The Web of Life

Cooperatives as a Better Community Service

Published

10 months ago

August 31, 2021

Featuring Sara Vicari, Around the World.Coop and guests

There’ a healthier outcome when people take pride in ownership. And that’s exactly what’s been going on in the cooperative movement.

But there are many misunderstandings. So much information about the cooperative movement. During this special presentation, we will be discovering case scenarios of various cooperatives. We’re going to take you on a journey of discovery, from idea to initiation, from implementation to obstacle, to inspire and empower the very best in each and everyone of us to make the difference in your community through the lens of cooperation.

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Sara Vicari, Aroundtheworld.coop

Sara Vicari, PhD, is a socio-economic researcher, expert on qualitative and participatory methods, passionate about cooperatives and their role in sustainable human development. She has built her expertise working with primary cooperatives, apex organizations, international institutions and academia.

In 2019, together with Andrea Mancori, videomaker, they founded aroundtheworld.coop, and in partnership with the International Co-operative Alliance, they travelled across the five continents documenting and telling stories of innovative cooperatives. All the videos are available here:

Since 2019 Sara has also been a Postdoc Research fellow at the Department of Economics of Roma Tre University in Rome, Italy.

Among her passions, Sara loves writing. “Tana Libera Tutte!” is her first novel that is about sisterhood, empathy and collective action (in Italian – edited by Doithuman). Sara fluently speaks Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Mahasin Munir

Mahasin is an energetic, charismatic, multi-dimensional performer and entrepreneur originally from Chicago with long time roots in Oakland, CA. After seventeen years of experience working in a cooperative, Mahasin recently retired as part owner of Arizmendi Bakery in Oakland, Ca. When she is not on the big screen, you can find her creating healing mixtures with her essential oil business, Mahasinscents and taking her beloved dog, Coconut on long adventures. You can see some of Mahasins’s most current work in Bay Areas’ only queer series, Dyke Central, where she plays the ultra-suave DJ Sol, and as “Lola” in the Netflix series, Sense8 (directed by the Wachowski siblings).

Cathy Goldsmith, Member of The Cheese Board Collective: 1995-2020

The Cheese Board Collective is a 100% worker owned cooperative in Berkeley Ca. Established
as a cheese shop and bakery in 1971, we expanded to include a pizzeria in 1983. In the 90’s we began a project to seed new cooperatives based on our recipes and on our model of governance. This project eventually became the foundation for the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives.

After cooking for several years in Bay Area restaurants, in 1995, I joined the Cheese Board Collective, and now I have recently retired. While at The Cheese Board I wore many hats:

baker, cheese monger, mentor, barista, community liaison, HR agent, owner, manager and worker. The ethos of shared governance and the value of equal voices created an environment where creativity and imagination was nurtured and supported. I was lucky to work on many projects outside of our day to day routine. We published a cookbook: The Cheese Board
Collective Works, I helped develop and maintain our website, helped plan the first parklet in Berkeley, created new bakery products, participated in planning the physical expansion of our store, and helped coordinate the installation of a new deck oven. One of my great joys of working at the Cheese Board, was being able to pursue an idea, and then working with my coworkers to bring that vision to reality.

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