News & Resources

New Economy Roundup: Free Black Mamas, Worker Self-Governance, Nakba Day Actions

May 8, 2025

This week we’re talking about the campaign to bailout Black mothers and end cash bail, a new community land trust and co-op hub in Santa Ana, what’s next for the Stop Cop City movement, a call to action for Nakba Day, the digital solidarity economy movement in Brazil, how workers are building power through democratic self-organization, and more.

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STORIES FROM THE FIELD

Volunteers with Free Black Mamas DMV in 2019

Free Black Mamas: In the US, over 60,000 women are detained and held in jails before ever receiving a trial, because they can’t afford to pay bail. Over two-thirds of these women are mothers and caregivers. This Mother’s Day, support the National Black Mamas Bailout or local campaigns in Atlanta or the DMV area so these women return home to their families. For more information, check out the new Let Her Go Home campaign and music video. If you’re in the area on May 11, stop by or support the Radical Release Art Show, a showcase of creative works and performances by Black mothers and children impacted by incarceration, cosponsored by NEC member Sankofa Village Arkansas. 

Land and Liberation: Congratulations to NEC member Cooperación Santa Ana on the grand opening of La Colmena — the first property to be brought into community ownership as part of the THRIVE community land trust! THRIVE and La Colmena were born out of the need to resist gentrification and displacement in Santa Ana, while offering space for cooperative business development, local food production, and community organizing. Read how NEC members Community Movement Builders and Cooperation Jackson are using a similar cooperative ecosystem strategy to build power as part of the People’s Network for Land and Liberation.

Stop Cop City: The City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Foundation officially opened “Cop City” last week, despite years of massive community opposition to the militarized police training center. The Stop Cop City movement has vowed to continue resisting the violence of policing and disinvestment in Atlanta’s Black communities, while residents are organizing democratically to define their own visions of public safety. Find out if there’s a Cop City under construction in your state, and learn more about the Stop Cop City nationwide campaign.

SOLIDARITY ECONOMIES ABROAD

Poster from Palestinian Youth Movement’s call for an International Week of Action for Palestine on May 12-18. 

Nakba Day Solidarity: In the past weeks, Israel has escalated its horrifying multifront assaults on the Palestinian people, promising to “capture” the entire Gaza Strip, forcing famine through a months long blokade, and attacking a Gaza-bound ship carrying humanitarian aid in international waters. As the 77th anniversary of the Nakba approaches on May 15th, make plans to take part in the upcoming week of action and go all out to demand an immediate end to the genocide and occupation.

Digital Solidarity Economy in Brazil: In Brazil, gig workers are fighting back against labor exploitation by companies like Uber by “building alternatives based on self-management, cooperation, and technological justice.” From a bike delivery co-op of women and trans people in São Paulo to a chatbot that connects homeless construction workers to new clients, Brazilian workers are making strides toward what they’re calling “Digital Solidarity Economy.” Read how the Digital Solidarity Economy movement in Brazil expands on platform cooperativism by including collective data and digital infrastructure ownership. 

Sweep Out the Bosses: In 1975, women cleaners at a university in Belgium went on strike, fired their bosses, and formed a worker-owned cooperative to provide themselves with better pay and working conditions. The cooperative ran successfully for 14 years and offers inspiring lessons about what happens when workers self-organize and democratically run their workplaces. Check out our brand new resource list on collective governance and worker self-direction, as well as NEC member Austin Cooperative Business Association’s new zine on union co-ops.

MOVEMENT NEWS

RESOURCE LIBRARY

PODCASTS & VIDEO

TOOLKITS & RESOURCES

ART 

JOBS

Donor Organizer and Associate Director for Resource Mobilization, Resource Organizing Project
Executive Director or Co-Executive Directors, Highlander Center
Interim Operations Manager, NASCO
Lead Organizer and Political Education Lead, Muslim Justice League
Various Positions, The People’s Solar Energy Fund
Various Positions, Social Movement Technologies

If you’re hiring, consider submitting to The Roundup.

For more opportunities, check out this job board from NEC member Post Growth Institute and this one from the U.S. Federation of Worker Coops!

