Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Planning Studio: Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative
Spring 2015
Instructor: James DeFilippis, Ph.D.
Office: Room 365, 33 Livingston Avenue (Civic Square Building).
Office hours: Mondays, 1:30-3:00; Tuesdays, 10:00-11:30; or by appointment.
Phone: 1-848-932-2805
E-mail: jdefilip@rci.rutgers.edu
Class meeting time and location: Tuesdays, 1:10-3:50, CSB room 474
Overview: The Spring 2015 Community Development Studio is working with the Bronx
Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI). BCDI is an effort to harness local assets and drive
a comprehensive regional economic development strategy that is focused on building wealth,
ownership, and business leadership among low- and moderate-income residents of the Bronx
while fostering an environmentally just and sustainable regional economy.
BCDI is in the process of establishing a group of policy proposals to complement its work
organizing for Economic Democracy in the Bronx. Based on discussions with our community
organizing partners, as well as in organized labor, business, and Bronx anchor institutions, the
policy areas we have determined are most urgent are:
• City Procurement
• Sustainable Energy (clean/renewable production and energy efficiency)
• Economic Development
Having done some background work in all of these areas, BCDI is looking to identify highimpact and attainable municipal and state policy goals in some or all of these areas. In the
immediate future, we are aiming to produce a policy document or white paper as well as a
shorter executive summary/platform for internal planning and limited distribution to grow our
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network of partners. The studio will do all three policy areas or potentially only two, depending
on how many students there are enrolled in the course.
Scope of Work:
The studio students will work with BCDI and its partners to identify goals and will conduct
research on the policy ways in which those goals can be translated into specific policies. Thus
the studio will be a combination of facilitating the agenda setting by BCDI and its partners, and
outside research on how such an agenda could be realized in policy, and the appropriate scale
(state or municipal) at which such policies should be, or need to be enacted.
At the end of the semester, the studio should have three policy white papers for BCDI. These
need not be a complete set of policy recommendations, but, rather, a set of potential avenues that
BCDI might pursue. This “menu” of possible policies should include information on the
tradeoffs that inhere in them, and guidance on what values and decisions should inform which of
the choices BCDI decides to pursue.
Structure of the Course:
Grading:
Your grade in the course will be based on the following:
Participation and Group/Class Citizenship: 25%
Presentation: 25%
Report: 50%
Outputs of the Studio:
There will be two primary outputs to the studio:
1. A presentation at the end of the semester to BCDI and its partner organizations
2. The policy white paper drafts, which will be focused on the three issues noted above
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Teams in the Studio:
The studio will be divided into three teams, to handle the three different white papers. Each
team will select a leader who will be responsible for coordinating communication between the
team and the rest of the course.
Sakai:
The course website includes initial readings and background materials. We will use Sakai as our
main center for communication. We will post research materials to share, draft documents and
team reviews, and communicate through discussion boards. It is important, therefore that the
teams keep their materials updated and post new material promptly when they are ready.
Course Calendar
January 20: Introduction to the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative. Representatives
from BCDI to attend class in New Brunswick.
Readings:
BCDI. 2014. BCDI Concept Paper. (NOTE: This is confidential, and not to be shared with
anyone)
BCDI. 2014. Community Enterprise Network: Core Infrastructure
Iuviene, Nick. 2010. Building a Platform for Economic Democracy. Master’s Thesis.
Cambridge, MA: Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
MIT CoLab. 2011. Development Study for the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative.
Cambridge, MA: Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
January 27: Background on co-ops and community development
Readings:
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Casper-Futterman, Evan. 2011. Back to (Non)Basics: Worker Cooperatives as Economic
Development. Berkeley Planning Journal. 24: 115-130
Majee, Wilson and Ann Hoyt. 2011. Cooperatives and Community Development: A Perspective
on the Use of Cooperatives in Development. Journal of Community Practice, 19:48–61
Shelterforce. Fall/Winter 2013/14. The “Work” Issue.
