Solidarity Economy: Putting Community First

The term solidarity economy refers to an alternative approach to economics that prioritizes cooperation, democracy, and meeting community needs. Rather than leaving decisions to distant investors, a solidarity economy empowers residents to shape their own economic future. As described by experts, it “affirms a core commitment to participatory democracy”​:contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1} and is “explicitly feminist, anti-racist, and ecological,” aiming for transformation beyond all forms of oppression​:contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}. In practice, this means creating businesses and institutions that are collectively owned and managed by the people they serve. Cleveland has become a quiet leader in this movement, nurturing worker cooperatives, neighborhood networks, and community-owned resources that keep wealth local.

​:contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}*Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, a worker-owned business in Cleveland, lists its employee-owners on a wall – a symbol of shared ownership and community wealth. The Evergreen Cooperatives network includes enterprises like this laundry, giving workers a stake in the business and a share of the profits. Employee-owners not only earn a paycheck but also build equity and gain a voice in decisions​:contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}. For example, Evergreen’s worker-owners receive profit-sharing and even access programs to help them buy homes in the community​:contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}. These cooperatives were launched in partnership with local hospitals and universities to create jobs for low-income Clevelanders, and they have steadily grown.*

This “Cleveland Model” of community wealth-building has delivered tangible benefits. Even during economic ups and downs, Evergreen’s enterprises have expanded – in 2024 the cooperative laundry added 10–15 new jobs in the Glenville neighborhood​:contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}​:contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}. Currently about 75 people work as employee-owners at the laundry, earning competitive wages and gaining an ownership stake​:contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}​:contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}. As one long-time employee (who joined Evergreen after returning from incarceration) put it, “[Working at Evergreen] was an awakening… It’s not just the wages, it’s the perks. Anything you need, they’ve been there for me.”​:contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}. By rooting businesses in the community, the solidarity economy keeps them accountable to local needs – Evergreen even built in policies to prevent the business from ever being sold or moved out of the neighborhood​:contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}​:contentReference[oaicite:12]{index=12}. All of this helps formerly marginalized workers, many of them renters, gain stability and economic empowerment.

Restorative Economics: Repairing and Including

Closely tied to the solidarity approach is the idea of restorative economics – intentionally repairing past injustices and including those who’ve been excluded from prosperity. For Cleveland renters, restorative economics means finding ways to build wealth and stability even if they don’t own a home. One innovative example is Rentparations, a Northeast Ohio pilot program described as a “for-profit restorative economics program that decenters landlords and facilitates renter equity”​:contentReference[oaicite:13]{index=13}. The concept is simple but powerful: match renters who have little savings with landlords who have underused properties, then reward those tenants with monthly grants when they complete community service or “social impact” projects. Over three years, a participating renter can build up $5,000 in cash savings or $10,000 toward personal development goals​:contentReference[oaicite:14]{index=14}. Founded in Cleveland in 2020, Rentparations reframes rent as an opportunity for shared benefit – helping tenants build assets, not just pay someone else’s mortgage.

Another restorative strategy is Cleveland’s new Right to Counsel program, which provides free legal help to low-income tenants facing eviction. Initiated in 2020 and funded through a public-private partnership, this effort recognizes that keeping people housed is foundational to economic justice. In its first years, Right to Counsel dramatically improved outcomes – more than 80% of represented tenants have avoided eviction or involuntary move-outs​:contentReference[oaicite:15]{index=15}, keeping families stable and preventing the cascading costs of displacement. By 2024, Cleveland City Council moved to bolster tenant protections even further, approving a $1 million pilot to help renters organize and access services​:contentReference[oaicite:16]{index=16}​:contentReference[oaicite:17]{index=17}. Council President Blaine Griffin and Councilor Kris Harsh championed this initiative using federal recovery funds, acknowledging that renters “account for over 50% of the city’s population and they’re so often overlooked”​:contentReference[oaicite:18]{index=18}. This program connects renters with emergency assistance and legal aid, but it also goes a step further – supporting the formation of “neighborhood-based tenant unions” to collectively address negligent landlords​:contentReference[oaicite:19]{index=19}​:contentReference[oaicite:20]{index=20}. As one United Way organizer involved said, “This program is designed to help tenants in a collective fashion… They have the power of their voices together to seek the resolution that they need to be housed faithfully and stably.”​:contentReference[oaicite:21]{index=21}. In a restorative economy, such efforts aren’t just charity – they are about shifting power back to renters as key participants in a fair economy.

