News & Resources

New Economy Roundup: Nonprofits Don’t Pay Enough, How The People Could Own PG&E, and Making A Fossil Fuel Free Barbados

Nov 14, 2019 | New Economy Roundup

This week we're talking about a report on how nonprofit's can better live into their values, California's mayors calling for PG&E to become a consumer cooperative, and how Barbados is exploring cooperatives to achieve it's fossil fuel free goals!

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Stories From the Field

22 Mayors Want PG&E to Become a Customer-Owned Co-op: A coalition of public officials representing 5 million Californians — including 22 mayors — wants to see PG&E emerge from bankruptcy as a customer-owned cooperative. Read about how CA is reimagining their utilities out of the ashes.

What Impact Investors Can Learn From Nature: Boston Impact Initiative is taking a lesson from nature to erase the racial wealth gap. Their fund has raised $10 million, and now more than twenty cities want to know how they can create their own just finance ecosystem. Hear from founder Deborah Frieze how BII employs biomimicry to flip the script of risk and return. 

The Law of the Loggers: In just two short months after a law change allowing cooperation and collective bargaining, 200 Maine loggers have improved their deal with their Canadian saw mill partner. Soon maybe they’ll speak for the trees as well. Read more on the immediate impact that cooperative legal reform had for the Maine logging industry.
 


Solidarity Economies Abroad

Renewable Energy Co-ops in Barbados: The government of Barbados is urging co-ops to back national efforts to become completely fossil-free by 2030. Wilfred Abrahams, minister of energy and water resources, is proposing renewable energy co-ops as a way to “enfranchise Barbadians… and bring them along on this energy revolution.” More on how the co-op sector could help the island go carbon-free​.

Co-op successes in Northern Italy: In this episode of All Things Co-op, Cinar sits down with John Duda from the Democracy Collaborative to discuss successful cooperative economies such as the Emilia Romagna region in northern Italy. Listen to the full episode. 

A People’s Budget in Zambia: The national budget in any country is one of the key instruments a government can use to fight inequality and bridge the gap between the rich and poor, as well as between women and men. Fight Inequality Alliance Zambia has been carrying out a People’s Budget campaign in the last couple of months to advocate for a more equal budget for Zambia that represents the needs of the majority poor and not the elite.

 

Class Action: Staffing the Mission Report

​​NEC member organization, Class Action, dropped a new report today (it’s fire, y’all) called Staffing the Mission. This report — based on a national survey of nonprofits — diagnoses a problem endemic to our movements: we don’t pay our people well. This report lays out the steps that nonprofits leaders (and their funders) can take to live into their organizational values and create equitable compensation and personnel policies. Check out the report.​​


Movement News


Sounds of the New Economy

Ed Whitfield and Sohnie Black (from NEC member organization Fund for Democratic Communities) were interviewed on Everything Co-op by Vernon Oakes. Vernon and his guests discuss the journey of the Renaissance Community Cooperative in Greensboro, NC — from its founding to its eventual close earlier this year. Listen here.

 


NEC on The Gram

Follow NEC on Instagram – @NewEconomyCoalition – Where we’re sharing events like our first 2019-20 New Economies Report Project press briefing covering financing Medicare for All. Learn more here​!​
 


Job Board

Climate Campaigner, Amazon Watch – Oakland, CA
Communication Director, The Laura Flanders Show – Brooklyn, NY
Supervising Producer, The Laura Flanders Show – Brooklyn, NY
Development and Operations Associate, Economic Opportunity Institute –  Seattle, WA
Director, Development and Partnerships, Race Forward – New York/Oakland
Fundraising & Operations Associate, United for a Fair Economy – Boston, MA
General Coordinator,Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC – New York, NY – Deadline Nov 30 
Marketing & Comms Consultant, Santa Cruz Permaculture – Remote – Deadline Nov 15
Policy Director, Climate Justice Alliance – Location is flexible – Deadline Nov 18
President, New Media Ventures – Oakland, CA
Senior Policy Associate, Economic Opportunity Institute – Seattle, WA
Senior Associate, Center on Wisconsin Strategy – Madison, WI – Deadline Nov 30
Various Positions, Action Center on Race and the Economy – Location is flexible
Various Positions, Advancement Project
Various Positions, Color of Change – New York, Washington D.C., Oakland, Los Angeles
Various Positions, Democracy Collaborative – Washington, DC
Various Positions, Demos – New York, NY
Various Positions, Groundswell
Various Positions, Groundwork Collaborative
Various Positions, Institute for Policy Studies 
Various Positions, Opportunity Finance Network
Various Positions, Mothers Out Front
Various Positions, NAACP Legal Defense Fund 
Various Positions, National Congress of American Indians 
Various Positions, Project Equity – Multiple Locations
Various Positions, RiseBoro Community Partnership – Brooklyn, NY
Various Positions, Sunrise Movement – Multiple Locations 
Various Positions, The Laura Flanders Show – New York, NY

