This week we’re talking about feminist and popular economies from the US South to South America and beyond, banks for the people, community control in the Bronx, Welaunee forest defenders, imagining a world without bosses, a solidarity economy learning tour in Barcelona, a new course on using economics to get us free, and more.

Black Feminist Co-ops in the South: Across the South, communities are organizing solidarity economies with a Queer Black Feminist lens. Read reflections from NEC staff member Julian Rose about how the Black Atlanta Solidarity Economy gathering aims to build collective liberation through economic solidarity. Then watch how Project Hustle in New Orleans is celebrating the ways Black women and femmes are building cooperative infrastructure to resist job exploitation and get loved ones free from incarceration.

Banks for the People: In light of the Silicon Valley Bank fiasco, we want to remind y’all there other ways to organize our financial systems! Public banks can work hand-in-hand with credit unions to make sure financial resources serve our communities not venture capitalists. From New York to San Francisco, communities are already deep in the fight for control of our banking systems. Tune in to NEC member Center for Economic Democracy’s new online course to learn all about monetary policy and how bank bailouts work, then check out policy tools you can use to build community-controlled finance.

Community Control in the Bronx: Inspired by the work of Downtown Crenshaw to take control of a 40-acre mall in Los Angeles, organizers in the Bronx are gearing up for a similar struggle over the Kingsbridge Armory. The Northwest Bronx Coalition is leading the charge for shared ownership of the armory, with a focus on anti-displacement, community wealth building, and collective governance. Hear shared learnings from Crenshaw and the Bronx via NEC member the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative, and come out on Saturday March 18th if you’re in NYC and want to see what a growing community-labor coalition for economic democracy looks like.

Stop Cop City: Last week thousands of people showed up in the streets of Atlanta and across the country to #StopCopCity. During the week of action, Atlanta police arrested dozens of people at a concert in the Welaunee Forest, baselessly charging 23 of them with domestic terrorism. They were denied bond and are awaiting their next hearing. Please support the official bail and legal support fund and call the relevant authorities to tell them to drop all charges.

Feminist & Popular Economics: In March, we honor the struggles of women, femmes, and gender expansive people around the world who are resisting capitalism, colonialism, and cisheteropatriarchy by building feminist and popular economies from below. We honor those resisting extractivism, precarity, debt and all forms of exploitation, and those who are building their own economies to provide dignified work, visibilize networks of communal care, and protect against gender-based and state violence. See how millions of women around the world took to the streets on International Working Women’s Day, and dig into our resource list on feminist and popular economies.

Co-ops & Solidarity in Barcelona: Last Fall, NEC staff members Belén Marco & Tori Kuper traveled to Spain with NEC members from Cooperation Buffalo to learn all about the regional solidarity economy ecosystems being built there. Check out these reflections from the trip to learn how residents of the Sants neighborhood have built “housing co-ops, credit unions, worker co-ops, cooperative daycares and schools, radical bookstores, social centers, and community gardens” in their fight to keep the collective memory of economic self-governance alive. A delegation from NEC member Co-op Cincy is making the trip to Spain next month and we’re excited to learn from their experiences, too!

A World Without Bosses: In 2011, workers at the Vio.Me factory in Greece voted to take management into their own hands after owners stopped paying them and abandoned the facility. Ten years later, they’re still cooperatively managing the factory, and setting an example for workers of the world: “our message to the worldwide proletariat is clear. We are shouting, ‘workers, you can do without bosses.’” Hear more about efforts around the world to imagine a world without bosses in the latest episode of All Things Co-op.

CoFUND is a regranting program from NEC member The CoFED working to return stolen wealth to the people it belongs to. Applications are open for grants up to $10,000 for QTBIPOC-led food and land-justice based cooperatives. Learn more and apply by March 31

• A 4-Day Work Week Could Be Closer Than You Think
• Black radical imagination helps us transform our relationships to energy, land & economy
• Climate & Indigenous Activists Decry Biden’s Approval of Willow Oil Drilling Project in Arctic
• Composing Climate Change: The Radical Legacy of Black Musicians
• Cooperatives as Ancestral Technology
• Evolving a Culture of Care: Lessons from Third Root Community Health Center
• France’s ‘Robin Hood’ Energy Workers Are Sending Cheap Electricity to Schools and Hospitals
• How the Mexican Revolution shaped radical politics worldwide
• Minneapolis Residents Resist Plans to Demolish Warehouse on Toxic Site
• Life Inside and MST Landless Workers Settlement in Brazil
• The Care(ful) Work of Abolishing Prisons
• There’s a big pot of climate bill money waiting to be seized — activists can’t miss the opportunity
• Transforming the Gig Economy: How Unionized Cooperatives Can Create Wealth for All Workers
• U.S. fishing groups call for solidarity with migrant fish workers in Taiwan

PODCASTS

• The Disastrous Response in East Palestine, Ohio – The Response ft. Prem Thakker
• DSNI Deconstructs – a series examining land, affordable housing, development, democratic process, gentrification, climate change as they relate to community land trusts.
• Disability Justice Organizers Dream Big and Resist a Culture of Disposability – Movement Memos ft. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

