Seed Commons Invests $1 Million in Obran Rising’s Cooperative Housing

Seed Commons through their member fund Baltimore Roundtable has been one of our closest partners since the inception of our first business Core Staffing. Earlier this year we completed the acquisition of Appalachian Field Services, a small construction firm based in Maryland, with the goal of testing our acquisition process and deepening our commitment to centering people closest to the problems of economic and social oppression within our cooperative. The cooperative also firmly believes that housing should be a human right despite the fact that our current economic model leaves many people out in the cold across our communities. Several of our members have experienced this truth first hand. It is from this lived experience that we made the decision to deepen our collective effort in the housing market and turn an extractive business model into an opportunity for collective wealth. 

Seed Commons is the ideal investment partner to help us pilot this concept. In November, through their local peer Baltimore Roundtable, our subsidiary Appalachian Field Services secured an initial $1M revolving credit facility. This pilot investment will help us double our member-focused housing portfolio to 10 units in 2021. All Obran Cooperative members share in the equity and control of the units. We are also experimenting with tenant decision making structures and are thinking through non-member equity participation! We call this effort Obran Rising and are excited to share the work with our community. 

This work would also not be possible without the wisdom and experience of the coordinator leading Appalachian Field Services David Lidz. David joined the cooperative after selling Appalachian Field Services to the cooperative earlier this year. If you are interested in learning more about the investment work developing member housing please feel free to reach out.