This week we’re talking about colonialism as a driver of the climate crisis, struggles for food and land sovereignty, public control of public goods, cooperative finance in Haiti & Grenada, how cities are using municipalism to gain democratic control of cities and towns, and more!
Worker Power on the Rise: The historic union victory at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, NY, along with other recent wins have instilled a contagious energy to the labor movement. Read about how worker cooperatives offer additional pathways to transform workers’ lives and gain power in their workplaces, particularly in the context of Black- and women-led cooperative practice.
Reimagining Democracy: “What if Bruce Wayne’s fortune was redistributed among the community, and the community decided how to spend it?” NEC member the Participatory Budgeting Project is working to shift narratives of power and democracy, and build a world where public funds are controlled by the public. Hear about concrete examples of participatory budgeting in action, and explore the work being done by the Democracy Beyond Elections coalition to put real decision making power in community hands.
Community Control of Utilities: In recent decades, the privatization of public services has become “disturbingly widespread,” leading to price hikes, shut offs, and inequitable access to basic services. Read up on examples of how community control of our utilities — from electric cooperatives in Mississippi to worker-owned internet in NYC and municipal broadband — can create more affordable and equitable services. For more, check out this new report, The Power of Community Utilities, by NEC member Democracy Collaborative.
Cooperative Finance in Haiti and Grenada: Across the African diaspora, there’s a strong legacy of cooperative finance and banking practices. Via a series of 138 interviews, learn about these cooperative legacies in Haiti and Grenada, including how co-ops developed on these two islands and the importance of informal cooperative banks in people’s lives: “A significant number of citizens on both islands rely on credit unions and other financial cooperatives to organize their society and businesses in ways that prioritize the needs of human beings.”
Platform Cooperatives Around the World: From Brazil to Buenos Aires, and Italy to India, workers are building democratically-owned platform cooperatives in agriculture, ridesharing, delivery services, and more. Check out this new series of reports offering political education and case studies about how workers around the world are developing platform co-ops to push back against the exploitation of the gig economy.
DECOLONIZING ECONOMICS SUMMIT
NEC is excited to be co-sponsoring and participating in the Decolonizing Economics Summit: The 3rd Annual Post-Capitalism Conference on April 21st-23rd! Decolonizing Economics is a 3-day virtual gathering to devise strategies to decenter colonial systems and bolster real solutions to heal the land and people. It’s co-anchored by the Wiyot Tribe and NEC member Cooperation Humboldt. Events start today – register and tune in!
- Amazon Workers Who Won a Union Their Way Open Labor Leaders’ Eyes
- Co-op ownership puts mobile home residents on solid ground
- From Learning to Action: A Foundation’s Journey to Paying Shuumi Land Tax
- Is Your City Punitive or Cooperative?
- Organize, don’t agonize, says Cooperation Jackson’s Kali Akuno
- Proposals for public banks move forward in several states
- Suburbs: The Great American Ponzi Scheme
- The Future We Need: Economic Democracy
- The radical roots of CSA
PODCASTS
- A World Without Profit – Upstream Podcast
- Black Women in the Co-op Movement – Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard on the Everything Co-op Podcast
- Governance & Decision Making – Foundation for Intentional Community Podcast
- How can workers tap into their own power and voice? – Big Duck Podcast ft. Esteban Kelly of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
TOOLKITS & REPORTS
- An Economy for All: Black Women Best: “When the economy is working for Black women, then it is inherently working for everyone.”
- Butterfly Lab Narrative Design Toolkit – RaceForward
- Poor People’s Pandemic Report – Poor People’s Campaign
- The Right of Return is Land Back – NDN Collective
- The Cooperative Startup’s Financing Playbook
NEW LISTINGS!
