry has also made appearances on HBO, CNN, PBS, National Public Radio, NBC, and ABC, and advises policymakers on economic equity. In relation to cooperative development, Perry advocates for community-based solutions such as community land trusts and cooperative investment models. These approaches align with his broader goals of stabilizing neighborhoods, redirecting capital into underinvested communities, and promoting long-term economic empowerment for Black Americans. A native of Pittsburgh, Perry earned his Ph.D. in education policy and leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park.

March 27, 2025 Everything Co-op continues its Women’s History Month series centering on the theme “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations,” set by the National Women’s History Alliance. This episode features Renee Hatcher, Professor and Director of the Community Enterprise & Solidarity Economy Clinic at UIC Law. Vernon and Renee discuss the vital role of solidarity economy and cooperatives at this moment in history. Renee Hatcher is a human rights and cooperative lawyer and solidarity economy organizer. She is currently a Visiting Associate Professor of Clinical Law at GW Law School in DC. She serves as the Director of the Community Enterprise & Solidarity Economy Clinic at UIC Law in Chicago, a pro bono legal clinic that provides free legal support to community-based businesses, non-profits, cooperatives, and other solidarity economy enterprises. Recently, Renee served as the Co-Director of Chicago Community Wealth Building Ecosystem at CUPPA’s Center on Urban Economic Development (CUED). Renee has significant experience organizing and providing legal support to worker cooperatives and community-based initiatives to empower workers and community residents. Her work and research focus on legal and non-legal strategies to build power in Black, low-income neighborhoods and other communities of color rooted in solidarity economy organizing and theory. In 2022, the city of Chicago allocated $15 million dollars to support the cooperative ecosystem, including a substantial grant to UIC, as the “hub” organization, to conduct research and convene the Chicago Community Wealth Building Ecosystem. Renee co-directs the “hub” with her close colleague, Associate Professor Stacey Sutton. Most recently, Renee served on Mayor Johnson’s Transition Committee on Economic Vitality and Equity. This appointment has been a part of Renee’s long-standing efforts to advance cooperative development in Chicago to improve the lives of Black, brown, and poor communities.

March 13. 2025 - Everything Co-op continues its Women’s History Month series with the theme “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations,” set by the National Women’s History Alliance. This episode features cooperative advocates Stacey Sutton Ph.D., Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, and Assata Richards, founding director of the Sankofa Research Institute. Stacey and Assata discuss the necessary components for building a solidarity economy and share their research findings related to social/economic justice Stacey Sutton Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy. She co-directs the Solidarity Economy Research, Policy & Law Project, which serves as the hub for the City of Chicago’s Community Wealth Building Ecosystem. This initiative aims to promote local, democratic, and shared ownership of community assets to create more sustainable and just economies. Her research focuses on solidarity economy, economic democracy, and racial equity. Stacey Sutton Ph.D. is also a Board member of the New Economy Coalition, a Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, and a Senior Researcher with the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network. She is currently working on a book titled "Real Black Utopias," which explores Black-centered worker cooperatives and solidarity economy ecosystems in various US cities. Stacey Sutton Ph.D. holds a BA from Loyola University, an MBA from New York University, an MS from The New School for Social Research, and a joint Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Sociology from Rutgers University. Her extensive involvement in various organizations underscores her commitment to social justice and economic democracy. Assata is the founding director of the Sankofa Research Institute (SRI), a nonprofit with a mission to “create knowledge to build community” through community-based participatory research. In addition, as a public sociologist, Assata serves as the Board President of the newly formed Houston Community Land Trust, the Third Ward Cooperative Community Builders, and the Emancipation Economic Development Council. Most recently, she was elected as the founding board president of the Community Care Cooperative, Houston’s first home care agency owned by caregivers and the nation’s first community health workers’ cooperative business. Lastly, she is a founding member of We Are The Ones, a cooperative working to build a “Black Solidarity Economy,” enabling community members to define what success is for them and hold accountable institutions that claim to act on their behalf and develop economic enterprises that fairly compensate workers and build community wealth.

February 27, 2025 - This episode marks the conclusion of Everything Co-op's Black History Month series, focusing on the 2025 theme set by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH): "African Americans and Labor." This theme examines how different forms of labor—free and unfree, skilled and unskilled, vocational and voluntary—have shaped Black experiences throughout history. Vernon Oakes continues this discussion alongside three leaders from VOLTS (Village of Leaders Thriving in Solidarity): Camille Kerr, co-founder of Upside-Down Consulting, Edrinna Bryant, co-owner of ChiFresh Kitchen and Jumpstart Housing Cooperative, and Sharon Hopkins, co-owner of 6ix-cess Foods. VOLTS is a newly formed non-profit that builds on years of cooperative development work to create lasting economic justice for formerly incarcerated individuals, particularly Black women. By formalizing and expanding its model, VOLTS provides the structure and support needed to scale worker-owned businesses and cooperative housing initiatives. Through this ecosystem, it creates pathways for dignified employment, stable housing, and community wealth-building, ensuring that those most impacted by incarceration have ownership and decision-making power in the businesses and homes they create. Its ecosystem includes: ChiFresh Kitchen, a worker cooperative offering institutional meal services, Jumpstart Housing Cooperative, which provides affordable homeownership opportunities, and 6ix-cess Foods, an emerging worker-owned food manufacturing business. Through these initiatives, VOLTS demonstrates how cooperative ownership can drive long-term economic security, self-determination, and systemic change in Chicago.

February 6, 2025 Everything Co-op inaugurates its Black History Month series. The theme for the 2025 Black History Month, as designated by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), is "African Americans and Labor." This theme emphasizes the significant and varied ways in which different forms of labor—both free and unfree, skilled and unskilled, vocational and voluntary—intersect with the collective experiences of Black people. Vernon begins his of African Americans and Labor in a discussion with Julian Hill, an abolitionist and lawyer who specializes in the solidarity economy. Julian Hill is an assistant professor at Georgia State University College of Law. Hill is a teacher, lifelong learner, community organizer, artist, and attorney who knows that the world we deserve, though both possible and necessary, is not inevitable. Hill regularly advises worker cooperatives, collectives, nonprofits, and small businesses on a range of matters, including governance, contracts, regulatory compliance, and corporate law matters. Hill is also known to partner with community-based organizations to co-facilitate political education and co-develop policies and campaigns. They have facilitated workshops, both in English and Spanish, on worker cooperatives and the solidarity economy with Law 4 Black Lives, the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Democracy at Work Institute, the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, among others. They have prepared and delivered testimony before both the New York State Assembly and the New York City Council on issues facing worker cooperatives and small businesses in New York City. Hill is licensed to practice law in Georgia, New York and Washington, D.C.

January 23, 2025 amaha sellassie, the board president of Gem City Market and Vernon discuss the progression of of Gem City Market and the cooperative agenda of 2025, in the Year of the Co-op. amaha sellassie is a peace builder, social healer, freedom fighter, network weaver and lover of humanity. amaha is a practitioner scholar dedicated to building bridges of trust, healing historical wounds, and harnessing the unique gifts and talents of every human being as we press towards a just and equitable society. A dedicated community organizer, amaha champions the causes of marginalized groups, striving to amplify their voices in public policy. As a co-founder of the Gem City Market, amaha has been instrumental in a community-led initiative to address food apartheid by enhancing access to fresh produce in West Dayton. Additionally, amaha serves as the Director of the Center for Applied Social Issues, and is a Sociology professor at Sinclair Community College.