Cooperative Ownership and Renter-Led Development

A core strategy for a more inclusive economy for renters is to turn renters into owners – not necessarily individual homeowners, but collective owners of housing and land. In recent years, Clevelanders have been experimenting with cooperative housing and community land trusts as tools for renter-led development. One notable effort is led by the local nonprofit Cleveland Owns. Embracing the rallying cry “Fire the landlords,” Cleveland Owns launched a co-op housing initiative to help tenants take control of the buildings they live in​:contentReference[oaicite:22]{index=22}. The idea is to form limited-equity housing cooperatives in multi-family buildings: rather than paying rent to an outside landlord, residents collectively own the building through a cooperative corporation. Cleveland Owns has outlined three goals – to educate residents about co-op housing, document and publicize existing co-ops, and incubate new permanently affordable co-ops in the city​:contentReference[oaicite:23]{index=23}. In late 2024, they convened over 50 residents in a study group on cooperative housing and began organizing with working-class tenants interested in purchasing their apartment buildings​:contentReference[oaicite:24]{index=24}​:contentReference[oaicite:25]{index=25}. The vision, inspired by successes in places like New York and Austin, is a network of resident-owned communities “immune from the rapacity of private equity firms and the displacement of gentrification”​:contentReference[oaicite:26]{index=26}. While still in early stages, this renter-led approach could stabilize housing costs and give tenants true ownership stakes without requiring individual wealth.

​:contentReference[oaicite:27]{index=27}*A renovated home in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, kept affordable through a community land trust. Community land trusts (CLTs) acquire land and hold it in trust for the community, ensuring that housing on that land remains permanently affordable. In 2021, two nonprofit development groups – Ohio City, Inc. and Tremont West – teamed up to launch the Near West Land Trust, with plans to build 40 new affordable homes on scattered vacant lots​:contentReference[oaicite:28]{index=28}​:contentReference[oaicite:29]{index=29}. By separating the cost of land from the home price, the CLT can sell houses for around $150,000 – well below market rates that often exceed $400,000 in those hot neighborhoods​:contentReference[oaicite:30]{index=30}​:contentReference[oaicite:31]{index=31}. In return, buyers agree that if they sell, it will be to another lower-income family at an affordable price, keeping the cycle of affordability going.*

Cleveland’s experience with CLTs hasn’t been without challenges. An earlier attempt, the Cuyahoga Community Land Trust in the mid-2000s, struggled amid the foreclosure crisis and ended up folding its assets into a larger housing nonprofit​:contentReference[oaicite:32]{index=32}​:contentReference[oaicite:33]{index=33}. But the new Near West Land Trust is essentially giving that model a second chance – even inheriting a handful of houses from the defunct CLT via Cleveland Housing Network​:contentReference[oaicite:34]{index=34}​:contentReference[oaicite:35]{index=35}. Local housing advocates see this as a critical strategy to counter gentrification and predatory development. “In Tremont and Ohio City, housing values are skyrocketing,” noted one community development leader. A land trust can make sure there are homes that ordinary working families (often renters looking to buy) can afford, preserving a mixed-income community.​:contentReference[oaicite:36]{index=36}​:contentReference[oaicite:37]{index=37} There are still hurdles, like securing enough funding – Cleveland, unlike some cities, lacks a dedicated housing trust fund for affordable housing​:contentReference[oaicite:38]{index=38}​:contentReference[oaicite:39]{index=39}. Even so, the momentum is building: the Near West Land Trust aims to add at least 10 affordable homes per year going forward​:contentReference[oaicite:40]{index=40}, and community groups are exploring using the CLT model for multifamily rental housing too​:contentReference[oaicite:41]{index=41}. Together, co-op housing and land trusts offer a powerful template for development without displacement – a way for renters to lead in shaping development, rather than being victims of it.

Mutual Aid and Grassroots Organizing

Building a new economy isn’t just about legal structures and development projects – it’s also about fostering a culture of mutual support at the neighborhood level. Cleveland has a rich tradition of mutual aid and neighbor-based organizing that blossomed even more during recent crises. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, for example, volunteers formed the Cleveland Pandemic Response network almost overnight. This grassroots mutual aid hub used online tools to connect neighbors in need with those who could help, delivering food, hygiene supplies, and even assisting with errands​:contentReference[oaicite:42]{index=42}​:contentReference[oaicite:43]{index=43}. The idea was to respond “more nimbly than government or big organizations” could​:contentReference[oaicite:44]{index=44} – an ethos at the heart of solidarity economics. Similarly, long before the pandemic, Cleveland’s west side neighborhoods started a Time Bank to facilitate cash-free exchanges of skills and services. In the Cleveland TimeBank, launched in 2012 by a local community development office, members earn “time credits” by helping others – and can spend those credits when they need help in return​:contentReference[oaicite:45]{index=45}​:contentReference[oaicite:46]{index=46}. One resident earned hours by distributing community flyers, then later used those hours to get help after a bed-bug infestation – all without any money changing hands​:contentReference[oaicite:47]{index=47}. Dozens of neighbors have participated, building an economy of reciprocity alongside the cash economy.