Advocacy and Communications Manager, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Assistant Project Manager, Cooperative Development Institute
Bay Area Organizer, Restaurant Opportunities Center
Black Anti-Displacement Lead Organizer, Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco
Bookkeeper & Administrative Coordinator, Groundwork – Kansas City
Climate Justice Organizer, Florida Farmworkers
Co-Executive Director, Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE)
Coalition Director, Athena for All
Communications & Network Organizing Contractor, People’s Economy Lab
Communications Director, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
Deputy Director, Center for Community Wealth Building – Denver, CO
Development Director, Political Research Associates
Executive Assistant, Institute for Policy Studies
Executive Director – Charlotte, GreenLightFund
Executive Director, Labor Network for Sustainability
Executive Director, Willamette Farm and Food Coalition – Eugene, OR
Foundation Associate – Donor Management, Peace Development Fund
Interim Executive Director, Audre Lorde Project
Operations Manager and Community Engagement Consultant, Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Organizational Learning Program Coordinator, The UPRISE Collective – Portland, OR
Program Administrator, AORTA
Program Manager, Cash Portfolio & Narrative Change, Economic Security for Illinois
Resource Mobilization Director and High Net Wealth Organizer, Resource Generation
Senior Audience Engagement Manager, YES! Magazine
Various Positions, Corporate Accountability
Various Positions, Oregon Rural Action
Various Positions, SURJ
Various Positions, WEPOWER – St. Louis
ALL JOBS
BerkShares Outreach Coordinators, Schumacher Center for New Economics
Communications Director & Lead Developer, Foundation for Intentional Community
Digital Director, Nonprofit Quarterly
Director Of Communications & Cultural Strategy, Movement Generation
Engagement Editor, The Real News Network
Operations Coordinator, Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA)
Senior Director of Capital Strategies, Center for Economic Democracy
Various Positions, Action Center on Race and the Economy
Various Positions, Black Farmer Fund
Various Positions, Black Futures Lab
Various Positions, Center for Cultural Power
Various Positions, Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (GCCLP)
Various Positions, Higher Purpose Co
Various Positions, ICA Group
Various Positions, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Various Positions, NDN Collective
Various Positions, PolicyLink
Various Positions, PUSH Buffalo
Various Positions, Right to the City
Various Positions, UPROSE
Various Positions, Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB)
Resist, Repair, Reimagine, and Regenerate Workshop Series (April 21)
Working through and with the themes of Resist, Repair, Reimagine, and Regenerate, come together in co-creation of an intercultural and intergenerational network of regenerative communities working together to design, adapt, and share the messages, models, and resources needed to reimagine and rebuild our world.
Building a Disability Politic & Access-Centered Cultures – PeoplesHub (April 21 & 28)
Join PeoplesHub to develop an expansive understanding of disability and ableism that’s rooted in historical context, and determine the differences between accessibility and access.
Facilitative Leadership Skills (10 sessions – Apply by April 22)
Gain cooperative leadership skills and tools in Roundsky Cooperative’s online Facilitative Leadership Skills training series.
Culture Is Our Weapon: Cultural Organizing 101 (April 27 & 28)
Join PeoplesHub to explore – 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?
Offers and Needs Market (April 29)
Take the first steps in gaining confidence around making offers and expressing your needs. In this engaging networking session with the Foundation for Intentional Community you will identify and exchange passions, knowledge, skills, resources, opportunities, and needs.
Mutuality Month (May 1 -31)
What does it look like to practice mutuality in every aspect of our lives? Starting May 1, the Sustainable Economies Law Center is hosting a month of events for lawyers, immigrant rights organizers, social justice organizations, law students, legal apprentices, community members, and activists who are interested in imagining what this world could feel like if the organizing principle is mutuality.
Black Worker Bill of Rights Rally (May 2)
Black workers have a right to fair, safe, and dignified work and those rights should be meaningfully reflected in the law and enforced. Join the National Black Workers Center for a virtual rally and campaign launch.
Remaking the Economy: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap (May 5)
Join Nonprofit Quarterly and Shelterforce to hear leaders discuss central questions regarding economic justice, racial justice, and strategic approaches to closing the wealth gap.
Resourcing Our (DJ) Movements with Kiyomi Fujikawa @ Fireweed Collective (May 5)
What would it look like to have our movements fully resourced? How much money is out there and how can we break down the barriers that prevent money from flowing to the places where it’s most needed and best positioned to make change?
Social Justice Investing Webinar Series (May 10 – June 22)
Join Just Futures and Justice Funders for a 3-part webinar series to explore the growing field of social justice investing, hear directly from the powerful leaders working to build and leverage financial strategies for community empowerment, and offer an alternative vision for a financial system that seeks to heal and uplift people and the planet.