We continue our tribute to the 2021 Cooperative Hall of Fame Inductees, with Attorney Clark R. Arrington, Vernon and Clark discuss the innovative strategies he has used to raise capital while maintaining democratic Control. Clark R. Arrington, is General Counsel of The Working World, Inc., a cooperative that builds cooperative businesses in low-income communities; and Senior Fellow at Seed Commons, a community wealth cooperative. He’s an experienced attorney and educator who specializes in worker ownership cooperatives and socially responsible business practices. Prior to joining The Working World Inc., and Seed Commons, he spent most of his professional life teaching courses related to cooperatives, business law, and community economic development at more than half a dozen institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Beginning with a teaching job immediately after college in Chicago, he went on to The University of Southern New Hampshire, The Open University of Tanzania; and Kampala International University-Dar es Salaam College. Throughout his career, Clark has used his legal acumen to address capital formation issues for worker cooperatives, and has played a critical role in leveraging millions of dollars of new investment for social justice cooperatives. As a young lawyer he learned about cooperatives and community land trusts when he was with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. Well known as an innovator in cooperative finance, Clark finds innovative ways for worker-owned, social justice-minded businesses to raise capital and be profitable without sacrificing democratic control. Clark served as Chair, General Counsel and Capital Coordinator of Equal Exchange and has also served on the boards of the ICA Group, the Social Venture Network, and the Cooperative Fund of New England. His bold vision, reliable pragmatism, and tireless efforts are key to promoting and developing innovative financing structures that are sensitive to the cooperative principles of member ownership, control and benefit.
