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Art by @chiara.acu.
This week we’re talking about calls to reclaim public medicine for public health, the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, peer-to-peer lending, the upcoming Worker Co-op Conference, a new fund to support Black self-determination in the South, this week's NBA and WNBA strikes in defense of Black lives, and more.
Stories From the Field
Community Lending & Public Banks: By mid July, nearly half of Black-owned businesses had closed permanently, compared to 17% of white-owned businesses. Black borrowers were systematically denied PPP loans, continuing a long-standing pattern of discriminatory lending by big banks. To close the racial lending gap, people are increasingly looking to community lenders, like credit unions and CDFIs, as well as public banks. Learn more about how public banking can combat discriminatory lending in this upcoming conversation with NEC member organization The Public Banking Institute.
Just Recovery in the Gulf South: This week, on the eve of the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, another fierce storm has hit Louisiana and Texas. Listen to Colette Pichon Battle, founder of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, talk about how to prepare for and ensure a just recovery from the next Katrina, and join GCCLP, Gulf South for a Green New Deal, and frontline Gulf communities this Saturday to remember and commemorate 15 years of recovery, resistance and love of home.
Solidarity Economies Abroad
P2P Lending in Canada: A rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) is a form of collective, peer-to-peer lending that has existed across the global south and immigrant communities for decades under many different names. Solidarity economy practitioner Caroline Shenaz Hossein argues that ROSCAs, which are “fundamentally anchored in reciprocity, trust and community development,” are at the very core of the Black social economy in Canada, but have been largely overlooked because of their often informal nature. To learn more, watch The Banker Ladies, a short documentary about ROSCAs, cooperatives, and mutual aid amongst Black women in Toronto.
Abolition is Global: As Ruth Wilson Gilmore says, “abolition is about presence, not absence. It's about building life-affirming institutions.” The movement to dismantle racial capitalism and build new life-affirming systems in its place is global and interconnected. Uprisings against white supremacy and police violence in the U.S. have coincided with the illegal annexation of Palestinian land — hear about the connections between these liberation struggles in this talk on “Abolition from US to Palestine” with Dream Defenders, Adalah Justice Project, Haymarket Books and more.
Food Sovereignty in the Carribean: As COVID-19 disrupts global food systems, Caribbean nations have called for an increase in local food production. However, as Kasmine Forbes writes for NACLA, “to truly strengthen food systems, agricultural policy must include small farmers as owners, not just laborers.” Read more about the importance of building food sovereignty through community control and ownership of local crops like cassava.
Worker Co-op Conference
The annual Worker Co-op Conference is free and online this year! Join NEC member organization the US Federation of Worker Co-op on September 10-11 to hear from a packed lineup of worker-owners, co-op developers, and policy advocates working to build a cooperative economy — including keynotes speakers Maurice Mitchell, Naomi Klein & Avi Lewis. Register and let’s build the future of work together!
Southern Power Fund
Last month, four pillar Southern organizations, including NEC member organizations The Highlander Center and Project South, put out a call for donors across the country to move $10 million to a new Southern Power Fund. The funds will be redistributed to over 200 Black-led, Southern organizations, as well as seed a community-controlled fund to resource new projects. NEC member organization Resource Generation has committed to raising $1 million for the fund by August 31st — make a donation today to support Black self-determination in the South.
Movement News
- Co-op Network Grows Community-Based Businesses
- COVID-19 Is A Rolling Disaster For Working Mothers
- ‘Death by Structural Poverty’: US South Struggles Against Covid-19
- Ecological Lessons for Movement Organizing with Queer BIPOC Organizers
- Health Autonomy Beyond the Pandemic
- How to Dismantle White Supremacy
- It is Time to Levy a One-Time Pandemic Wealth Tax on Billionaires’ Windfall Gains
- Leah Penniman Explains Why Food Sovereignty Is Central in the Fight for Racial Justice
- Mutual Aid Organizers Want Congress to Extend Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
- Short on Money, Cities Around the World Try Making Their Own
- The Abolition Movement
- The Co-ops that Electrified Depression-era Farms are Now Building Rural Internet
- The US is Facing an Eviction Tsunami. We must Cancel Rent Before it's Too Late
- We Need a Green New Deal to Expand Worker Ownership of Our Economy
- We Should Still Defund the Police
Podcasts of the New Economy
On this episode of the Intercepted Podcast, we hear from Gopal Dayaneni of NEC member organization Movement Generation about the benefits of intentional community living during crises. Tune in to learn about cooperative co-housing models and the movement to decommodify land and housing in the Bay Area and beyond.
Additional listens:
This is Hell: Sarah Anderson on the US Postal Crisis
Black History Mini Docs: Episode 103 on Boston Ujima Project & Economic Democracy
New Economics Foundation: Covid-19 and Global Capitalism
NEC on the Gram
Follow NEC on Instagram – Where we’re sharing must-reads about the NBA and WNBA strikes in defense of Black lives. Don't miss this piece by Derecka Purnell, "Support the NBA Strike, Boycott the Police," where she details why athletes should keep striking and demand lawmakers defund the police, pass the Breathe Act, and provide reparations.
Jobs
New Job Listings!
