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My name is Allison Basile and I'm an organizer working to build just, cooperative local economies in DC, including DC’s first worker cooperative for formerly incarcerated people. NEC helps me find and work with people who share my vision so that I can be more effective at creating change in my community.

Allison Basile, NEC Board Co-Chair and
Co-Founder of Tightshift Laboring Cooperative

NEC has a real impact on our work to build a just, sustainable world. We can’t do it alone, and NEC makes it so we don’t have to.

Please keep reading to see what talented, dedicated activists, organizers, and changemakers are saying about how being in the NEC network has helped them move their work forward.

And please give to NEC this December.

NEC is in a unique position to connect people from many different movements and experiences—I’ve met so many incredible people in the staff, board, and membership already that have changed the way that I think about my solidarity economy work.

—Julia Ho, founder of Solidarity Economy St. Louis, a network of businesses, organizations, and individuals fighting for a just and sustainable economy

NEC has pushed me to think about energy democracy on a larger scale than I had been, providing me with so many opportunities to engage with those on the forefront of that work. I’ve connected with people in the NEC network who are at the edge of designing renewable, democratic, equitable, dynamic energy systems. Conversations with NEC members and staff have also helped me to always think about how we design financial systems and business models to redistribute land, wealth, and power to those most marginalized. That idea has become a part of a lot of the work I do.

NEC creates an important space for people from different places, strategies, and networks to come together and form innovative collaborations. An NEC gathering is where I was first able to plug into the Reinvest in Our Power Network, which I have since been deeply involved in and is growing into a national force. These dynamic collaborations happen much easier when supported by a national umbrella organization like NEC.

—Aaron Tanaka, Boston-based community organizer and finance activist, and co-founder of the Center for Economic Democracy

The NEC network has connected me and my organization to experts in the world of worker cooperatives. We are continuing to consult with them as we move forward in our work toward creating community-controlled economies in Buffalo.

Being part of the network is also a source of inspiration. One thing that is so real when you do this kind of change work is burnout. We don’t know if what we’re attempting to do is gaining any traction. It was a beautiful moment when at NEC’s CommonBound conference close to 1000 participants came from all over the world to share, celebrate, and lift up this work. It energizes you to go back and say, “Yep, we're on the right track.”

—Rahwa Ghirmatzion, Deputy Director of PUSH Buffalo, a Buffalo-based community organization mobilizing Buffalo residents to advance economic justice in their community.

Please donate today so that NEC can continue to help people like Julia, Arielle, Aaron, and Rahwa to find and learn from each other and to continue working together to build a world where we all can thrive.

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