WORCESTER � A traditional business model would suggest that the key to creating more jobs is to create more companies and begin the hiring process.

A new campaign through the Worcester Roots Project called We Own It has an entirely different approach � encouraging people come together for collaborative projects and businesses, and to share cooperatively in the process and resources.

According to Worcester Roots Project Director Matt Feinstein, the path to creating sustainable community jobs is to find people willing to share in the values and responsibilities of a project for which they feel tremendous passion, and allow for the resources to be distributed among the owners in a way that is beneficial for everyone who contributes.

This business model is better known as a "co-op" � which has been in existence for centuries but has only in more recent decades begun to surface in the states � and can be seen working successfully in large New England companies such as Ocean Spray and Cabot.

Equal Exchange, a fair trade coffee and tea operation worker-owned cooperative based in West Bridgewater that oversees cafes and offices across the country, did $51 million in sales in 2012 alone, and has experienced consistent growth since its creation in 1986.

With the We Own It campaign in full swing in Worcester, Mr. Feinstein is hoping to see a much stronger co-op presence in the city.

Dee Wells, who serves as co-director of the Worcester Roots Project Board, is the founder of one of the Worcester Roots Project's pilot co-op projects called Future Focus Media, which has a Youth Training Institute component. The business was formed to not only produce and generate films and documentaries, but also to promote the sharing of knowledge and skills in that arena.

Worcester Roots has also been the main support for Toxic Soil Busters and Digger Landscaping Co-op, two businesses that have experienced noteworthy success.

"Probably the biggest challenge in starting a co-op is getting people to understand the general sense of structure," said Mr. Wells. "There is more to it than people think, and this notion of building a business based on equity and the sharing of resources and a democratic decision-making process � it takes a lot of getting used to."

Because the approach is somewhat non-traditional, Mr. Feinstein finds that the people who are listening the most intently to what the Worcester Roots Project leaders have to say are the city's youth.

The next generation of entrepreneurs and workers, he added, tend to respond to this idea of being your own boss, and making decisions together. For people who come from the background of a hierarchal business structure, he said getting up to speed on the challenges and benefits of a co-op can be more involved.

Noemi Giszpenc, executive director of the Cooperative Development Institute, which is based in New Jersey with offices in New England and New York, indicated that one of the problems with the current dominant business models is that people want to have their needs met as a society, but their path to accomplishing this is motivated by profit.

With the co-op structure, she said, the worker-owners start with the notion of meeting their needs � for health benefits, for food, for shelter � and everything else they do is in service of that. Profit, she said, is not the driving force for a co-op but rather the idea of working equitably in an area for which you feel great connection.

As the Worcester Roots Projects seeks to identify and support the formation of new co-ops � which includes educational sessions and continual guidance until the co-op is self-sustaining � the group is putting the call out for those looking for business opportunities that can be achieved via community-mindedness and cooperation.

According to Mr. Feinstein, co-ops are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

He said the Worcester is a post-industrial mid-sized city that is strategically poised to have an upswell of mission-based, creative co-op enterprises to fill old factory buildings, empty lots and community needs. Worcester Roots, he said, is ready to give this movement the boost it needs to achieve a critical mass of co-ops that can support each other and be sustainable.

"We believe in this idea of working together, having a conflict-resolution process in place, and being mission-led as much as a business can be," he explained. "It's important to have a larger vision, beyond making money."

The Worcester Roots project is looking to raise $8,000 dollars for next years's Co-op Academy. People interested in supporting can make small (and large) donations at the group's crowdfunding post on the Indiegogo website, www.indiegogo.com. The public is also welcome to Worcester Roots' upcoming quarterly assembly at 5:30 p.m. on April 17, at the Stone Soup Community Center, 4 King St., Worcester.