Zeuli, Kimberly and Jamie Radel. 2005. Cooperatives as a Community Development Strategy:
Linking Theory and Practice. Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy. 35(1): 43-54
February 3rd: Field trip to the Bronx to meet with BCDI and its partner organizations
Readings:
Lehman College. 2014. Discovering the Bonx. Using Census Data to Highlight Social Problems
and Achievements in a Major Urban Area
url: http://www.lehman.edu/deannss/bronxdatactr/discover/bxtext.htm#S2013
Groarke, Margaret and Jordan Moss. 2002. “Keepin’ it Real: Community Organizing in the
Bronx”, in Ben Shepard and Ron Hayduk, eds. From ACT UP to the WTO: Urban Protest and
Community Building in the Era of Globalization. New York: Verso Books.
Three background documents on the three policy areas we will be working on.
February 10: Project work
February 17: Project work
February 24: Project work
March 3: Project work
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March 10: Mid-semester meeting with the client.
March 17: Project work
March 24: Project work
March 31: Project work
April 7: Draft white papers done.
April 14: Draft presentations done.
April 21: Draft presentation at Bloustein
April 28: Final presentation to the BCDI and its partner organizations
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Web resources:
Industrial Cooperatives Association
url: http://ica-group.org/
Ohio Employee Ownership Center
url: http://www.oeockent.org/
Evergreen Cooperatives
url: http://evergreencooperatives.com/
University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives
url: http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/
National Cooperative Business Association
url: http://www.ncba.coop/
Further readings:
Co-Ops, Community Ownership and Control
Adams, Frank and David Ellerman. 1989. Your Own Boss: Democratic Worker Ownership.
Social Policy. Winter: 12-18
Cline, John. n.d. The Worker Cooperative: A Vehicle for Economic Development.
DeFilippis, James. 2004. Unmaking Goliath: Community Control in the Face of Global Capital.
New York: Routledge
Democracy Collaborative. 2014. Policies for Community Wealth Building: Leveraging State and
Local Resources.
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Gunn, Christopher and Hazel Gunn. 1991. Reclaiming Capital: Democratic Initiatives and
Community Development. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
Imbroscio, David. 1997. Reconstructing City Politics: Alternative Economic Development and
Urban Regimes. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Megson, James and Michael O’Toole. 1993. Employee Ownership: The Vehicle for Community
Development and Local Economic Control. Boston: Industrial Cooperatives Association
Olson, Deborah Groban. 1986-87. Employee Ownership: An Economic Development Tool for
Anchoring Capital in Local Communities. New York University Review of Law and Social
Change. 15: 239-267
Russell, Raymond. 1984. Using Ownership to Control: Making Workers Owners in the
Contemporary United States. Politics and Society. 13: 253-294
Wilkenson, Paul and Jack Quarter. 1996. Building a Community-Controlled Economy: The
Evangeline Co-operative Experience. Toronto: University of Toronto Press
Williamson, Thad, David Imbroscio, and Gar Alperovitz. 2003. Making a Place for Community:
Local Democracy in a Global Era. New York: Routledge
Wills, Jane. 1998. A Stake in Place? The geography of employee ownership and its implications
for a stakeholding society. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 23: 79-94
The Bronx
Gonzalez, Evelyn. 2006. The Bronx. New York: Columbia University Press
Hill, Emita Brady, et al. 2014. Bronx Faces and Voices: Sixteen Stories of Courage and
Community. Texas Tech University Press
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Rooney, Jim. 1994. Organizing the South Bronx. Albany: State University of New York Press
Anchor Institutions, Import-Substitution, and Local Economic Development
Martin, Deborah. 2004. Reconstructing Urban Politics: Neighborhood Activism in Land-Use
Change. Urban Affairs Review. 39(5): 589-612
Persky, Joseph, David Ranney, and Wim Wiewel. 1993. Import Substitution and Local
Economic Development. Economic Development Quarterly. 7(1): 18-29
Serang, Farzana, J. Phillip Thompson, Ted Howard. 2010. The Anchor Mission: Leveraging the
Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth. Cambridge, MA: Department of
Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
Robert Mark Silverman, Robert Mark, Jade Lewis, and Kelly L. Patterson. 2014. William
Worthy’s Concept of ‘‘Institutional Rape’’ Revisited: Anchor Institutions and Residential
Displacement in Buffalo, NY. Humanity & Society. 1-24
Yates, Jacquelyn. n.d. Can “Anchor Institutions” Help Revitalize Declining Neighborhoods by
Buying from Local Cooperatives?: The Evergreen Cooperative Initiative. Ohio Employee
Ownership Center
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