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This week we’re lifting up stories about Black liberation, economic democracy, and healing in celebration of Black History Month. We’re also talking about solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land protectors, the People’s State of the Union and our upcoming Building Pathways to a People’s Economy webinar on March 12th.
Stories From the Field
Black Liberation and Economic Democracy: Thanks to the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative for compiling this excellent list of resources on Black liberation and Economic Democracy. The list includes books, interviews, and essays from Ed Whitfield (NEC member organization Fund for Democratic Communities), Ella Baker, Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Kali Akuno (NEC member organization Cooperation Jackson) and more.
The History of Cooperative Economics and Civil Rights: We’re pulling up an episode of the Laura Flanders Show from 2014, which highlights the huge role economic cooperation played in the civil rights movement. Watch Laura Flanders interview Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, author of “Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice,” as well as a co-founder of NEC member organization the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.
Remaking the Economy in the Black Belt: Last week, Dr. Shirley Sherrod, co-founder of the first community land trust in the country, joined NEC member organization Higher Purpose Co, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives to discuss how Black communities are advancing alternative economic visions to build community wealth in the South. Watch the webinar recording via Nonprofit Quarterly to learn more about these projects.
Solidarity Economies Abroad
Stand with Wet’suwet’en: Restoring Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination of land, water, and ways of life is imperative to climate and economic justice. We stand with the Wet’suwet’en nation, who continue to protect their traditional territories from extraction, while fighting for regeneration and self-determination. For resources on how you can support Wet’suwet’en land protectors, see this toolkit from the Indigenous Environmental Network, as well as Cooperation Jackson’s statement of solidarity.
Farm Co-ops in the Philippines: Thirty years ago, banana workers in the Philippines used the country’s land reform law to become the owners of the plantations where they had labored for generations. Read Food First’s account of how these cooperatives have created an alternative to forced displacement and migration, while forming alliances with Indigenous sustainable agriculture groups.
Black Queer Feminist Curriculum Toolkit
This toolkit is an offering from NEC Member organization BYP100 as part of their She Safe, We Safe campaign. It is a tool that can be used to host political education events, engage in personal political education, or guide informal learnings during Black History Month and beyond. All of this content is created through a Black Queer Feminist lens and centers the fight to end gender and state violence against Black people at the margins of society.
2020 People's State of the Union
For the 6th annual year, NEC member organization the US Department of Arts & Culture is partnering with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival for the People’s State of The Union. Between March 20th – April 20th, 2020, you can join hundreds of people across the nation to share stories and visions for a more just future, and to confront the the evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, and militarism. More about the PSOTU and how to host a Story Circle in your community.
Movement News
- An Enormous Land Transition is Underway. Here’s How to Make it Just.
- Black Futures Month: Alicia Garza & Economic Justice Across Gender
- Congressman Ro Khanna Champions Worker Cooperatives At Town Hall
- Frederick Douglass Railed Against Economic Inequality
- How Entrepreneurs Can Respond to Pope Francis’ Call for Economic Justice
- Libraries of Things continue to catalog success
- Manufactured Home Residents Go Co-op
- Puerto Rico's Uprisings Have Empowered a New Leadership Among the Oppressed
- Slavery Was Defeated Through Mass Politics
- The Best Social Justice Conferences of 2020
- The Coronavirus’s Lesson for Climate Change
- The Fate of the Planet Rests on Dethroning the IMF and World Bank
- The Garden Project Exposing the Fault Lines of US Justice
- The Promise of Ecological Economics
- The Need for Black Rage In Philanthropy
- What a Public Bank Can Do for Real People
- Workers are Forming Unions at Nonprofits and Think Tanks. Their bosses aren’t always happy.
Podcasts of the New Economy
In case you missed it back in December — listen in to this special two-part edition of The Next System Podcast featuring Clark Arrington, a leader in the movements for cooperatives and Black economic empowerment. In the interview, Arrington delves into the history of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, worker cooperatives as an alternative to Black capitalism, and his work to provide non-extractive financing with NEC member organization The Working World.
Additional listens:
How to Survive the End of the World – Transformative Justice with Mariame Kaba (podcast link and discussion guide via BYP100)
Climate Justice Alliance – What is Just Transition?
NEC on The Gram
Follow NEC on Instagram – @NewEconomyCoalition – where we're posting about our upcoming webinar, which will dig deeper into our new Pathways to a Peoples Economy Toolkit and make the case for why now is a critical time to use policy as a tool to advance solidarity economies.