Mutual aid and grassroots networks strengthen the social fabric that an inclusive economy needs. Take Neighbor Up, a Cleveland network founded in 2012 by the nonprofit Neighborhood Connections. Neighbor Up brings together residents, local businesses, faith communities, and even institutional leaders to collaboratively solve problems and share resources​:contentReference[oaicite:48]{index=48}. Through regular gatherings (both in-person and online), mini-grant programs, and skill exchanges, Neighbor Up has fostered everything from community gardens to small social enterprises. The focus is on “joining in the spirit of possibility” – neighbors identifying assets in their community and leveraging them to address needs, whether that’s starting a neighborhood market or organizing childcare cooperatives. This kind of bottom-up organizing builds trust and capacity among residents, including renters who might otherwise feel isolated. It also lays the groundwork for more formal cooperative projects to succeed, by developing leadership and shared vision at the grassroots.

Local Solidarity Economy Initiatives in Cleveland include:

• Cleveland Owns – a hub incubating cooperatives and community enterprises (from solar energy co-ops to housing co-ops) to expand the solidarity economy Cleveland movement​:contentReference[oaicite:49]{index=49}​:contentReference[oaicite:50]{index=50}.
• Evergreen Cooperatives – a network of worker-owned companies (laundry, urban greenhouse, etc.) that create jobs for local residents and keep wealth in community hands​:contentReference[oaicite:51]{index=51}​:contentReference[oaicite:52]{index=52}.
• Near West Land Trust – a new community land trust on Cleveland’s west side developing permanently affordable homes and preventing displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods​:contentReference[oaicite:53]{index=53}​:contentReference[oaicite:54]{index=54}.
• Legal Aid and Right to Counsel – a coalition providing free attorneys to renters facing eviction and helping form tenant unions, ensuring housing stability and economic justice Cleveland by reducing evictions​:contentReference[oaicite:55]{index=55}​:contentReference[oaicite:56]{index=56}.
• Neighbor Up Network – a grassroots network of residents and community groups that practice mutual aid, skill-sharing (via the Time Bank), and collaborative problem-solving at the neighborhood level​:contentReference[oaicite:57]{index=57}​:contentReference[oaicite:58]{index=58}.

Barriers and Future Opportunities

While these examples are inspiring, scaling up a truly inclusive economy for renters in Cleveland is not without challenges. One major barrier is access to capital and policy support. Cooperative businesses and land trusts often require upfront funding or technical assistance that can be hard to come by. Cleveland’s cooperative and community development ecosystem, though active, is still growing back from years of disinvestment. The city has historically relied on outside investors for development, and redirecting resources to community-owned projects will take persistent advocacy. There are signs of progress – city leaders are beginning to invest in housing justice (as seen with the tenant organizing pilot and support for Right to Counsel) and the philanthropic community is exploring models like community land trusts. Yet, as housing organizer Angela Shuckahosee noted, it’s “better late than never” in recognizing renters’ needs​:contentReference[oaicite:59]{index=59}. Sustained funding (for example, establishing a local housing trust fund or a cooperative loan fund) could supercharge the efforts already underway.

Another challenge is building broader awareness and participation. Many renters are focused on day-to-day survival and may not immediately see how cooperative ownership or a solidarity economy initiative could benefit them. Grassroots education and organizing are crucial to bridge this gap. The good news is Cleveland’s neighborhoods have deep organizing traditions and a network of community development corporations, advocacy nonprofits, and resident leaders to build upon. By forging partnerships – for instance, between tenant unions and cooperative developers, or between mutual aid groups and credit unions – the movement can expand its reach. Policy changes could help as well: protections like stronger tenant rights, inclusionary zoning for affordable housing, or tax incentives for cooperative businesses would create a more enabling environment for an inclusive economy.

Despite the hurdles, the future opportunities for Cleveland’s renter-centered economy are significant. The infusion of federal recovery funds (from the American Rescue Plan) gives the city a chance to seed new projects – such as community-owned solar installations, workforce cooperatives in emerging industries, or expansions of the land trust model into more neighborhoods. There’s also growing public awareness of issues like corporate landlords and the racial wealth gap, which can translate into political will for bold solutions. Clevelanders are increasingly unwilling to accept an economy that works for only a few. As more success stories emerge – a tenant group that buys their apartment building, a cooperative that revitalizes a corner store, a land trust that preserves affordability on an entire block – they create a ripple effect, showing what’s possible.

Above all, the shift happening in Cleveland is about power and belonging. An economy inclusive of renters is one where those who have been treated as transients or afterthoughts become co-creators of community wealth. It’s a vision of economic justice that resonates from the Central neighborhood to West Park, from East Cleveland to Old Brooklyn – where every resident, whether renter or homeowner, can have stability, dignity, and a say in their community’s destiny. By embracing solidarity and restoration, Cleveland is demonstrating that a different economy is not only necessary but achievable. It’s being built right now, in neighborhood meetings, co-op trainings, and organizing campaigns. The work ahead is to nurture these seeds and scale them up, so that the inclusive economy moves from pilot projects to the new normal. If renters remain at the heart of these efforts, Cleveland’s “new economy” will truly be one that leaves no one behind.