Business
Michael Johnson, co-founder of The Growing Democracy Project and community advocate for transformative community development, discusses his most recent book, "The Growing Democracy Project: A Cultural Strategy for Taking Our Love, Power, and Democracy to New Levels." Michael and Vernon also illustrate the role culture plays in in shaping how we live, and how democracy can be used to address the issues of polarization that the Country is struggling with. Michael Johnson has been immersed in cooperative/solidarity economic movements since 2007. His involvement began with the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-operatives (New England), Grassroots Economic Organizing Collective (GEO), and SolidarityNYC. In 1980 he Co-founded the Ganas Community in Staten Island, New York. The Ganas Community is in part a place to live and work together, and an experiential research center in democratic culture. For 20 years Michael participated in this transformative community of practice. Throughout his professional career Michael has been deeply involved in group dynamics and community organizing. To that end, he co-authored BUILDING CO-OPERATIVE POWER! Stories and Strategies from Worker Co-Operatives in the Connecticut River Valley (2014), and launched The Growing Democracy Project in 2021. The Project seeks to enable everyday citizens to make democracy the most potent political force in the United States.