Author: Nia Hunter
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How Are Bookstores Connected to Organizing?
An article by Samantha Puc talks about how independent bookstores nationwide are leading efforts in community organizing. BRED co-ops, Red Emma and Firestorm Books are featured, along with several other amazing bookstores. To read the Publishers Weekly article click here.
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Red Emma’s Cooperative Featured In Prism Article
Costa Beavin Pappas writes an article about the importance of independant bookstores and the role they serve during these authoritarian times. One of the bookstores featured is none other than Baltimore’s favorite bookstore, restaurant, and event space, Red Emma’s.
https://prismreports.org/2025/11/11/independent-bookstores-literature-activism/
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Red Emma’s In The USA Today Top 10!
USA TODAY recently published the results of their Reader’s Choice Awards for top 10 independent bookstores. Out of all the independent bookstores in the nation, Red Emma’s came in 9th! Make sure when you stop by, you tell them congratulations!
Read more here!
Red Emma’s ranked #No. 9: for Best Independent Bookstore in the 2025 USA TODAY 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards
No. 9: Best Independent Bookstore
Named after 19th-century radical thinker Emma Goldman, Red Emma’s in Baltimore’s Waverly neighborhood is a worker-cooperative-run bookstore and cafe dedicated to sustainability and community engagement. The store stocks titles of every genre, with a wide-ranging collection of books on civil rights, revolutionary history, and activism. Red Emma’s frequently hosts speakers, community events, and author series, while the on-site restaurant offers a plant-based menu, coffee drinks, and a full wine and cocktail bar.
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Glass Recovery And Sustainable Systems (GRASS)
We want to be an example of what zero waste will look like Baltimore and beyond. At least 75% of what we dispose of is reusable, recyclable, and compostable, which means so many small businesses could and should be created in Charm City.
Lucky for us, glass is 100% recyclable!
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Village of Love And Resistance
VOLAR is co-creating a cooperative community in East Baltimore owned by Black and Brown people, through the reclamation of land, healing, reconnecting and building a base of community power.
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NASCO Co-op
North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) is an alliance of group-equity housing cooperatives helping to build a world where every community benefits from resident-controlled housing by educating and organizing youth and emerging leaders to create and cre for co-ops in the US and Canada. They have been educating and organizing an emerging generation of cooperators since ‘68!
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BRED Leads Cooperative Statute All The Way
We did it! The Maryland Cooperative Statute has passed!!! It has been signed by the Governor and will go into effect on October 1, 2026!
Our project steward, Anna Evans-Goldstein, took initiative and cultivated the Maryland Limited Worker Cooperative Association Act. This meant a lot of drafts, meetings, conversations, connections, trips to Annapolis, and time. We are so proud of the work Anna has done on this, and are happy to be a part of getting this bill passed.
A huge thank you goes out to the many cooperative members and supporters who contacted their elected representatives to push for this landmark legislation!
From Anna:
Thank you so much to all of you who wrote letters, made calls, and showed up to testify. This bill would not have passed without the overwhelming support of the cooperative community in Maryland. We truly showed what it is to be a community that supports each other – cooperatives supporting cooperatives – a shining example of the sixth cooperative principle.
A special thank you to our champions in the Maryland State Legislature, Legislature includes: Senator Mary Washington , Delegates Lili Qi, and Delegate Lorig Charkoudian. Please take a moment to reach out to them by email or by phone to express our heartfelt thank you for championing this bill. And thank you to our partners who helped with bill drafting and support: the University of Baltimore Community Development Law Clinic and the Public Justice Center.
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The Real News Podcast Talks Baltimore Co-ops
Maximillian Alvarez moderated a panel talking to some Baltimore City folks who are part of the worker-owned cooperative ecosystem. Listen to what it’s like to operate a co-op, the history of how these worker-owners came to their cooperative, and how BRED is part of that process. The Real News Podcast