 


Upcoming Events

Rootskills Workshop
The Grassroots Fund's RootSkills workshops are day-long gatherings where grassroots organizers, colleagues and supporters convene to network, share stories and dig into both issue- and process-based skill-building sessions. We work with a planning committee ahead of each event to ensure a broad range of lived experiences and perspectives weigh in as we set agendas, select workshop topics and invite speakers. (Nov 15 – Providence, RI)

Liberating Our Futures Together: Building the Cooperative Ecosystem – 4th Union Co-op Symposium
A two day conference that brings together over 250 practitioners, social entrepreneurs, labor organizers, co-op workers, community development practitioners, and people interested in practical tools on how to start and run union worker cooperatives. (Nov 15-16 – Cincinnati, OH)

Southern Movement Assembly (SMA8)
We come together to build connections, break isolation, analyze the situations we are facing, and create visions and strategies for liberation. We are excited to be anchored in Mississippi by Alternate ROOTS, Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative, Sipp Culture Center, and partners across the Deep South. (Nov 15-17 – Hazelhurst, MI)

3rd Annual Anti-Displacement Summit
There will be intersectional workshops throughout the day on various parts of our nine point plan, including: Education and Transportation; Frontline Arts and Climate Justice; Immigration, Policing, and Housing; Indigenous Sovereignty and Black Power. (Nov 16 – Buffalo, NY)

Trans Liberation: How We Dismantle Transphobia & Build Collective Liberation 
Join AORTA to build tools to name and dismantle oppression in all forms by centering trans and nonbinary people of color in our communities and organizations.This event is free to the public and is part of a monthly workshop series. (Nov 18 – Portland, OR)

What's Up With Jailing in America & How We Can Fight It.
From cities to rural locales, the role of jails in mass incarceration is on the rise. Come to this AORTA-hosted webinar to learn more about the growing significance of jailing amid so-called "prison reform" and to learn the various strategies and tactics used by on the ground campaigns to combat jail growth from abolitionist scholars and activists. (Nov 18 – Virtual/Online)

Chicago Teacher Strike Webinar
Join as NEC member organization Institute for Democratic Education in America organizes a powerful group from Chicago's educator, parent, student, and citywide community discuss the key takeaways, learnings, challenges, and share their insights from the teacher strike felt across the nation. (Nov 19 – Virtual/Online)

Coop Hour: Co-op Worker Farms
Co-op Hour is the USFWC’s online, interactive gathering dedicated to exploring a specific topic within the worker cooperative movement, featuring worker-owners and experts in the field. In December, we'll be focused on Worker Co-op Farms. (Dec 2 – Virtual/Online)

ASBC Making Capitalism Work for All Conference
Confidence in America’s political and economic institutions is fading fast. CEOs, experts and citizens left and right see erosion of opportunity, systemic economic inequality and a stagnating middle class. They’re urging a course correction for capitalism that will revitalize our market-based economy with innovative reforms – and you can help chart that course. Join American Sustainable Business Council, the nation’s leading voice for responsible business thought and advocacy, as we tackle issues that will impact your operations and the economy in 2020 and beyond. (December 10-11, 2019)

2020 Cooperative Leadership Intensive 
Join members of NYC co-ops and solidarity economy enterprises for a 5-day deep dive into how we work—individually, collectively, and in community. (Application Deadline Dec 15 – New York, NY)

 

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