The majority of growth is in worker cooperatives developed to meet social, economic and community needs, and the dire nature of the economy and  limited government intervention available to help distressed workers have left people looking for grassroots solutions.  Whereas the co-op movement of the 1960s and 1970s had a more utopian, separatist bent, Hoover said, increasingly what she sees are workers excited about cooperatives as a way to be a part of the economy on their own terms. “People are really open to new ideas,” Hoover said, “and they’re looking for hope.”  Mineko Brand of the SF Public Press discusses movement growth.