This week we’re talking about the role of co-ops in land justice, cooperative community lending, policy wins in worker ownership, reproductive justice and cross-border solidarity, Indigenous resistance to Amazon in South Africa, a new fund for climate loss and damages, and more.

PS: Enjoy the New Economy Roundup? Give to our Annual Fund to help strengthen our grassroots funding base and keep the Roundup going strong! Whether $5 or $50 your contribution is a huge support to this work <3

Co-ops for Land Justice: From Wiyot lands to the Mississippi, Indigenous and Black communities from coast to coast are using cooperative structures to return land to collective care. Read more how Indigenous and Black organizers are building solidarity, and using tools like community land trusts, farm and housing co-ops to resist colonial economics and heal the land. For legal tools, check out the new Seeds of Land Return toolkit by NEC member the Sustainable Economies Law Center, inspired by their work with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and NEC member the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative.

Cooperative Community Lending: Over the past 8 years, NEC member Salish Sea Cooperative Finance has been building a unique, place-based cooperative lending model to refinance high interest student loans and free borrowers from exploitative terms and lending relationships. This month, they’re launching a new how-to guide meant to empower any community to come together, pool their resources, and address the student debt crisis together. Join us at the launch event on Thurs, Dec 15th to learn more about how to put the Guide to Cooperative Community Lending into action.

Policy Win for Worker Ownership: This week, Massachusetts legislators signed a law to create a new state office to support worker-owned business! Massachusetts becomes the third state, after California and Colorado to have a dedicated office of employee ownership. The win comes after months of organizing by our friends at the Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP), including NEC members the Center for Economic Democracy, the US Federation of Worker Coops, and the Cooperative Development Institute. Congratulations!

Reproductive Justice & Cross-Border Solidarity: With abortion currently banned in 15 states – and under threat in many more – communities in the US are looking at lessons learned from parallel struggles in Latin America. Learn how grassroots movements in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina are bringing inspiration and strategy to the fight for reproductive justice, and why it’s important to establish cross-border dialogue between feminist movements in the North and South to build a coordinated movement. Lee este artículo en español.

Indigenous Resistance to Amazon: In Cape Town, developers are determined to develop a new Amazon facility on a site that is sacred to the Indigenous Khoi and San communities. Learn more about the Khoi and San’s generations long struggle to protect this land, and how they’re building international solidarity to fight these acts of neo-colonialism.

New Fund for Climate Loss and Damages: In the final days of COP27 in Egypt, grassroots organizers and leaders from the Global South succeeded in pressuring wealthy countries to create a “Loss and Damages” fund to compensate those suffering the worst impacts of climate change. Though many implementation questions remain, it’s a step toward climate reparations and the “culmination of 30 years of work and the beginning of a new chapter in pursuit of climate justice.”

• Brooklyn Housing Advocates Sustain Models Of Care Beyond Displacement
• Building Resilient Organizations
• Community Land Trusts Are Building Disaster-Resilient Neighborhoods
• Community-Owned Commercial Real Estate Is Having A Moment
• How Activists Are Trying to Change the Way Banking Gets Done
• Inside the COP27 fight to get wealthy nations to pay climate reparations
• Let’s Take Up the Railroad Workers’ Fight for Paid Sick Leave. We All Need It.
• No Climate Justice Without Trans Rights
• Owning the Means: Worker Co-ops in New Orleans
• Pandemic Turns Heads Towards Co-op Business Model
• Restaurant 2 Garden Cultivates Intergenerational Connections Through Food Waste Management
• The Culture Workers Go on Strike
• The Fight for Housing Justice in Los Angeles
• The South’s racist past is harming workers today. Unions can help us build a new future.
• The Subminimum Wage for Workers With Disabilities Is a Disgrace
• Why Movements Need to Start Singing Again

PODCASTS

• A Little Juju Podcast – Osun A Champion for Black Women w/ Iyalosa Osunyemi Akalatunde
• The Activist Files – Movement Building in the South: At 90, Legendary Highlander Center Looks Back & Forward
• The Coolest Show – All Roads Lead to Jackson w/ Rukia Lumumba
• The Next World – Food and Capitalism, with Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Raj Patel, Rafaela Rodriguez, & Kesi Foster
• Working People – A retired Brazilian subway operator and trade unionist on how workers delivered Lula’s victory

