On May 10, 2024 the newly formed Solidarity Economy Club at CUNY School of Labor & Urban studies hosted its first event. Focusing on the role organized labor can play in the emerging solidarity economy movement, the unambiguously titled, “The Role of the Labor Movement in Solidarity Economy”, brought together leading voices such as Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Shaywaal Amin (1199 SEIU), and Dr. Alexander Kolokotronis for an excellent discussion. Building from existing discourse on the urgent need for systems change away from capitalism, this event highlighted the key lessons from past movements and identified gaps that need to be filled in the present. As the moderator and lead organizer for the event as well as co-founder of the Solidarity Economy Club, I want to take a moment to expand on my motivations for organizing the event and the club as well as locate the potential for CUNY SLU to play a leading role in advancing transformational change.
As we end 2023, we turn to the light of a new year. As hard as the suffering and injustice is this year, and as we know with great sadness that it will not go away next, we remain steadfast in shepherding in the kind of change we seek to make in the world. We bring it on with love and joy as best we can. We are grateful for the present moments for that love and joy as we build strong and democratic spaces, empowering people, with some level of faith that as the struggle continues, we continue to bring forth warm and compassionate care in the work we do, the communities we do it in and the people we touch. May we move with grace in the new year! Continue reading CWOP 2023 Year in Review→
Co-op Cincy hosted its symposium in October and we were there along with many from the Union Co-op Council of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. We mapped the unionized co-ops in the country and strategized to support more efforts for workers to own the means. Continue reading Coop Cincy Symposium and the Union Co-op Council→
CWOP is hosting a collaborative to collect case studies that can be shared broadly and you can volunteer to support this collection here: UCC CASE Study Writers: Sign up here!
In October CWOP and the Murphy Institute at SLU hosted training with SoFA in partnership with Brooklyn Legal Services A. This aimed to help develop those coming from community organizing work to deepen practice for democratic self-management. People traveled from as far as Montreal and the day was dynamic with learning activities that got everyone engaged. Sociocracy is introduced in a class in the WDCO program, URB 613 “Cooperative Management for a Changing World” and this gave participants an immersive experience. Continue reading Sociocracy for All, New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives and DAWI at 10 years old!→
On the weekend of October 20th, 2023 two CUNY graduate students affiliated with the Community and Worker Ownership Project (CWOP) at the School of Labor and Urban Studies traveled to Richmond, Virginia to attend the Resist & Build Summit, organized by the US Solidarity Economy Network. Dozens of leading organizations in the national solidarity economy (SE) movement attended, with the aim of collectively building up the movement. Some key goals were to create agreement around a theory of change, develop strategic aims, and establish relationships between the attendees and their organizations. Continue reading Resist & Build: Report Back From the Solidarity Economy Movement→
A conversation about workers, communities and social justice
Need help with the Commons?
Email us at commonshelpsite@gmail.com so we can respond to your questions and requests. Please email from your CUNY email address if possible. Or visit our help site for more information:
