Everything Co-op With Vernon Oakes

As Everything Co-op continues its celebration of Women's History Month, Julian Rowand honors his mother, Nancy Rowand, the first site manager of Beecher Cooperative, and other women who helped to establish the cooperative. Julian Rowand was a long-time member of the Beecher Cooperative and is now the cooperative’s site manager. He and Vernon also discuss the role women have played in the establishment of cooperatives in the Washington DC area, and throughout the world. Julian shares the history of how Beecher Cooperative came into existence as a result of tenants claiming their building when the owner of Beecher gave its tenants an eviction notice on Christmas eve in 1977. The tenants banded together and in 1979 they purchased the building from the owner and formed Beecher Cooperative. Today Julian is the current site manager of the cooperative that his mother co-founded when he was only 1-years old. This is a true story of a community overcoming and continuing to thrive.