Kristen Barker, ED of the Cincinnati Union Co-op Initiative Discusses Program Initatives Kristen Barker, Executive Director of the Cincinnati Union Co-op Initiative (CUCI, discusses how the Union Co-op has helped Cooperatives to Form, Grow and Transition from Employer to Employee owned businesses. Kristen Barker is a social entrepreneur. She is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Cincinnati Union Co-op Initiative, and is a Co-Founder of 1worker1vote. She designs and leads participatory education events with English- and Spanish-speaking co-op workers, and helps worker-owners make their businesses more successful. Kristen also helps CUCI’s design team determine the feasibility of potential co-op businesses, helps retiring business owners determine whether they can sell their business to their employees, and helps viable co-ops access the capital they need to leverage their ideas. Kristen has done groundbreaking work in adopting the Mondragon model to the U.S. context, and hosts delegations from around the country, including the participants in CUCI’s semi-annual Union Co-op Symposium. Kristen is also a 2016-2018 Business Alliance for Local and Living Economies (BALLE) Fellow. Before becoming CUCI’s Executive Director, she worked for 12 years fostering partnerships between people of faith, union members, and community members of diverse backgrounds. Kristen is a graduate of Xavier University, and a lifelong Cincinnati resident, except for two years in El Salvador. Kristen is a single mother of a resilient daughter with special needs.
