Cooperative Journal Hosted by Ebony Joy

Solidarity Economy Shorts Episode #3A collaboration with New Economy Coalition
Solidarity Economy Shorts are conversations with frontline organizations & individuals that are putting solidarity economy principles into practice. They are using different strategies to build an economic system where communities are meeting their own needs outside of capitalism. 
Sol Underground is an abolitionist ecosystem in Atlanta dreaming of a Black and Indigenous liberated world that is resisting colonial systems of oppression. They are actualizing this dream as an autonomous community-led group that is building, joining, and maintaining networks of care. 
In this episode, Ebony speaks with the founder Sunny who begins with defining what abolitionism is and its correlation to the solidarity economy. How their shape transformed from an artist collective to supporting the unhoused community through mutual aid. They share some of the models they organize like Sol Below, a pop up tent that provides warmth and food to the homeless when the temperature drops below a certain degree. They paint a beautiful vision for a world when exploitative systems are abolished, offer practical tips for adopting an abolitionist mindset, and how to put theory into practice. 
Show NotesSol Underground 
Freedom Archives: dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of historical audio, video, and print materials documenting progressive movements and culture from the 1960s to the 1990s. 
Abolition Notes: a free and evolving, volunteer-run education project to make the work of radical and revolutionary movements throughout history fighting for liberation more accessible 
New Economy Coalition
Episode Music by MADlines

Solidarity Economy Shorts are conversations with frontline organizations & individuals that are putting solidarity economy principles into practice. They are using different strategies to build an economic system where communities are meeting their own needs outside of capitalism.

Co-op Dayton is developing and weaving a network between cooperative businesses that are meeting the needs of their local community. They are using community and worker ownership as a catalyst to transform Dayton’s Black and working class neighborhoods. In this episode, Ebony speaks with program and co-executive directors - Cherelle Gardner and Amaha Sellassie.

They begin with defining what a cooperative is and different ownership structures, how cooperative businesses can meet the needs of a disinvested post-industrial city, some of the models they have incubated like T.R.I.B.E a shared-service co-op of holistic perinatal practitioners. They also invite us to think beyond the metrics of success within capitalism, what solidarity and cooperation looks like in our day to day lives, and how we can show up in solidarity.

Show Notes
Co-op Dayton

National Black Food Justice Alliance

PODER Emma: provides technical assistance, accompaniment, and lending for the development and sustainability of worker-owned businesses, resident-owned mobile home parks, and community-based real estate investment cooperatives.

Seed Commons: ​​national network of locally-rooted, non-extractive loan funds that brings the power of big finance under community control.

Economics for Emancipation: free course with interactive and participatory workshops that offers a deep dive into the current political economic system and explores alternative economic systems.

Episode Music by MADlines

Solidarity Economy Shorts Episode #1

A collaboration with New Economy Coalition

Solidarity Economy Shorts are conversations with frontline organizations & individuals that are putting solidarity economy principles into practice. They are using different strategies to build an economic system where communities are meeting their own needs outside of capitalism.

Nuns and Nones is a community of sisters and seekers connect to explore the themes of justice, spiritual practice, and how to respond to the needs of the times. The Land Justice Project evolved to support these religious communities to reimagine and shift who has ownership and access to the land they are on. In this episode Ebony speaks with Brittany Koteles, the director of the project.

Brittany begins with laying a foundation for what land justice is and how the Land Justice Project embodies it through its models and practices. She shares when and why land became commodified, how the aging community of nuns is navigating the mistrust and contradictions that emerge when giving Catholic owned land to Native American and Black people, and ways you can engage in land justice.



Show Notes:

New Economy Coalition

Nuns & Nones

Sustainable Economies Law Center

Agrarian Commons: model of land stewardship and access that allows for community ownership of farmland

Center for Ethical Land Transition: explores ways to decommodify, rematriate, and increase accessibility to land for BIPOC communities

Guilded is a cooperative that offers resources to empower freelance workers. They provide contract management, invoicing, guaranteed payments, tax preparation, and health care – which alleviates some of the administrative work so that freelancers can focus on their projects. One of their main intentions is supporting artists as workers and ensuring their basic needs are met.
In this episode, I speak with Camila Tapia-Guilliams, a mixed media artist, educator, and community organizer, weaving together narratives of identity, community care, cooperation, and solidarity in their art.
We talk about the gaps Guilded is filling for freelancer artists like ensuring they get paid on time, unions as a tool for protecting artists as workers, navigating decisions in a multi-stakeholder co-op, the process of joining Guilded and the benefits included, and visions for a world where artists are honored for the value they create.
Show Notes:Guilded Website
Camila's Instagram
U.S. Federation of Worker Co-ops

What would it look like if we collectively designed decentralized, democratized, distributed, and diversified energy systems? People Power Solar is a California based cooperative that invests in community-led projects to create alternatives to PG&E and other private utilities. They are working to ensure that power can be accessed by all without compromising the health and safety of any community. 
I speak with worker-owners Hannah and Crystal about the necessity to transition from privatized energy to localized and cooperative structures. They share some community led projects they support like mobile solar power, framing energy as a verb, how they are shifting from focusing on pooling financial resources to deepening in relationships and dialogue around what energy really is, and why our dominant energy sector is inefficient, overpriced, and unreliable.
Show Notes:People Power Solar Website
People Power Solar Youtube
Podcast episode that inspired framing energy as a verb

Post Growth Institute experiments with tangible practices, tools, and spaces to create a regenerative, full-circle economy beyond capitalism. Through their research, structure, and offerings they embody the ‘Post-growth’ worldview, which sees society operating better without the demand of constant economic growth. It resists an economy that is predicated on growth and depends on the over extraction of finite natural resources and human labor…instead we can create systems that put people and the planet over profit.
I speak with Director of Education Crystal Arnold about mutual aid through the Offers and Needs Market, a space for community members to exchange their passions, knowledge, skills, resources, opportunities, and needs. She shares practices and ideology we need to evolve into a post-growth society, sliding scale vs. open ended pricing, dissolving class differences in the Offers and Needs Market, advice for being in reciprocity daily, the importance of facilitation skills to create spaces of belonging, asset based mapping as a tool for community resilience, and more!

ResourcesOffers & Needs Markets
Post Growth Institute Website
Host Your Own Free Money Day
Tools for Asset Based Community Mapping
Crystal’s Podcast: Money Morphosis