Riverwest Cooperative Alliance*

Started with the primary intent of being able to raise funds for the RCA (as bars are a lucrative venture compared to many other cooperative businesses), the Riverwest Public House Cooperative will be giving 100% of its profits to the RCA. Thus, we really will be building community, one drink at a time!

Riverwest Cooperative Alliance Website

Inspiration: The idea of the Riverwest Cooperative Alliance was in part derived from Mondragón Cooperative Corporation, a large body of interrelated worker-owned co-ops under one corporate charter located in the Basque region of Spain.

Beginning with a small kerosene heater production co-op, Mondragón has become one of the strongest multinational corporations in Spain employing thousands of worker-owners. Now a days their businesses include a range of enterprises from refrigerator manufacturing to a grocery store chain and their business model has been hailed by a number of scholars and economists for its tremendous success.

Mondragón Co-ops have been successful for more than half a century and have demonstrated that there are extraordinary alternatives to the competitive approach to business and work. The principles espoused by Mondragón are those of egalitarianism and solidarity with a strong emphasis on technological innovation, education, best practices and economic prosperity. Furthermore, success of Mondragón has been the result of a business culture structured derived from the 10 Basic Co-operative Principles: Open Admission, Democratic Organisation, the Sovereignty of Labour, Instrumental and Subordinate Nature of Capital, Participatory Management, Payment Solidarity, Inter-cooperation, Social Transformation, Universality and Education. More information on Mondragón can be found here: Mondragón

By employing a Mondragón-inspired structure, the Riverwest Cooperative Alliance aims to promote worker and consumer rights and respond to the needs of neighbors in the community.