Worcester Youth Cooperatives

Introducing the  Core organizers of The Bridge have been quietly working in the background to sustain its programming at 189 Washington Street while developing a comprehensive plan for cooperative development, mutual aid, and affordable housing at this property that we now own. This campaign is a direct continuation of the work we started with The Bridge, and it aims to:  Renovate 189 Washington Street into a functional, multi-purpose hub for Crash Course Creations, Implacable Books, SOS Worcester, Project Priceless, and new cooperative projects that WYC’s incubation program develops. Replace SOS Worcester’s totaled outreach van by purchasing what will be the first in a fleet of cooperatively owned vehicles to support transportation, unhoused outreach, and emergency response. Upgrade outdated equipment by purchasing new laptops and a high-volume printer to streamline work and expand our capacity. Create a sustainable foundation for long-term community impact. ( to get a detailed timeline and outline of what the project entails.) Meanwhile, enjoy these two pictures showing our plans for (1) the bigger picture – structural additions to our footprint at 189 Washingston Street, and (2) a general rending of the build-out of the first-floor bookstore, community space, and mutual aid organizing hub. Campaign Progress So Far: • Building materials purchased: Using funds raised so far, we’ve purchased metal studs, plywood, and insulation to map out the footprint and designate areas for different programs and projects. • Renovations underway: Construction has begun, and we’re making exciting progress toward transforming the space. Why Stay Engaged? • Be a part of a movement to stop gentrification in its tracks locally – Green Island is fighting to stave off the gentrification that has overrun the Kelley Square area. Unlike the situation with The Bridge, we are not at risk of losing 189 Washington Street—we own it. That means we have the … Continue ReadingIntroducing our Capital Campaign: Dare to Capitalize, Bridge the Gap!

Standing Against Police Violence: Project Priceless Speaks Truth to Power On Tuesday, December 17, 2024, the Worcester City Council chambers became the site of an unprecedented confrontation between the Worcester Police Department (WPD) and advocates for justice. Off-duty police officers and their supporters packed the council chambers in a show of force in a failed attempt to overshadow the voices of survivors and activists, including members of Project Priceless—a self-organized collective of unhoused women and survivors of the sex trade. The meeting addressed competing petitions: one from the police union using witness intimidation tactics to demand the full release of the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigatory report on WPD misconduct, and four from Project Priceless calling for systemic change and immediate relief. Their demands include an acknowledgment of harm, a building to operate a womens’ shelter, reparations, criminalization of sexual exploitation, and a commitment to abolition. The DOJ’s summary report revealed chilling patterns of sexual violence and excessive force within the WPD. Organizers, such as Nia Guzman of Racism-Free WPS and Sathi Patel of Project Priceless, courageously spoke out against the systemic abuse detailed in the report. They faced an environment fraught with hostility, amplified by the coordinated movements and presence of the police and their supporters, who sought to undermine survivors’ credibility and silence dissent. This display of power by the WPD highlighted a culture of impunity, one that organizers argue cannot be reformed but must be dismantled. As Guzman stated in her powerful address: “The stakes have never been higher for women in the city… We implore our community to stand united with Project Priceless and form a front against the violent class-based misogyny in our city.” For a detailed account of this critical meeting and the broader implications of the WPD’s response to the DOJ report, read … Continue Reading“From Pain to Power; This is Worcester Womens’ Hour”

About Project Priceless According to its “Board of Legends,” Project Priceless is “a Main South collective of women surviving the sex trade. Project Priceless was formed in September 2023, following the closure of the only women’s-only shelter in the city of Worcester (LIFT overnight shelter). Project Priceless meets once a week to organize around our social problems as one of the most oppressed classes of people in Worcester. We are dedicated to the liberation of all women. We are leaders in our community. We take the initiative to make the world a better and safer place for ourselves.” Follow developments from Project Priceless on the Instagram page of SOS Worcester @SOSWorcester

Last month we had the chance to join Reggie Rucker and Luke Gannon on their podcast “Building Local Power” hosted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Follow the link below to hear WYC members Addison Turner, Mario Harper, & Samuel Posner discuss and unpack “[our] experience growing up in Worcester, lay out the social and cultural inequities that the city faces, and rewrite popular ideologies to encourage an active community.” https://ilsr.org/youth-present-episode157/ We developed the initial strategy of Worcester Youth Cooperatives after carefully considering the contradictory and complex ways our social, economic, and political relations are interwoven. We understand the ways in which daily life is reproduced through the motion of global economic imperialism challenges our desire build power locally in mutual self-determination with oppressed communities around the world. Our first experiments to genuinely change our community have yielded so many valuable results, connections, & lessons we are working to integrate into our evolving framework. Shout-out to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance for inviting us to join their Podcast to share our stories and uplift our local effort! Transcript provided by and available at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance Addison Turner: It’s not just about giving people things, and then walking away, but establishing a relationship with the intention of supporting the self-determination and survival of people who are at risk due to oppression, exploitation, and social exclusion. And that’s where we developed the Worcester Youth Cooperatives model is to work our own cooperatives so that we are producing value democratically. Reggie Rucker: Hello, and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance dedicated to challenging corporate monopolies and expanding the power of people to shape their own future. I am Reggie Rucker, one of the hosts on this journey. On today’s show, we are engaging … Continue ReadingTowards Building Local Power and Self-Reliance in Worcester

So it begins! Before February came to a close, we decided to Make Black History and launch our first youth-led co-learning space. Youth Cooperative Solutions Academy (YCSA) is planned as a 24-week program that supports youth to identify social issues they care about and create “cooperative solutions.” We welcomed an amazing group of WYC members and interns. First we got grounded talk about our origin story, reviewed our recent accomplishments, and mapped our network before going over logistics. We ended the session with a hour-long relationship-building activity that mixed various forms of self-expression.

Excerpt from “Building Co-ops and Serving the Community” by Megan McGee (Geo.Coop) “Recent social movements led by young people have shown Gen Z to be more progressive than any generation before, and more likely to embrace alternatives to the oppressive systems that previous generations have accepted as a given. While this has prompted many to speculate on what this could mean for the future, right now the youth of Worcester, MA are seizing the present to create change in their community. In a city with a poverty rate of more than 20%, exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19 on the local economy, a group of determined young people have formed a network of cooperatives to earn money while helping to meet the needs of their most vulnerable neighbors throughout the community. Worcester Youth Cooperatives was started in October 2020 by six high school students to build “cooperative solutions” to the social issues they care about. They found each other while involved in an educational program where they learned the basics of cooperative economics and gained practical experience in growing hydroponic vegetables. “At first, I didn’t know anything about it,” says Genesis, 18. Like Genesis, most of the founders’ journeys in cooperative economics began as a summer job. Jahir, 17, got involved with the program through Genesis, who he says told him what a good opportunity it was to help their community. Laci, who is now 17, had been working for the program since she was 14 years old, and her brother Livingston also helped found the co-op. “It was kind of a group thing,” he says. “I wanted to stay with people I trust, get along with.” The objective of the educational program was for the youth to start a worker cooperative with hydroponic farming, but along the way, the … Continue ReadingSeizing the Time, Serving the People, and Building Power