This week we’re talking about how the solidarity economy can move us beyond capitalism, a new bill to finance co-ops, uprisings in Palestine and calls to defund Israeli military forces, how public banks around the world have responded to the pandemic, why cooperative economics are key to climate justice, and more.
Stories from the Field
Capital for Cooperatives Act: Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper is introducing a series of national bills with the aim of increasing financing for Native and BIPOC-owned businesses. One of those bills, the Capital for Cooperatives Act, would instruct the Small Business Administration (SBA) to waive the personal guarantee for cooperatives — vastly increasing the amount of loans and capital available to new co-ops. Call your representatives and ask them to support the Capital for Cooperatives Act, or have your organization sign on to endorse the bill.
CLT History: “In America, community land trusts have always been rooted in racial equity…They were devised specifically to prevent the displacement of communities of color. Black sharecroppers in the rural South pioneered the model to protect their families from eviction by white owners during the civil rights movement.” Read more about the current state of community land trusts and their origin as a tool for racial equity.
Rural Power for the People: Rural electric cooperatives (RECs), which serve 42 million Americans and power 56% of the nation’s land mass, can be a critical piece of a Green New Deal. The Rural Power Coalition is campaigning to direct $100B in federal funding to RECs for a clean and affordable energy transition — plug–in with the campaign on social media, and have your organization endorse the upcoming legislation by June 1.
Solidarity Economies Abroad
Solidarity with Palestine: As Israeli occupying forces escalated violence against Palestinians in the past weeks, tens of thousands of people across the world have taken to the streets in solidarity with Palestine’s struggle for freedom. Learn more about the current uprisings in Palestine and the enduring legacy of the Nakba, join a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions organization near you, and tell your Representatives to stop financing ethnic cleansing and land theft by ending military funding to Israel.
Migrant Worker Power in Italy: Close to 13,000 African migrants have landed in Italy this year, many facing inhumane working conditions in agricultural camps. Watch this moving story at the intersection of migrant worker power, cooperative solidarity, and agriculture: “If, today, Italy is talking about the conditions of the farmworkers, it’s because we have forced it on the country’s agenda. No one has given us anything.”
Public Banking in the Pandemic: From debt relief to emergency financing, public banks have played a key role during the economic and health crises of the past year. Check out this new report detailing case studies of public bank actions from around the world, and critically examining their policy responses to COVID-19.
Transformative Investing Principles
Want to know how folks with wealth can leverage their resources to support self-determination and collective wealth-building in BIPOC, and poor and working-class communities? Check out NEC member organization Resource Generation’s new Transformative Investing Principles for guidance on how to move your money to build the solidarity economy!
De-mil-i-ta-RISE
We love this new collaboration from Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative and Dissenters! Check out their De-mil-i-ta-RISE portfolio for dozens of beautiful illustrations of what it looks like to reclaim resources from the war industry, reinvest in life-giving institutions, and repair collaborative relationships with the earth and people around the world.
Movement News
- Banks Fight $4 Billion Debt Relief Plan for Black Farmers
- Black-owned Cooperative Startups in the North End Model Opportunity for More Equitable Detroit
- BlackRock’s Governance Mess
- Building Black, Ecologically & Cooperatively
- Colombians Continue to Resist as National Strike Completes 15 Days
- Cooperatives can make economies more resilient to crises like COVID-19
- How Black Lives Matter Changed the American Conversation About Israel and Palestine
- How to Start (and Run) a Bank That Puts People and Planet Over Profits
- In the Drivers’ Seat: Can a Cooperative in NYC Point the Way for Imagining Alternatives to Big Tech?
- In Seattle, Participatory Budgeting Process “Clearly Delayed Until Next Year”
- Labor Organizing After the Amazon Union Vote
- Obvious Agency and Creative Cooperative Futures
- Return The National Parks to the Tribes
- Starline Social Club Reopening in September, Aiming to Become a Worker-Owned Co-Op
- Taharka Bros: Ice cream with a side of worker ownership
- The Emerging Movement for Police and Prison Abolition
- Thousands in US participate in nationwide McDonald’s strike
Podcasts of the New Economy
Additional Listens
All Things Co-op – Critiques of Co-ops
Groundings – The Palestinian Resistance & Sheikh Jarrah
NEC on the Gram
Jobs Board
New Listings!
