Local, Community Owned
Supply Chains Collaborative
Our goal is to nurture robust, sustainable, equitable, and community-controlled value chains in the Northeast.
Context
Many locally owned businesses and nonprofits across the Northeast share a vision of sustainability, social equity, anti-racism, anti-colonialism and regeneration. We know that in our capitalist system, global corporations prioritize profit over community accountability, leading to social and environmental exploitation.
However, even mission-aligned co-ops and non profits tend to spend significant portions of their budgets on large corporations to supply the inputs they need to do their work. Locally owned businesses contribute significantly to local economies, and worker-owned enterprises show higher community accountability. Promoting local suppliers within marginalized communities – and democratically-community-owned businesses in particular – can address the race/class wealth gap and foster wellbeing and resilience.
Business as usual:
The fledgling solidarity economy in the US depends on and pays into the extractive capitalist economy for the inputs we need to do our work.
Business with local, democratically controlled supply chains:
Mission aligned entities spend their budgets on mission aligned suppliers, meeting their needs and amplifying a kinder, more sustainable economy.
How we get there:
By compiling information and collectively analyzing our data about our supply system, we can direct new patterns for resource flows, and challenge our supply chains to circulate through the solidarity economy rather than the extractive economy.
Build an
Information Base
We collaborate to build an information base that allows us to understand how much money we are spending on what suppliers for what goods and services.
Identify
Opportunities
Identify local substitution opportunities and incentives to transition to working with them.
Guide
Interventions
Guide interventions to divert vendor dollars towards growing local, regenerative, democratically governed supply chains.
ValueVendor
An app by COWOP’s Local, Community-owned Supply Chain Collaborative
How you benefit from taking part in this project:
Contribute to sustainability and equity
Help build a database that facilitates the ecosystem’s shift towards a solidarity economy, promoting sustainability and equity in the local economy.
Amplify your social impact
Increase your social impact by aligning with and supporting mission aligned suppliers, thereby fostering a network of businesses committed to social and environmental justice.
Grow a kinder economy
Support the development of more pathways for others to transition to local, democratically-led, worker and BIPOC owned businesses, creating a more inclusive and compassionate economic system.
01.
Offer your business / organization’s vendor report to the data pool
We collaborate to build an information base that allows us to understand how much money we are spending on what suppliers for what goods and services.
02.
Offer qualitative
feedback
Identify local substitution opportunities and incentives to transition to working with them.
03.
Consider
participating
Guide interventions to divert vendor dollars towards growing local, regenerative, democratically governed supply chains.
ValueVendor
An app by COWOP’s Local, Community-owned Supply Chain Collaborative
COWOP 