At the end of August I was at my wits end over being unable to earn a living. I have not had a real job since 2008. I have had stupid jobs like canvassing roofing door-to-door, 1 month as a receptionist, and then slinging grilled cheese down on the mall, but that is about it. I have been selling art and sometimes an antique here or there…I have been on foodstamps and limping along for sooo long – so I prayed – God what do you want me to do to make a living, that would be the for the highest good of all concerned… and then I let it go – I came upon this article at that point: http://shareable.net/blog/how-to-start-a-worker-co-op and then I read everything I could find for the next 3 days…. and watched a bunch of video: http://joannawhitney.com/worker.cooperative.html . I contacted the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives and they put me in touch with Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Centerhttp://www.rmeoc.org and then I put an ad on Craigslist. I got about 10 serious responses and we had our first meeting at the Westwood Inn on 6th and Wadsworth on September 12, 2011.
Since then we have met weekly.
We have now got a good crew and we keep getting more. David Blessing is guiding us as he has experience with cooperatives having been with the Boulder Coop Market and living in a Housing Collective. We have Wes Sheehan who has 25 years in contracting, Robert Leeds, artist and chef, Kristine Roberton, Interior Design, Gail Tracy, Artist and Art Teacher, Sarah Allhands, Crafter and Thrift Store Owner, Larry Dunn, web developer, and me – fine artist.
It is quite exciting now since I started the Kickstarter Crowdfunding Project.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1108604923/operating-funds-for-organizing-denver-worker-co-op