Advocacy Program Manager, Center for Constitutional Rights – New York, NY – Sept 1
Athena Online to Field Organizer, Institute for Local Self Reliance – Remote
Black Land and Power Coordinator, National Black Food and Justice Alliance – Sept 7
Data and Research Coordinator, Center for Third World Organizing – Remote – Sept 2
Data and Impact Manager, Beneficial State Foundation – California – Sept 14
Major Gifts Officer, Center for Third World Organizing – Remote – Sept 2
Operations Director, Press On – Southern U.S. – Sep 9
All Jobs
Associate Director: Media Strategy, Demos – New York, NY
Bookkeeping and Financial Guru, Earth Designs Cooperative – Hudson Valley/Remote
Certification Consultant, Green America – Washington, D.C./Remote
Communications & Development Coordinator, Powershift Network – Remote
Comms & Development Organizer, Grassroots Global Justice – Washington D.C. – Sept 3
Communications Organizer, Right the the City Alliance- Various Locations
Director of Investment, Boston Ujima Project – Boston, MA
Director of Resource Mobilization, Grassroots Global Justice – Washington D.C. – Sept 3
Education Team Coordinator Highlander Center – New Market, TN
Executive Director, Class Action – Boston/Remote – Deadline August 15
Grants and Contracts Manager, Democracy at Work Institute – Oakland, CA/Remote
Grants Manager, Highlander Center – New Market, TN
Investment & Fundraising Director, East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative – Bay Area
Marketing & Communications Coordinator, East Bay Permanent Real Estate Coop – Bay Area
Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellow, Nathan Cummings Foundation – Remote – Sept 1
New Economy WA Frontline Community Fellowship, People’s Economy Lab – WA – Aug 31
Partnership Engagement Director, Green America – Washington D.C./Remote
Political Director, Action Center on Race and the Economy – Washington, D.C.
Program Manager, New England Grassroots Environment Fund – New England
Project Officer, Cooperation Richmond – Richmond, CA
Senior Manager: Individual Giving, Demos – New York, NY
Solidarity Philanthropy Director, Grassroots International – Boston, MA
Various Digital Disruption/Organizer Positions, Better Future Project – Cambridge, MA/Remote
Various (Movement Support/Admin/Instructors) – Social Movement Technologies – Remote
Various (Organizing, Community Development), PUSH Buffalo – Buffalo, NY
Various (Political/Organizer), National Young Farmers Coalition – Colorado/California
Web Developer, Foundation for Intentional Communities
Worker Cooperative Program Manager, Urban Upbound – Queens, NY
Upcoming Events
M4BL Black National Convention
The multi-hour broadcast will be filled with energy, celebration, education, electoral justice, and a vision for Black Lives before the biggest election of our time, and long after. Together, we will ratify a Black political agenda days after the Democratic and Republican National Conventions and ahead of November, when Black voters will play a pivotal role in determining whether we have four more years of domination or a new set of challenges to overcome. (August 28 – Online)
Redlining vs Public Banks
NEC member organization the Public Banking Institute has started a new weekly discussion series on different aspects of public banks. Join them this week to hear how public banking can combat redlining and discriminatory lending. (Online – August 28 & Every Friday)
Katrina 15 Commemoration
The Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy invites you to stand with Gulf South communities on the frontlines of climate change to remember and commemorate 15 years of recovery, resistance and love of home, since Hurricane Katrina. Panels are designed to remind participants about what really happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and offer an update on the work from the frontlines. (August 29 – Online)
Cooperative Land Tenure with Leah Penniman
Join Leah Penniman of the Soul Fire Farm Land Stewardship Coop in a discussion of the cooperative model of land tenure. Following the journey of Soul Fire Farm's relationship with the land, we will explore the legal, financial, ecological, and interpersonal aspects of coop formation. (August 31 – Online)
Course Correction Follow-up
From setting the Ecological Context for Pandemics to translocal strategies for a just recovery to bioregional governance to decolonizing the future, Movement Generation’s Course Correction series spent the past two months taking a deep dive into what a just transition in this time on the clock of the world can look like. So, where do we go from here? Join MG in a follow-up discussion where we will examine next steps as we look forward to the horizon of possibility together. (Sept 1 – Online)
Town Hall: Why Philadelphia Needs a Public Bank
The Philadelphia Public Banking Coalition with NEC Members Public Banking Institute and Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance will hold a Town Hall on why public banking is an essential tool for community reinvestment of public funds and expanding opportunity for all in these times. At this Town Hall, you will learn how a Philadelphia Public Bank could reinvest public funds to support community needs such as creating jobs; supporting small businesses, particularly in black and brown communities; and financing public education, housing, and environmental projects. (Sept 1 – Online)
Bottom-up Democracy: From Crisis to System Change through Dual Power
This 9 part webinar series from Symbiosis offers a space for those wanting to shift or deepen their current organizing lens towards more transformative power building and systems change. This shift speaks to an inclusive, liberated future of direct democracy, ecological well-being and a just, regenerative economy. (Multiple Dates Sept 1 to Oct 19 – Online)
Stir to Action Festival
Experience the Playground for the New Economy Festival online from wherever you are! The 2020 online festival will be another unique three days of inspiring conversations, virtual experiences, live podcasts, interactive workshops, idea surgeries, and more! (September 1-3 – Online)
EBPREC Community Exchange Call with Nwamaka Agbo
Calling all community developers, coop entrepreneurs, and aspiring cooperators! Join East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative for a warm fireside chat on modeling new futures for land & housing. Guest speaker Nmawaka Agbo will lead a discussion on Black collective economics in the Bay Area, and how finance fits into the infrastructure for Black land liberation. (Sept 3 – Online)
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