TOOLKITS & RESOURCES

• Co-op Connection Network – an interactive map that will help worker-owners connect with other worker-owners and worker cooperatives
• Cogoverning for Multiracial Democracy – Partners for Dignity & Rights
• Economics for Emancipation – A free 7-module self study course from the Center for Economic Democracy.
• Housing Justice Narrative Toolkit – PolicyLink
• Reimagining Energy For Our Communities Zine – Energy Democracy Project

NEW LISTINGS!
Development Manager, Firelands Worker Action
Director of Restorative Justice, Mural Arts
Executive Director, Gilded Co-op
Finance Manager and Director of Resource Mobilization, National Council for Responsive Philanthropy
General Manager, Polar Bear Sustainable Energy Cooperative
Interim IT Manager, New Economy Coalition
Program Associate, Participation Lab – Participatory Budgeting Project
Program Coordinator & Program Manager, Canadian CED Network
Lead Investment Analyst, Just Futures
Strategic Facilitator, NASCO – Apply by March 21
Various Positions, ReFrame
Various Positions, Working Families Party

ALL JOBS
Cooperative Developer, Cooperation Buffalo
Various Positions, Black Futures Lab
Various Positions, Highlander Center
Various Positions, Project Equity
Various Positions, NDN Collective
Various Positions, Participatory Budgeting Project in Seattle
Various Positions, U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives

Southern Memory Workers’ Institute
The Highlander Research and Education Center’s Septima Clark Learning Center invites activists and organizers to APPLY to its inaugural Southern Memory Workers’ Institute. The institute, which takes place from June 28 to July 2, 2023, brings together up to 20 grassroots activists and organizers in the South for a 4-day training in archival and memory-work methods in-person at the HIGHLANDER CENTER in New Market, Tennessee. (Apply by March 19)

Speculative Budgeting: Resource Management for the Future
Join A Bookkeeping Cooperative and AORTA for a creative experiment combining speculative fiction and budgeting. This session is focused on creating a joyful experience for participants to re-think their relationship to budgeting, which has historically been an oppressive, top-down and limiting process. (March 20)

Mighty Gay Unions! Queer and Trans Labor Histories and Futures
Queer and trans workers have long been at the frontlines of solidarity, bridging identities and social movements. This Labor Notes webinar will share highlights of LGBTQIA+ labor history and connect toward building queer futures and vibrant multiracial unions. (March 22)

Monthly Offers & Needs Market
You never know when your life will be changed by an encounter—and if you’re looking to increase your chances of a beneficial connection, join the Post Growth Institute’s public Offers and Needs Market held (virtually) on the 4th Wednesday of each month. (Monthly, next session on March 22)

Building the Solidarity Economy in Philly
Join the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance for the first Philly-wide Solidarity Economy Assembly. Invitation extended to groups doing work spanning mutual aid, land and food justice, housing, cooperative/democratic/and alternative economies, climate justice struggle, and how we “tell the story of our freedom”: artists, media, and technology workers. (March 23)

Building Worker Power Through Solidarity, Cooperation, and Care
In this time of economic crisis and ecological collapse, workers of all kinds are organizing to reject the alienation of racial capitalism. This conference explores the deep histories, current happenings, and future possibilities of collaborations between union organizing and worker-owned cooperatives. (March 24-26 – In person)

Resisting Ecofascism
Ecofascism. It’s real, and it’s dangerous. It’s a term that describes how environmentalism is leveraged to justify fascist violence against marginalized peoples, including Black, Indigenous people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, disabled folks, poor folks, and more. Join this Movement Generation workshop to learn how our movements can organize against these threats. (March 28)

Cultural Organizing 101
A two-part Peoples Hub workshop that covers the basics of cultural organizing, and it includes topics such as: What is cultural organizing?, How can art and culture be used in service of collective liberation, values of cultural organizing campaigns, and drafting the cultural organizing campaign? (March 28 & 29)

The Power Shift Network 2023 Convergence
A convergence that will bring together thousands of young people to skill-up to mitigate pending climate catastrophe through three days of trainings, workshops, panels, and actions. There will be speakers, workshops, an action, healing spaces, and more. (April 6-8 – In person)

All About Love: Community Care Systems
A Boston Ujima Project Assembly series exploring the ways communities can support and care for one another via systemic approaches that prioritize empathy and intention. (April 5)

Decolonizing Economics Summit
Join Decolonizing Economics for a 3-day virtual conference with an in-person closing ceremony on April 22nd in McKinleyville, CA. This Summit will serve as a space to exchange experiences and information, strengthen alliances and networks, and to devise strategies to decenter colonial systems and implement concrete solutions to heal the land and people. (April 20 – 22)

Undoing Internalized Ableism Cohort
PeoplesHub will lead a cohort of disabled people who are currently engaged in social justice work through a workshop series designed to develop knowledge and skills (peer support, self-advocacy, practicing access, and more) to navigate internalized ableism. (Apply by April 1, cohort runs in May – June)