cepa planning cooperative

09/30/2026

We love experiments like this. Usually low cost and low stakes, they do more than just help people imagine, but actually allow them to experience what changes in the built environment look and feel like.

Testing small scale ideas is an effective way to respond to resident ideas and concerns. It helps us understand what really works and what doesn't. And at the same time, it creates new opportunities for gathering, connection, and conversation among neighbors.

For one day each September, the curb stops being automatic car storage and becomes a public experiment.

A forgettable stretch of curb can suddenly hold benches, bikes, games, art, a small gathering spot, or even a temporary little house that makes it easier to picture more people living downtown.

That shift is what Park(ing) Day invites people to experience each September, when cities around the world temporarily turn curbside parking spaces into public parks, social spaces, installations, and small experiments that ask what the curb could do besides store one private vehicle.

For a short time, people get to walk through those spaces, sit in them, play in them, and imagine what a more active downtown could feel like if a little more curbside land were opened up for public life.

Park(ing) Day turns an ordinary parking space into a practical question for the whole street: what could this land do if people came first?

09/25/2026

Excellent article in The Guardian today about a group that is trying to resurrect JoAnn Fabrics as a consumer and/or worker cooperative. The part of the article that really hit home for us was this quote by Sandy McClenahan, who is working to make this happen: “The ultimate big dream is to try to create an ecosystem that connects all of these people in the crafting world”.

We have been working with essentially the same goal in mind - how can we help to create a network of citizen planners who both can draw on and contribute to collective knowledge about improving their neighborhoods.

We would love to see a world where citizen planning cooperatives, supported by a larger network of expertise, could help local governments work toward community-driven solutions. We at cepa are committed to the cooperative model as a more democratic alternative to the current paradigm where capital breaks things and non-profits attempt to pick up the pieces.

US crafters are looking to build a communal network to replace the company after it was bankrupted by private equity investors in 2025

09/02/2026

"U.S. cities often look to large-scale development to bolster their rankings. But some of the most effective models already exist in the everyday life of cities across the Global South, where the connections between economy, infrastructure, and public life remain visible."

As an international team ourselves, we often look to people and places outside of the US to inspire and guide our work. This op-ed reminds us of the power that residents have to shape their own neighborhoods and communities. We don't necessarily need major development projects or professional planners to create the conditions for meaningful everyday life.

At cepa, we aim to develop "citizen planners" who are equipped to activate the existing strengths and resources in their neighborhoods. We work to position residents to lead planning efforts that make their communities great places to live.

08/28/2026

Another great read in the Flourishing Neighborhoods series:

What communities and families can do to give children more independence, stronger relationships, greater responsibility, and a place to belong.

08/07/2026

Intro to Walkability - a Field Study: This is a video we made for the co-learning lab to demonstrate some of the things that affect walkability in a practical way.

08/06/2026

“Community connection is a powerful force.” This was one of the four main insights from a McKinsey and Company survey of more than 30,000 Americans released yesterday.

As an organization focused on neighborhood-based community development and citizen-led planning, we love to hear this. But the results also showed that “Only one-third of survey respondents say they feel very connected to their neighborhood or community, and even fewer say people like them have a meaningful say in decisions affecting their local area.”

The headline takeaway that most news outlets have drawn from this survey is that Americans feel financially insecure and that rising prices for basic needs like food and housing are a big part of that insecurity. Surely this is true.

But the question needs to be asked – how much of that financial insecurity is tied to the lack of community connection and a feeling that we don’t even have an opportunity to direct what happens in our own neighborhoods? How much of our overall well-being, and even career development (other main priorities cited in the report) can be traced back to a lack of community ties?

Actually, a lot! As the researchers found, “Respondents who feel strongly connected to their communities are about twice as likely to feel they have a say in the direction of their lives, three times more likely to feel in control of their future, and four times more likely to feel their lives have momentum.”

