Learn more about the deep history of Black Freedom and Cooperative Economics with our friends at Cleveland Solar Cooperative
Read MoreCleveland Owns
Power through collective ownership
Events
About Us
We know that in racial capitalism, ownership matters, so we're organizing multiracial, grassroots cooperatives that enable member owners to build wealth and power. We're working towards a Cleveland owned by its residents.
What we do
We support groups of workers and neighbors as they seek to turn what they have into what they need to demand their share of the region’s prosperity. We help groups fire the boss, kick out the landlord, and elect themselves.
We start worker- and community-owned co-ops, such as the Cleveland Solar Cooperative, PowerUp Purchasing Cooperative, and the graduates of Co-op U, our 14-week incubator. We are working with residents who want to purchase the building they live in and convert it to co-op housing. We also organize with residents who are demanding control over public resources, as in People's Budget Cleveland, which in 2025 launched a pilot to bring PB, or participatory budgeting, aka community budgeting, to Cleveland.
The common thread of our work is economic democracy--the shared stewardship of economic institutions that impact our lives. We bring 'nothing about us without us' to life as we build economic democracy in the city we love.
We start worker- and community-owned co-ops, such as the Cleveland Solar Cooperative, PowerUp Purchasing Cooperative, and the graduates of Co-op U, our 14-week incubator. We are working with residents who want to purchase the building they live in and convert it to co-op housing. We also organize with residents who are demanding control over public resources, as in People's Budget Cleveland, which in 2025 launched a pilot to bring PB, or participatory budgeting, aka community budgeting, to Cleveland.
The common thread of our work is economic democracy--the shared stewardship of economic institutions that impact our lives. We bring 'nothing about us without us' to life as we build economic democracy in the city we love.
Celebrating 5 years of Cleveland Owns!
May 4, 2024. Photos by Mark Silverberg, unless otherwise noted
Check out Fox 8's coverage of Cleveland Owns' work building community-owned solar in East Cleveland!
Our lead organizer Jonathan Welle and partners in East Cleveland shared our plan to build a solar array owned by the community. Read more on our blog!
Blog
In 2024, Cleveland Owns began delving into the realm of cooperative housing because we know decommodified housing is key to building the solidarity economy. We believe Clevelanders deserve the chance to get out of the rat race of spiraling unaffordability and instead live in at-cost housing they manage for themselves, on their own terms. Plus there is a rich history of co-op housing in Cleveland we wanted to bring forward to point the way.
Read MoreThe Democracy Beyond Elections national campaign recently published a case study on PB CLE's 2023 Issue 38 campaign
Read MoreWe at Cleveland Owns were honored to have Josephine Galdamez on the team as a Yale Environmental Fellow with Emerald Cities Collaborative this summer. Read more about her work with us in her own words!
Read MoreLast month the ~first ever~ statewide Co-op U started with 18 aspiring worker-owners from Cleveland.
Read MoreWe gathered with dozens friends and comrades in East Cleveland in July to discuss an important part of the solidarity economy: Housing co-ops.
Read MoreThe Energy Democracy Initiative at Cleveland Owns