Communications and Outreach Lead, Transition US
Communications Director, Center for Community Alternatives
Communications Consultant & Outreach Coordinator, Class Action
Development Associate, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Director of Training & Leadership Dev & Program Associate, Funders for Justice
Editorial and Green Business Communications Associate, Green America
Operations Director, Rogue Climate – June 1
Program Manager, Mass Energize – May 24
Senior Researcher, Corporate Accountability
Tech Support Person, Palante Technology Cooperative
Various Positions, Project Equity
All Jobs
Affordable Co-op Housing Project Associate, UHAB – NYC
Campaign Organizer, New Economy Project
Capital Campaigns Co-Director and Strategic Storytelling Co-Director, Minnow
Co-Executive Director, Powershift Network
Community Organizer, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
Communications Organizer and Southern Organizer, Resource Generation
Culture and Communications Associate, Boston Ujima Project
Deputy Director and Narrative Directory, Soulardarity
Development Director – YES! Magazine
Executive Director or Co-Director Team, Resource Generation
Green New Deal Regional Organizers, Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy
New Economy Program Manager, Appalachian Voices – May 31
Research Director Action Center on Race and the Economy
Various Positions, Catalyst Cooperative
Various Positions, Center for Popular Democracy
Various Positions, Dream Defenders
Various Positions, Highlander Center
Various Positions, KDC Cooperative Solutions
Various Positions, Movement 4 Black Lives
Various Positions, NDN Collective
Various Positions, PUSH Buffalo
Various Positions, Right to the City
Various Positions, UPROSE – Brooklyn
Upcoming Events
The Story of a New Economy
Hear from the creative thinkers and doers who are weaving together the structural and narrative interventions we need for a more just and sustainable economic future—debt abolishment, cooperatives, and Guaranteed Basic Income. Speakers are Esteban Kelley (US Federation of Worker Cooperatives), Laura Zabel (Springboard for the Arts); and Dan and Hilary Powell (Bank Job). (May 21)
Solidarity Economy 101
An introduction to the Solidarity Economy. What is it? How does it differ from other ‘alternative’ system frameworks? What are the values and principles of a solidarity economy? What are some examples? (May 21)
Pain Pollen: The Story of Cotton
The history of western medicine and herbalism demands that we understand the various ways that these narratives have glorified and exalted an oppressive colonization of both plants and people, while erasing and destroying the lived, land-based, traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and communities of color. The knowledge share will be a chance for us to consider and listen to the stories of plants, specifically cotton, as an important part of any plant medicine practice. (May 22)
African Liberation in the Americas: A Webinar on Haiti, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela
Drawing on the collective knowledge of Black activists and academics from Haiti, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and the United States, the webinar will examine how forms of anti-Black repression extend across the geographic, national, and linguistic divisions of the hemisphere – only to be resisted by a shared culture and tradition of African revolt and autonomy. (May 22)
Histories of the Working Class in North America
Hosted by The People’s Forum, this series is driven by a commitment to better understand the history of working class life and struggle in order to learn lessons that can be applied in the class struggle today. (May 25, June 23, July 28)
Strengthening the Solidarity and Cooperative Economy in NYC
In this workshop series we will explore possible connections and collaborations across the solidarity economy as we begin to rebuild a community controlled economy after this year of crisis and protest. We will dig deeper into how we can engage in this moment as a solidarity economy in NYC. (May 26 – New York City)
Giving Shuumi: Philanthropy’s Role in Redistributing Wealth & Supporting the Return of Indigenous Land
In this webinar, we will hear about the work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust to facilitate the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. We will also learn about the Shuumi Land Tax, an inspiring new model for redistributing wealth to Indigenous communities. (June 3)
Vision Power Solutions: Community-Driven Planning for Racial and Climate Justice
How do communities define and design for themselves? How do we define our own challenges, identify our own assets and strengths, our priorities, our biggest threats and our unique approaches to resilience, climate, and justice? This 12-week workshop series builds facilitative leadership capacity among facilitators, organizers, leaders, and educators from (and accountable to) Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. (June 17 – March 2022)