As communities across the nation help business owners plan for succession, they realize the tremendous power employee ownership has to keep their companies locally-rooted.

This summer Project Equity’s Co-founder, Hilary Abell, visited Communities Unlimited (CU) in Little Rock, Arkansas to lead a training on cooperative development for the organization’s senior staff. CU is a non-profit community economic development organization serving seven Southern states that include 60% of the persistently poor counties in the US. Their team of consultants visits rural businesses to deliver high-touch services, moving their region from persistent poverty to sustainable prosperity. CU is eager to incorporate cooperatives and employee ownership into their “toolkit” to better serve rural communities.

Our regional partner, Molly Hemstreet of The Industrial Commons and the textile cooperative Opportunity Threads in North Carolina, joined the discussion, inspiring attendees to use employee ownership to revitalize heritage industries in rural communities.

Project Equity is seeking partners who want to work towards impactful economic development in their regions.