The Industrial Commons is rebuilding a diverse working class. We lead and implement a new vision for labor organizing in rural, industrial work. We encourage and equip a new generation of workers to build pride, skill, and ownership in manufacturing. This preserves our heritage industries and roots previously extracted wealth in the hands of our communities through local ownership and control.

We both remember being in high school, at a time when plants with hundreds of workers were told on a Friday that the plant was closing on Monday. How can this happen to a community—again and again and again? How can it look different? The Industrial Commons works to root wealth and control in communities and in the hands of workers by teaching worker-ownership and democratization of the factory floor.

Who will make “Made in America”? Who will be the voice for manufacturing workers? What 20-year-old even wants to work in a manufacturing plant today? Would you? Our biggest challenge is to inspire workers again and show that there is hope, economic viability, and a future in manufacturing work. We must make the manufacturing work environment one in which young people want to come to work each day. We must create manufacturing plants that inspire creativity, develop the gifts of people, and drive the fruits of their labor back into our communities, reversing trends of talent and wealth extraction.

Dan St. Louis, director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center, has supported our work since day one. He hones our ability to work in heritage manufacturing from the business and technical side. Deb Markley of the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship inspires us to focus our work on the best innovation in rural development and strategy. Steven Dawson, a national leader in workforce development and ownership, encourages us to think about scale and lasting impact. We’re also inspired by the leaders of Project Equity, the Democracy at Work Institute, and The Wake Forest Law Clinic, who support us and make our work better.

Walter was working three jobs when he landed a position in a worker-owned sewing company. He has worked there five years now. With his wages, not just as a worker but as an owner, he has purchased a home. His kids are doing great in school. He is a leader in his community. The Industrial Commons is multiplying Walter’s story by supporting workers who are creating better livelihoods for themselves, their families, and their communities.