Seed Commons All Network Gathering Recap
- Cooperation Buffalo
- Aug 11
- 4 min read
Cooperation Buffalo is a member of the Seed Commons, an international cooperative network and CDFI that extends non-extractive finance to cooperatives. We meet regularly online and in person with our peers around the country and around the world to discuss the state of the network and our work to develop cooperatives in our local communities. Each year, Seed Commons backbone staff and Seed Commons network members gather with each other to share updates about our work, discuss the state of the organization, and learn from each other. As a Full Member Peer, Cooperation Buffalo is able to send two staff members to the All Network Gathering, which is hosted by a different Peer every year. This year’s All Network Gathering took place in Oakland, CA which is home to four network peers: Climate Justice Alliance, Cooperation Richmond, Persimmon Collective Fund, and Repaired Nations
So in late July, Cecilia and Michael made the long trek from Buffalo to Oakland for two days of learning and connecting with our peers. Our first morning, we each got to explore downtown Oakland, including the Black Panther Party History Museum and Oakland City Hall. After lunch at Cafe Gabriela - named after the honorable Gabriela Silang, a Filipina revolutionary who led a revolt against Spanish colonizers on the archipelago - we joined our Seed Commons peers on a bus tour of local cooperatives!
Our first stop, Reems, is a chain of cafes selling Palestinian and Arab street food. Their Jack London Square location recently became worker-owned and was approved for a Seed Commons loan to expand their operations! Next we visited the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (“EB PREC”) to learn how EB PREC organizes with tenants & community groups in the East Bay to purchase properties, take them off of the speculative market, and create permanently affordable housing and commercial spaces. Staying in West Oakland, we then traveled to Mandela Grocery, a worker owned grocery store. Mandela intends to strengthen and diversify their local economy by sourcing from local entrepreneurs and farmers in California with a focus on black and brown farmers and food makers.
Next up - Cheeseboard Collective! Cheeseboard has been a worker owned cooperative since 1971, selling cheese, baked goods, and pizza in Berkley, CA. Michael reported the vegan cheese on their pizza was excellent! Cheeseboard boasts incredible benefits to their worker-owners, including 401ks, health benefits, and even shared ownership of a cabin in the woods, owned collectively by Cheeseboard owners since the 1970s!
Our last stop took us to Richmond, CA and the Multicultural Bookstore, to learn about Huitlaco Mushroom and Richmond Land. Huitlaco Mushroom is a worker-owned urban farm serving high quality culinary mushrooms and fungal rich compost to the San Francisco East Bay. Richmond Land is a community-driven and member-based organization dedicated to creating pathways for everyday people to organize, acquire, and co-steward land and properties as community assets to build staying power, now and for the future.
We were honored to learn how local communities around Oakland and the Bay Area are fighting back against gentrification, reclaiming land, making decisions collectively, growing power, and reviving Indigenous practices to build a better world.
The first night of the All Network Gathering concluded with dinner at Understory, a worker owned and community-built restaurant and community hub grounded in collective action where love for the people is at the heart of everything they do. Understory opened their doors to us (and closed them for everyone else!) for two consecutive nights. Both nights featured inventive cocktails with names like Punch a Fascist, and an eclectic menu that showcased dishes with Thai, Mexican, Filipino, Vietnamese, Salvadorean, and Turkish flavors and seasonal produce.
Our second day of the All Network Gathering was held at Revival Hall, an old Italian social club which was recently purchased and renovated by EB PREC. After a welcome from Co-Director Kate Khatib, our other Co-Director Brendan Martin introduced Seed Commons member Ed Whitfield for our collective political grounding. As someone who has been fighting against injustice and building a better world for several decades (Ed was one of the first group of Black children to desegregate schools in Little Rock, Arkansas), Ed consistently brings a clear eyed analysis of where we have been, where we are now, and where we can go next. After the opening remarks, the first half of the day was spent in various small discussion groups, with topics ranging from rebuilding trust with our projects, to how to get a seat at the table with local government officials.
After a delicious lunch catered by the Cheeseboard Collective (peaches and goat cheese and balsamic pizza oh my!), we spent the second half of the day hearing from each member of the Seed Commons network. It is so impressive to see 10 years of work by Seed Commons and over $129 million in loans. In the past 18 months alone, peers in the Seed Commons network made over 80 new non-extractive loans to cooperatives, totaling over $27 million.
The last night of the ANG always features the “No Talent Show”. Hosted by Seed Commons staff member Smiley Nunes-Rojas, this is a time to let loose, provide full-throated support for each other, and showcase our talents (or lack thereof)! From doing impressions of plants to singing songs and practicing telepathy, our network is full of incredible talents of all kinds. We are already looking forward to the next ANG.
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