Breaking the Chains: Formerly Incarcerated People Building Worker-Owned Co-ops

Building Solidarity, Building Power

Howdy folks,

I hope you are as safe, secure, happy and healthy as possible during these tumultuous times.

I am traveling this week, and unable to host the show live this Monday, Feb 16th at 3pm pacific, 6pm eastern. But Shane, Ruthi and I decided to try an experiment. Shane is gonna come online live to run a recording of a powerful public panel titled Building Solidarity, Building Power.

In Oct 2025 I had the honor of being on a panel with key Solidarity Economy movement leaders Camille Kerr (Chi Fresh Kitchen), Kali Akuno (Cooperation Jackson), and Maria Garcia (Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC). Here is a short reel from that panel.

So we invite you to come on and watch live on the Democracy at Work Youtube channel. You will be able to make comments, and Shane will respond live in the comments section.

Below my signature is an essay that frames the panel.

Onward to the world we deserve,

David Cobb (he/him)

Why I put my pronouns in my email signature

Breaking the Chains: Formerly Incarcerated People Building Worker-Owned Co-ops

When I was asked to join a panel to discuss the Solidarity Economy at Women Building Up in Brooklyn, I knew right away what I wanted to talk about: The power of formerly incarcerated people to build their own worker-owned cooperative businesses. Because let’s be clear — the so-called “prison industrial complex” is not a glitch in the system. It is the system. The system isn’t broken. It is literally designed to funnel poor people, especially people of color, into cages so corporations can keep their profits high and wages low.

Capitalism thrives on that pipeline. The solidarity economy — the work I help coordinate through the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network — points to a different way. Our principles are simple: 1}Put people and planet before profit. 2) Build on solidarity, cooperation, equity, democracy, and sustainability. In plain English? We can take care of one another and still make a good living.

That’s not pie-in-the-sky. It’s happening. Let’s look at ChiFresh Kitchen in Chicago, a worker cooperative founded and led by formerly incarcerated Black women. Camille Kerr, one of the folks who helped it get off the ground, put it plainly: “We want to build an economy that liberates, not chains.”

ChiFresh isn’t a charity. It’s a thriving business that provides healthy meals to schools and community groups, proving that people who’ve been locked out of the economy can run and own their own workplace

I remember a story I heard from another cooperative developer who was working with a group of men who had just come home from prison and were sketching out a plan for a landscaping cooperative. One of the former prisoners said, “I’m tired of asking for permission to live. I want to build something nobody can take from me.” That stuck with me. Because that’s exactly what co-ops offer: Not just a paycheck, but ownership, dignity, and a future.

The numbers make the case. The unemployment rate among formerly incarcerated people is deeply painful — in many national studies, more than 27 % of formerly incarcerated individuals are jobless, far higher than for the general population. (Prison Policy Initiative) One study of people who maintained employment for at least one year post-release found their three-year recidivism rate to be about 16 %, compared to 52 % for those who didn’t maintain that employment. (prison2ec.org)

Another recent analysis of participants in employment-focused correctional programs showed about a 7.9-point reduction in crime within three years and a 4.9-point increase in employment, relative to those who did not participate. (ScienceDirect) Meta-analyses and reviews consistently find that employment is strongly associated with reduced reoffending — especially when the job is stable, decent, and sometimes full-time. (BioMed Central)

That’s why cooperatives matter so much. Because formerly incarcerated folks are routinely shut out of hiring opportunities or are offered only exploitative, temporary work. Running a co-op gives them a seat at the table: shared decision-making, democratic control, ownership, and better possibilities for stability.

Across New York City, the solidarity economy is already growing. The Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC (CEANYC) has mapped nearly 2,000 community-controlled economic entities, including 66 worker co-ops, 500+ community gardens, and 1,200 housing co-ops.

The Community and Worker Ownership Project (CWOP) at City University of New York (CUNY) trains people in democratic governance and supports projects converting businesses into shared ownership. Together, they’re helping make it possible for people to not just find work but to build work they own.

Of course, there are real challenges: capital access, high real estate costs, licensing and background check barriers, governance training needs. Democracy is messy. But those challenges don’t discredit the model — they show where we must pour our energy and demand policy change that helps facilitate solidarity economy principles and practices.

Here is the thing: Capitalism is not inevitable. We are already forging a path out. Formerly incarcerated people — especially women — are not “risks” or “liabilities” to be managed. They’re leaders, creators, visionaries.

So let’s support co-ops with our dollars, our time, our voices. Let’s join policy campaigns in our own communities for city contracts to cooperatives and for funding to support cooperative development. And let’s change how we see people who’ve done time — not as disposable labor, but as co-owners in our collective future.

That’s the solidarity economy. That’s freedom work. And that’s how we break the chains.