In this program update, we’re talking about our highlights of the final quarter of the year. Read on for updates on solidarity economy happenings around the network, and Black Solidarity Economy Fund Updates.
Thank you for your part in making this work possible! Whether you read our Roundup newsletter, donate to NEC, or contribute to solidarity economy projects in your region, you are supporting the growth of this movement at a time when it is most needed.
We still need to close our 2025 fundraising gap, so we’re throwing in an incentive. Anyone who makes a gift over $50 or joins NEC’s Solidarity Circle of monthly donors by the end of the year will get a free “fire the bosses” t-shirt!
2025 Black Solidarity Economy Fund Grantee List
We received an unprecedented $1.8M+ in grant requests from over 330 organizations. This is $1.6M more than we had funds for. Awarding only 10% of applicants was not easy, but you can help us meet the demand next year by becoming a monthly donor. Will you make a gift to our fund this year?
This year, the Black Solidarity Economy Fund awarded 32 organizations with a total of $160,000. This number looks lower than other years, because we invited 8 former grantees to the Black Solidarity Economy Project. This is a multi-year funding program with training and retreat opportunities. Learn more here.
Festival of the Solidarity Economies Reportback
A Dance Troupe group (“Danzantes”) with signs promoting the Solidarity Economy after their performance at NYC’s Festival of Solidarity Economy. Photo: CEANYC, IG @wawakuna
Last month, we were invited to the Festival of the Solidarity Economies in New York City organized by the Cooperative Economics Alliance of New York City (CEANYC), NYC NOWC, and Artists for Mutual Aid.
With the presence of Artisan Co-op, Bio-Classic Cleaning Co-op, Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, Centro Corona – Mutual Aid, East New York Community Land Trust, Flatbush Ladle, Jardin De La Familia Community Garden, New Economy Project, NYC MESH – Community-Owned Internet, and Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), we celebrated the New York City solidarity economy ecosystem.
Check out CEANYC on Instagram for their video recap.
Sign-up for “EAT! Public Talkback Sessions”
Join Art Worlds We Want, Economics for Emancipation, and Art.coop for “EAT: Economics. Art. Transformation Public Talkback Sessions,” a three-day virtual experience from December 12-14 from 4-5 PM EST.
These hour-long sessions are open conversations emerging from the EAT curriculum: a chance to engage with ideas, ask questions, and connect with fellow artists and organizers exploring economic alternatives in the realms of commodity, command, and communal creative economies.
Here’s the agenda:
- DAY 1 | Elisa Wong & Ray Wei of The Conscious Citizens: Commodity & Capitalism
- DAY 2 | F. Javier Torres-Campos of Liberation Partners Co-op: Command & Patronage
- Day 3 | Camila Tapia of Transverse Cooperative: Communal & Solidarity Economy
2026 Creative Wildfire Narrative Cohort
Photo: Anthony Basil Rodriguez
We’re excited to share a little of what’s been blooming inside Creative Wildfire (CW). This year, we launched our Narrative Cohort! We kicked things off in September with an online gathering, held by the generous presence of Cristobal Lagunas and Zakiya Scott, who invited us into deep storytelling, political clarity, and the kind of truth-telling that moves through the body. Our cohort of brilliant artists & cultural workers — Maddy Clifford, Lizzie Suarez, Aisha Shillingford, Jackie Fawn, Ashley Salaz, Rad Pereira, and Chiara Galimberti — joined CW team to begin weaving a shared vision for the stories & the narratives our movements need right now.
After two grounding sessions, we met in person at Bent Birch & Kibilio Community Farm in Western Mass for a retreat that allowed us to future-dream together. We sketched narrative frames, traced the themes and the slogans that keep returning to us, and swapped ideas about how our art, our doings, and our communities might carry these stories forward.
This retreat felt like a continuation of all the years we’ve been building together and the start of something new. One where narrative work becomes a shared practice, where artists lead alongside organizers, and where Creative Wildfire continues growing stronger for the bold movements and the relationships we are part of and nurturing into the future.
We’re grateful, we’re lit up, and we hope you’ll continue walking with us as this work unfolds.
Narrative Power Today for a Radical Tomorrow – Forge’s New Issue
We’re so excited to collaborate with the Center for Economic Democracy in The Forge’s new Narrative Power Issue, contributing an article about solidarity economies and narrative work.
This issue, Narrative Power Today for a Radical Tomorrow, emerges from a deeply collective process, shaped through the 2025 Narrative Power Summit (co-hosted by RadComms and ReFrame) organizer submissions, and months of shared reflection. The issue brings together practical strategies that organizers are using right now, bridges theory with on the ground practice, and offers common language. Read the issue here and our article Inspiring radical optimism through Solidarity Economy storytelling.
Winter Office Closure
NEC will close for the winter from December 19, 2025, to January 4, 2026.
In solidarity,
The NEC staff team
P.S. We welcome a slate of new members every year. Become a New Economy Coalition member to get full access to events, recordings, resource lists, grants, and office hours with staff.