EVENTS

Radical Release Public Artshow
A powerful public exhibition featuring creative works and performances by Black mothers and children impacted by incarceration or violence, alongside works by the artists and healers who supported their journey. (Lonsdale, AK – May 11)

Build and Fight Formula: Worker Self-Organization and Self-Management
Join Cooperation Jackson  for the fourth installment of the Build and Fight Formula Education series. This one focuses on worker self-organization and self-management as transformative practices and programs to build a new society. (Online – May 13)

Building Power in Place: Basebuilding
Building power in place begins with bringing neighbors together in solidarity and empowering everyday people to directly participate in the process of shaping their own community. But how do we go about doing this? What kind of organizational forms and practices make base-building possible? (Online – May 13) 

Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour
Cleveland Owns and the Co-op Circles planning team are kicking off the Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour. Cleveland is the first stop! We’ll visit local co-ops and learn about the work that’s happening here and across the state. Friday morning we’re loading up in the party bus and heading off to Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati, where we’ll end the Ohio Co-op Solidarity Tour with a stop at Co-op Fest, the annual gathering of the groups supported by Co-op Cincy. (Ohio – Register by May 15) 

Collective Governance x Solidarity Economies: Lessons from Rojava
Founded on women’s liberation, ecological sustainability, and direct democracy, Rojava’s political system provides a dramatic alternative to the status quo values of patriarchy, capitalism, and the nation-state. As we descend deeper into fascism across the globe, what lessons and organizing strategies can the left learn from the collective governance and solidarity economies that the people of Rojava have been asserting? Join the Emergency Committee for Rojava, Movement Generation, and New Economy Coalition for a virtual collective study session with live Spanish interpretation, ASL, and closed captioning. (Online – May 15) 

Research Tools for Organizers 2025
Research into the relationships between powerful people, corporations, and institutions – aka power research – is essential if we want to know who we’re really up against in our fights for justice. Research Tools for Organizers is a training curriculum designed to help you level up your toolkit and bring a new perspective to your campaigns by incorporating practical research techniques and a corporate power analysis into your campaign development. (Online – 4 Sessions – May 15 – August 14) 

Collective Governance: Sharing Power Through Sociocracy Webinar
In this free webinar, Spring Up will share what they’ve learned about collective and collaborative governance, including highlighting core tools, systems, and practices that we implement as a group and share with our clients through out consulting and training services. They will also share about “Sociocracy,” or “Dynamic Governance,” a framework for collective decision making and internal structures for workload distribution grounded in circles, consent, and feedback. (Online – May 16) 

Building Shared Futures: Planning with Budgets, Cash Flow, Reserves, and Savings
In this 3-session workshop, we’ll explore how to create a budget, how to use a budget as a guide throughout the year, and how to plan for savings and reserves in service of your group’s goals.  We’ll also cover methods of comparing plans to reality as you go, and adjusting when things don’t go according to plan. See all of A Bookkeeping Cooperative’s upcoming trainings.   (Online – Thursdays in May/June) 

Calling the Future Now!: Lessons on Democratic Governance and Non-Extractive Finance
This conversation will offer insights on practicing self-governance and non-extractive finance and investing, inclusive of borrower and community-centered approaches to due diligence, lending terms, conflict of interest, and conflict resolution policies. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions to spark your imagination about how to mobilize capital in ways that truly meet the needs of our communities. (Online – May 27) 

Funder Briefing: 5 Years Since the Uprisings
Join the New Economy Coalition for a funder briefing to support the longevity of the Black Solidarity Economy Fund (BSEF). In this session, we’ll share lessons learned in the first 5 years of operating this participatory fund and how we can mobilize resources for the next half-decade. (Online – May 28)

Foundations of Shared Power
In this focused 3-session training, you’ll move beyond theory to explore practical frameworks that make collaborative leadership work.Topics include mapping power dynamics, setting up transparent systems, processing tensions, defining clear roles, and creating accountability systems. (Online – 3 sessions starting May 28). 

Shared Resources & Shared Vision: Applying Solidarity Economy Principles and Practices
Join us to gain a deeper understanding of one of the themes of Solidarity Economy Principles and Practices: Shared Resources and Shared Vision. Participants will learn examples of principles and practices that a variety of groups have used to develop collective vision, power and abundance. Whether you’re in a cooperative, a nonprofit, a community garden, or some other kind of organization, the community-sourced wisdom will support your journey. (Online – June 11) 

Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) Conference
EWOC has organized thousands of workers since our start in March 2020. In an effort to connect with even more worker-organizers, and to celebrate our five-year anniversary, we’re hosting our first-ever EWOC conference! This conference is a space for people at all levels of organizing experience — who are interested in organizing non-unionized workplaces — to connect, learn, and share skills. (Detroit – June 27–29)

Socialism Conference 2025
The Socialism conference is a center of political education rooted in ideas, perspectives, and strategic debate. A four-day conference featuring dozens of panels, lectures, and workshops organized by groups from all over the country. (Chicago, IL – July 3-6)

Cascadia Cooperative Conference 2025 | Northwest Cooperative Development Center
CCC will celebrate the incredible diversity of the cooperative economic model in the bioregion of Cascadia (connected to the Salish Sea and the Columbia River), which includes communities throughout British Columbia, Canada, and the U.S. States of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The conference aims to leverage the strength of co-ops in these communities to create a stronger and more resilient cooperative ecosystem and to advance the goals of the International Year of Cooperatives. (Seattle, WA – August 25 & 26)

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