# Neighborhood Development Cooperatives
These already exist in every healthy neighborhood. They may operate out of a cafe, a church, many kitchen tables.
These are sacred places of campfire conversations, cave drawings, and collective action.
Some neighborhoods will want to increase the scope of cooperation beyond the purely informal setting. There are examples of domain specific neighborhood level development cooperatives. The pattern needs sharing.
They are as informal as kitchen tables and cafes. They can be as formal as Community Centers and legally registered organizations with fiduciary accountability. We hope that over time many of them will be incorporated at co-ops.
At their best these will mirror innovations from Stafford Beer's Control Room, Jönköping's Qulturum, and Toyota's Obeya Room.
These may take on attributes of neighborhood Obeyas.
**EXAMPLES:** Qulturum which is an inspiration for ReLocalize Creativity.
VIMEO 583208743 Robert Sadler
1970s and '80s. Hartford, Connecticut 20,000 people Disinvestment, declining investment. All stakeholders. Solution possible. Sign off and contribute to a development corporation. Effective program to stop the decline of a neighborhood. Bob and Sharon moved into the community. Fear of property value loss due to white flight, Community becomes ghetto. History of ghettos in the US--Absentee landlords stop investing and become extractors. How to create a multiracial neighborhood? Schools, churches, police... Biased real estate industry and banking industry. Housing values declining. White realtors were behaving dishonestly. Investigative reporting, a "sting." **Started a real estate company!** Over three years took over real estate market with non-profit real estate company controlled by residents. Bought absentee properties and rehabilitated them.
Changed the real estate company behavior through **legal means**. **Banks** and **insurance companies** were not helpful. **City government** were disinvesting and redirecting investment to white communities. Code enforcement. Research->Pittsburgh had created a non-profit housing development company. Successful over 11 years. Federal Neighborhood Reinvestment Taskforce, Housing and Urban Development. Replicated in Hartford. Sequence mattered. Quicker time cycle. Ingerview all the stakeholders.