Solidarity Economies Abroad

Solidarity Economics App Developed in Argentina: ESSApp is a searchable database of co-ops that allows users to find goods and services from businesses who are advancing models of economic democracy. Read about this effort to connect solidarity economies.

Just Transition in Spain: With the potential to serve as a model for the coal transition across the world, mining unions and the Spanish government agreed to phase out coal mines within the year while supporting communities that depend on the industry for their livelihoods. Find more details about the deal from The Guardian.

European Food Delivery Coops Face the Gig Economy: Seeking to build common ground in their organizing, around 100 digital platform food delivery workers (i.e. Ubereats) met to determine how to raise their labor conditions. Read more here.

Portland Clean Energy Fund

A ballot measure in Portland seeks to fund a just transition to renewable, clean energy by asking its biggest energy users, corporations, to foot the bill. The Portland Clean Energy Initiative creates an equitable clean energy future, where new renewable energy and energy efficiency investment improves homes, cleans Portland’s environment, trains workers, and supports businesses with a focus on disenfranchised communities. A New Economy Reporting Project Fellow reports for Fast Company.

Social Capital Markets Recap

NEC member organizations from across the country – like Beneficial State Bank, Boston Impact Initiative, BALLE, Fund for Democratic Communities, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives and more – converged on San Francisco last week for Social Capital Markets aka #SOCAP18, a conference which, "connects global innovators who are dedicated to increasing the flow of capital toward social good." Watch the video recaps here and in particular, author Anand Giridharadas, who spoke truth to power: "So what do you do? Above all the answer to a winners take all society is a society in which the winners take less. This should be the focus of anyone working seriously on social justice today. So much of what passes for 'world changing' is putting lipstick on a pig of a bad power distribution!” Watch the full video, here.

Culture/SHIFT 2018 
NEC member organization, US Department of Arts & Culture's CULTURE/SHIFT 2018, will include 2.5 days of participatory workshops, performances, talks, interactive art-making and more. More than forty-five workshops and sessions will touch on timely and resonant regional and national themes: immigration, indigenous cultural rights, climate justice, public memory, cultural resilience, ethics of community-based arts, community development/displacement, and more. (November 1-3 – Albuquerque, NM)

NASCO Conference: A Legacy of Cooperation 
Since 1978, NASCO's Cooperative Education & Training Institute has been widely recognized as one of the most important training and networking opportunities available to members, directors, staff, and managers of group-equity cooperatives. Attend this one-of-a-kind opportunity to network with hundreds of cooperative leaders and employers, to caucus about pressing issues, and to work on building an inclusive and accessible cooperative movement. (November 2-4 – Ann Arbor, MI)

Beyond the Vote: A Night of Civic Inspiration, Music and Drinks 
Voting matters. And so does the way we engage in our city every other day of the year. On the eve of Election Day, join WNYC in The Greene Space to get inspired and find ways to volunteer and step up in your community, on your own terms. (November 5 – New York, NY)

Incubating Cooperatives Webinar 
In the fifth and final act of the five-part Asian American Solidarity Economies Webinar Series, speakers will share cooperative planning and startup experiences as nonprofit organizations with an organizing focus. (November 5 – Webinar)

Black 2 Just Transition 
The East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC) and the Climate Justice Alliance have teamed up for the Black 2 Just Transition Assembly & Training, that’s bringing 60+ organizers together to examine systemic change pathways away from destructive industries towards models that center the health, well-being and self-determination of communities. (November 8-12 – Detroit, MI)

Remaking the Economy: A Guide to Nonprofit Roles and Tools 
Part of Nonprofit Quarterly’s new Building a More Democratic Economy series, this webinar will help participants learn how nonprofits and movement activists are advancing strategies to address the economic and social inequalities of our time with an interview and an expert panel. (November 8 – 2PM – Webinar)

The Centrality of Land in a Just Transition – A Webinar 
The Climate Justice Alliance explains how a Just Transition is based on asserting the right of our communities to the resources required to create productive, dignified and ecologically sustainable livelihoods. Members of CJA are engaging in land-based interventions and strategies to build power and create the world we need. Join to learn about some of these strategies and to share your experiences. (December 4 – 10AM – Webinar)

People Powered East Bay Launch Party! 
Celebrate economic transformation in the East Bay and the launch of two groundbreaking cooperatives! The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative and People Power Solar Cooperative will engage everyday people – like YOU – to co-own, develop, and steward our community’s critical assets: permanently affordable real estate and renewable energy. Join a community leading the change and own a share of equitable real estate and clean energy in the East Bay! (December 5 – Oakland, CA)

Platform Co-op Community Hangout Webinar: How New Co-ops Can Build on a Radical Tradition 
A webinar discussion on how the co-op legacy can inform its future, with Trebor Scholz and the Platform Co-op Consortium. (December 14 – 3PM – Webinar)