Jobs
Comms & Strategic Storytelling, Sustainable Economies Law Center – Oakland – Mar 13
Communications and Media Coordinator, Democracy @ Work – New York, NY
Communication Director, The Laura Flanders Show – Brooklyn, NY
Communications Manager, Project Equity – Multiple Locations
Education Team Coordinator Highlander Center – New Market, TN
Education Team Member and Youth Organizer, Highlander Center – New Market, TN
Director of Development, Project Equity – Multiple Locations
Director of Movement Strategies, Demos – New York, NY
Director of Operations, Project Equity – Multiple Locations
Director of Policy and Research, Demos – New York, NY
Foundations Manager, Green America – Washington D.C./Remote
General Coordinator, Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC – New York, NY
Grant Writer, Demos – New York, NY
Hinge Arts Residency, Springboard for the Arts – Fergus Falls, Minnesota – Mar 2
HR Manager, Cooperative Development Institute – New England – March 6
Innovation Network Manager, Climate Safe Lending, Green America – Washington D.C./Remote
Legal Apprentice, Sustainable Economies Law Center – Bay Area, CA – March 13
Lending Director, MACED – Berea; Hazard; Paintsville, KY
Media Manager, Institute for Policy Studies – Washington, D.C.
New Economy Program Field Coordinator, Appalachian Voices – Norton, VA – Mar 10
New Mexico Fellowship, Institute for Policy Studies – Washington D.C./New Mexico – Mar 6
Operations Coordinator, Democracy Collaborative – Washington, DC
Operations Manager, Institute for Local Self Reliance – Various Locations
Organizer, Pioneer Valley Workers Center – Western MA – March 6
Organizing Director, People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) Buffalo – Buffalo, NY
Partnership Engagement Director, Green America – Washington D.C./Remote
Political Director, OPAL Environmental Justice – Portland, OR
Program Coordinator: Community Offerings, People’s Hub – Remote – Feb 28
Program Coordinator: Thriving Groups, People’s Hub – Remote – Feb 28
Program Manager – Grow Grants, NE Grassroots Env. Fund – Newmarket, NH
Senior Finance Manager, New Economy Organizers Network – London – March 29
Trainer – Movement Builders, New Economy Organizers Network – London – March 3
Various Positions, FairBnb – Bologna, Italy
Various Positions, New Florida Majority – Miami/Jacksonville, FL
Various Positions, People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) Buffalo – Buffalo, NY
Web Developer, Foundation for Intentional Communities
Upcoming Events
Kola Nut Collaborative Time Salon: A Monthly Mixer & Timebank Orientation
NEC member organization Kola Nut Collaborative hosts a monthly space to socialize, interact, and explore how we spend or share our time. During the Time Salon, they uncover the history of time exchange, bartering and early human economies, relate this to a modern resurgence of timebanking, weave timebanking into the development of mutual aid spaces, and begin to tangibly “feel” how strong our safety net becomes when we connect the individual threads. Join to challenge the idea that economic participation is restricted to those who possess dollars and cents. (Feb 28 – Chicago, IL)
Social and Solidarity Economy and Worker Co-ops
This webinar with the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation will explore how worker co-ops fit into the Social and Solidarity Economy and with social enterprises. Participants are invited to come with ideas of how to better partner in these spaces for mutual benefit, and will share some ideas on how CWCF can partner for the benefit of the worker co-op movement. (Feb 28 – Online Webinar)
Social Justice & Media Symposium
The inaugural symposium on Social Justice and Media will convene for one day in Boston to explore the intersection of social justice and media as it relates to community and pedagogy in daily life. (Feb 28 – Boston, MA)
Building Pathways to a People’s Economy
Join NEC, the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC), the Illinois Coalition for Cooperative Advancement, and Peoples Hub for an hour-long webinar to dig deeper into the new Pathways to a Peoples Economy Toolkit and hear why now is a critical time for our communities to use policy as a tool to advance solidarity economies. (March 12 – Virtual)
Ujima, Ujamaa: The Cooperative Hxstory of the Civil Rights Movement
Join Dominique, a Cooperative Business Developer at NEC member organization, Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance, for a conversation exploring the ways Black leaders used cooperative economics and collective work to feed us, free us, and envision a future that is still possible. We’ll explore how we as Black folx recover leadership and rematriate the idea of cooperation today and into the future. (March 13 – Philadelphia)
Going Local: Hope in a Time of Crisis Festival
In cooperation with New Economy Network Australia, NEC Member Organization Local Futures is organising an inspiring 3-day event – called ‘Going Local: Hope in a Time of Crisis‘ – with a focus on bridging the gaps between single-issue activist campaigns and presenting a holistic strategy for social, ecological, and economic renewal. (Mar 20th-22nd – Australia)
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