TOOLKITS & REPORTS

• Regenerative Economy Generation Zine – Alaska Just Transition
• Seeds of Land Return – NEC Member the Sustainable Economies Law Center

EVENT RECORDINGS

• Building Collective Futures – Conversation on Political Solidarity Economy with Nwamaka Agbo and Jorge Santiago
• Q&A about our travels to Jackson, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana – NEC Member Repaired Nations

Check out NEC on Instagram — where we’re sharing original art that shows the vision and values of solidarity economy ecosystems, where communities can meaningfully meet their own needs outside of capitalist systems of domination and extraction. If you’re on board with this vision, consider gifting to our Annual Campaign here! Art by the brilliant @chiara.acu.

NEW LISTINGS!

Communications Associate, Center for Economic Democracy
Communications Director and Development Associate, Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project
Digital Manager, The Forge
Digital Engagement Senior Manager, The Center for Story Based Strategy
Director of Political Strategy, WePower
Fort Berthold Field Organizer, Dakota Resource Council
Grants Manager, Cooperative Development Institute
Operations Coordinator, The Embodiment Institute
Operations Director, The Center for Story Based Strategy
Organizer for Community Defense, Justice Committee
Production Assistant, Real Pickles
Sales Representative, Real Pickles
Solidarity Economy Coordinator, PeoplesHub
Summer Research Fellows, Climate + Community Project
Various Positions, Catalyst Miami
Various Positions, The Equity Fund
Various Positions, U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives
WOCA Leadership Through Mentorship Program, Women of Color in the Arts

ALL JOBS

Communications Manager, Nuns & Nones Land Justice Project
Energy Program Director, Community Purchasing Alliance
National Development Director, Critical Resistance
Office & Project Manager, Co-op Cincy
Operations and Administrative Support, Open Collective
Operations and Finance Leader, Open Collective
Senior Strategist, Grassroots Power Project (GPP)
Various Positions, Black Futures Lab
Various Positions, Highlander Center
Various Positions, ICA Group
Various Positions, NDN Collective
Various Positions, Participatory Budgeting Project in Seattle
Various Positions, PolicyLink

Cop City: The Wrong Response to Racist Police Violence
Join in for a discussion on policing, racist police violence and the fight to prevent a Cop City in Atlanta, GA. (December 12 – Online)

Guidebook to Cooperative Community Lending
Join NEC partner Salish Sea Cooperative Finance for a discussion to launch their Guide to Cooperative Community Lending. Over the past 8 years, Salish Sea Cooperative Finance has been building a unique, place-based cooperative lending model to help tackle the student debt crisis. Come learn about this new approachable manual for how to use local, communal finance to build the sustainable, equitable, resilient communities that we need. (December 15 – Online)

Think Big: Crafting a New American Identity
This virtual gathering is for people who want to “imagine a future in which American identity is untethered from white supremacy — neither white supremacist nor centered around resisting white supremacy. Without forgetting the lessons of our past, this American identity would create space for a fundamental reconstitution of the story of America to align with the world we aim to build over the decades to come.” Join the session to “explore the role of narrative in crafting a story of belonging in and to America.” (December 15 – Online)

Participatory Management Initiative
This program is designed to build participatory management skills and practices that will improve employee engagement and retention, create more collaborative teams, and improve profitability through open book management. The session and all materials will be in both English and Spanish.

Fighting Fascism Within Feminism: Trans-Feminist Activism
“Hate and exclusion of sex workers and trans people is not a feminist position; it’s a threat to democracy and justice for everyone. Join sex worker and trans activists thinkers in conversation on how leftist feminists are fighting the sneaky forms of fascism that today pose as “feminism”. (January 18 – Online)

The New Way Radar Workshop Series
Having trouble kicking patterns that inhibit you from making change within yourself and team? This workshop will help you explore what you need in order to make that change you’ve been wanting to see. (January 2023)

The Power Shift Network 2023 Convergence
Join the moment for young people to come together and learn how to create change while faced with the climate crisis. Power Shift is inviting you to be a part of that effort. (April 2023 – In person)

Autonomies in Practice: Colectiva El Cambalache
This gathering is the first of many to begin to define how people can incorporate autonomous decolonial and anti-colonial thought into their lives, work and knowledge. Colectiva El Cambalache invites everyone interested in learning, deepening and sharing, to this three and a half day meeting. (March 29 – April 1, 2023)