How can members of a community take back control of the resources that shape their lives? Join us on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 7:00-8:30pm ET, for a free webinar with co-op developer and community organizer Jonathan Welle to explore this question. Jonathan will share stories and lessons from Cleveland Owns, the economic democracy incubator he co-founded that enables neighbors to build cooperative businesses and organize campaigns for community control of land, energy, and other vital resources in Cleveland, Ohio. Participants will hear concrete examples of co-ops building working class power, and will be invited to connect the idea of economic democracy to the struggles and hopes in their own communities. This conversation is especially for people who believe another economy is possible and want tools and inspiration to help build it.
This 90-minute webinar is free, but registration is required.
Jonathan Welle is Lead Organizer with Cleveland Owns, where he works to show, not tell, ways to organize our economy in more democratic ways through worker ownership, community ownership, and community decision-making. His childhood as a pastor’s kid planted the seed of his belief in the power of community; his focus on economic power developed while supporting grassroots co-ops in the Dominican Republic and Peru as a volunteer in the Peace Corps, and became more urgent through his later work at – gasp – McKinsey & Company. Over the past few years, after studying Sabbath economics, Jonathan has been learning to integrate his Christian faith and his economic democracy work. He lives in Cleveland with his partner Molly.