We believe that neighborhood-level connections and the initiatives that grow from those connections are the key to better overall quality of life. We believe that all neighborhoods have assets that can be mobilized to make good things happen now and build toward great things in the future. We can help you take the first step toward increased local direction, control and momentum through community action. Get in touch to find our more about our work.

Source: “Americans’ Aspirations for Economic Mobility | McKinsey.” Accessed August 6, 2026.

As the United States marks 250 years, explore how affordability, good jobs, health, and community connection drive economic mobility and opportunity for Americans.

07/30/2026

This is a big part of what we do at cepa - working with residents to build planning skills and capacity so that they can shape their neighborhoods in ways that "naturally create friendship, trust, and belonging".

Take a moment to read this great article from today's Flourishing Neighborhoods newsletter:

Why rebuilding neighborhoods—not expanding programs—is the only scalable response to social disconnection

06/30/2026

In a previous post, we mentioned the shared knowledge branch of our values tree. Here we expand a bit on what shared knowledge means in our relationships with our partners and to us as an organization...

Building a Culture of Shared Knowledge

At cepa planning cooperative our aim is to create a genuine culture of co-learning. In this process, the community members we work with lead by bringing their own talents, knowledge and desires to the table. We play a complementary role, adding experience and professional training to the mix as appropriate. Together we aim to build something greater than the sum of its parts.

Through co-learning, community members are better equipped to create solutions to local challenges by identifying their existing assets and incorporating new skills and strategies. This process not only helps our partners to work toward their goals. It also increases cepa's organizational capacity to serve future partners.

Creating Pathways into the Field

Of course mutual capacity building happens in any professional relationship, but we carry the idea further. Co-learning helps us to identify individuals who might fit as professional contributors within the cooperative. Where this fit exists, we actively seek to offer paid work and training for those who wish to join our team of collaborators.

Our structure as a cooperative is uniquely suited to this arrangement. We are worker owned and managed, and compensation is based on hours worked (patronage), not on shares owned or a set salary. By offering opportunities to join us as staff and a pathway to worker membership, we provide meaningful work and possible ownership. This opens up the field for those who might otherwise be excluded, and makes cepa better by bringing in new experience and viewpoints.

Building Collective Experience

Our shared knowledge model is designed to build a network of experts – some with professional qualifications in planning and community development, others drawn from our community partners with varied experiences and training. Together, as a team, we aim to build a collective capacity greater than other consultants, with opportunities for shared professional growth and economic reward.

This is what the cooperative model means to us. These are the values we bring to our work. If this approach resonates with you or your community, we would love to talk about how we could work together.

06/24/2026

This is a great read about shared stewardship - something that we are trying to build through our work at cepa planning cooperative.

"In diverse communities, with infinite combinations of life experiences and intersecting identities, stewards deliberate with others and work across differences. They strive to weave vested interests, value unheard voices, earn trust, strengthen interdependence, and build shared power. Such practices are the relational fuel for courageous, concerted action. But stewardship doesn't stop at building relationships. Stewards carry those connections into concrete action, co-creating things of lasting civic significance. They expand what communities believe is possible..."

A rising movement of stewards working across differences to help every community thrive.

06/18/2026

In Spanish, the word “cepa” refers to the underground part of a plant where the roots connect to the trunk or stem. It is the hidden nexus that stabilizes and nourishes what is visible above.

We chose our name because it is the perfect analogy for what we strive for in our work, and we built our logo to reflect this idea. Recently, we’ve started playing with fun ways to use the image to express our values. The result is the graphic shown here.

In our approach, community desires and needs provide the nutrients from which everything else grows. What we bring as an organization is assistance to help organize the roots (community resources, experiences and motivations) and create that strong cepa we mentioned.

From this base, we work to co-produce a trunk of expertise and abilities that allow community members to branch off and take cooperative action toward their goals.

And the shared knowledge branch? That’s part of the bigger picture of where we are headed. More on that a bit later...

We are cepa planning cooperative. We connect the tangled root network of stakeholders, ideas, experiences, and resources into a strong base so your projects and community can grow and flourish. Get in touch to find out more.