Coworking Values Podcast

Author: Bernie J Mitchell

Welcome to Coworking Values the podcast of the European Coworking Assembly. Each week we deep dive into one of the values of accessibility, community, openness, collaboration and sustainability. Listen in to learn how these values can make or break Coworking culture. coworkingvaluespodcast.substack.com
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Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Management

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20 Years of Building Communities of Care with Ashley Proctor
Tuesday, 19 August, 2025

"We were being disconnected and distributed instead of coming together."That's Ashley Proctor describing the moment in 2004 when Ontario College of Art and Design students were losing their collaborative spaces to renovations. Their solution? Pool their money, rent their own space, run it themselves. No business plan. No investor deck. Just students who needed somewhere to work together. That space still runs today — still student-funded, still student-run, twenty years later.This isn't a story about hot desks. It's about what happens when communities stop asking permission and start building what they need. Ashley's been at this for two decades, watching the movement evolve from art students splitting rent to Community Land Trusts raising millions to lock down entire neighbourhoods for affordable housing "for generations to come." The same DNA, just bigger stakes.The problem now? People's first taste of coworking is often corporate, cookie-cutter spaces that turn them off the entire concept. They never discover the indie operators doing "really special and fitting and tailored" work for their actual neighbours. Meanwhile, Ashley's asking the questions that matter: How do you measure dismantled loneliness? What's the mental health impact across 20 years’ worth? Why are we still pretending every member needs to scale and exit?She's not interested in your occupancy rates. She wants to know if your membership model serves members or profit. Whether cities are sponsoring desks for newcomers. If your space could be layered into Community Land Trust models to preserve affordable workspace forever. Because "every major problem we're about to face needs to be solved collectively" — and that starts with remembering why we built these spaces in the first place.Timeline Highlights02:02 - Ashley's mission crystallised: "I would like to be known for building communities of care"03:43 - The origin story: Ontario College of Art and Design students losing collaborative space to renovations04:02 - The real audience: "emerging artists... people who don't necessarily fit into a typical 9:00 to 5:00 role"05:30 - The forgotten truth: "No profit, no end goal. It was just, I can't do this on my own"07:17 - The cookie-cutter fear: People "get turned off or turned away" before discovering indie operators09:08 - Collaboration defined: "If you need something, you're encouraged to ask for support"11:18 - The collective imperative: "Every major problem we're about to face needs to be solved collectively"14:06 - Community Land Trusts in action: "Watching folks come together and raise money, lock down a property for affordable housing for generations to come"18:59 - The measurement crisis: "How do you measure the impact we've had on the mental health of our members over 20 years?"21:42 - Value redefined: "Are there other models where we don't need to exchange that membership fee?"24:56 - Cities sponsoring desks for "newcomers or new nonprofits or folks with disabilities"27:17 - The gut check: "Are our membership models designed to serve the members first and foremost, or are they designed to create profit?"31:04 - Coworking Canada Conference: September 29-30 in Toronto, 29 October onlineThe Art School Revolution Nobody Talks About AnymoreTwenty years ago, art students at OCAD weren't protesting or petitioning — they were pooling rent money. Ashley watched as they lost their collaborative spaces to renovations and refused to accept isolation. The space they created still operates today, is still student-funded, and is still student-run. No venture capital. No accelerator programme. Just people who needed to work together badly enough to figure it out on their own.Your takeaway: Stop waiting for permission or investment. The best spaces emerge from actual need, not market opportunity. If students can sustain a space for 20 years, what's your excuse?When Cookie-Cutter Coworking Kills the MovementAshley's fear keeps her up at night: people encounter WeWork first and mistakenly think that's what coworking is. They never find the indie operators doing "really special and fitting and tailored" work for actual neighbours. The mainstream experience becomes a barrier to understanding what coworking could be.Your takeaway: Your marketing needs to scream why you're different. Not better coffee — different values. Make it clear you're not another corporate workspace with exposed brick.The Unmeasurable Impact We Refuse to Price"I didn't start a coworking space because I wanted every single member to scale or sell their business." Ashley drops this bomb mid-conversation, obliterating every investor pitch deck in a 10-mile radius. She wants to measure dismantled loneliness. The value of emotional labour. Twenty years of mental health support that never shows up on a P&L.Your takeaway: Start documenting what actually matters. The member who didn't quit. The friendship that saved someone's business. The loneliness that lifted. That's your real ROI.From Desks to Land: The Next RevolutionAshley's bridging coworking and Community Land Trusts — movements that share DNA but operate at different scales. She's watching communities raise money to lock down properties forever, ensuring affordable housing for generations. The parallel to coworking is obvious: both movements need to own their own infrastructure or risk it disappearing.Your takeaway: Stop thinking about lease renewal. Start thinking about land ownership. Partner with Community Land Trusts. Your neighbourhood needs permanent, affordable workspace, not another 5-year lease.Cities Finally Paying for What They Should Have BuiltEconomic development offices are sponsoring desks. Cities are funding memberships for newcomers, nonprofits, and people with disabilities. Not charity — infrastructure. Ashley sees this as cities finally understanding their mandate: supporting residents' health and economic well-being through community spaces.Your takeaway: Draft that proposal to your economic development office today. Frame coworking as essential infrastructure, not a nice-to-have amenity. Include specific desk sponsorship numbers.The Values Reckoning Coming for Everyone"Things will not be the way they are today in a year or two or five." Ashley's not talking about hot desk prices. She's discussing how AI could eliminate jobs, lead to political upheaval, and necessitate economic restructuring. The spaces that survive won't be the ones with the best margins — they'll be the ones that remembered why they started.Your takeaway: Do the gut check now. Look at your membership model. Does it serve members or profit? If you can't answer instantly, you already know the answer.The Scholarship Desk Nobody Wants to Talk AboutEven one sponsored desk per space would transform access globally. Ashley's pushing spaces to move beyond their "very small programmes" to systematic inclusion. Deskpass lets companies pay for all employees. Cities can sponsor systematically. The models exist — we have to use them.Your takeaway: Implement one scholarship desk this month. Find one sponsor — a company, the city, a foundation. Make it systematic, not charity. Build it into your model.Links & Resources* Ashley's "20 Years in Coworking" LinkedIn post* Canada Conference: September 29-30, 2025 (Toronto)* Creative Blueprint: creativeblueprint.ca* Kensington Market Community Land Trust Project* Sam Shay's LinkedIn Coworking Recognition Campaign* LinkedIn Coworking Group* Workspace Design Show - Business Design Centre, February 2026* RSVP for Unreasonable Connection* Coworking Values Podcast on LinkedIn* Connect with Bernie on LinkedIn* Connect with Ashley on LinkedInOne More ThingAshley Proctor spent 20 years proving that coworking was never about workspaces — it was about refusing to work alone when the system wanted you to be isolated. Art students who couldn't afford studios. Gig workers without offices. Nonprofits are priced out of everything. They didn't wait for the market to serve them. They built what they needed.Now she's asking us to remember why we started. Not to feel nostalgic, but to prepare for what's coming. AI will eliminate jobs. Politics will shift. Economics will restructure. The spaces that survive won't be the ones with the best SEO or the nicest furniture. They'll be the ones who remember they exist to serve members, not extract from them.This is the Coworking Values Podcast. If you believe workspace should be a human right, not a luxury good, if you think communities should own their infrastructure, not rent it from private equity, if you're ready to measure loneliness dismantled, not desks occupied — you're in the right place. We publish two episodes weekly. Find us in the LinkedIn Coworking Group where the honest conversations happen, away from the algorithm. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coworkingvaluespodcast.substack.com