Grassroots leaders from five Seed Commons member organizations — Cooperation Buffalo, Cooperation New Orleans, Repaired Nations, LA Co-Op Lab, and Beloved Communities Incubator — shared their reflections on the intersections between inclusive, democratic economic development and community power for a major series published by Nonprofit Quarterly.

Series editor Stacey Sutton writes:

This is an auspicious moment for deepening and expanding solidarity economy ecosystems: the infrastructures, practices, and principles that prioritize people, community, and ecological sustainability. The organizational topography—the number of cooperatives, land trusts, intentional communities, and other tangible manifestations of solidarity—often obscures the essential mycorrhizal network of relationships nourishing and propagating the solidarity economy ecosystem. 

The composition of solidarity economy ecosystems varies across regions. Some may center around an incubating organization, but an ecosystem requires more than an organization. True organizational diversity coheres around a common understanding of conditions, shared values, aligned goals, and belief in the transformative potential of centering relationships, collaborations, and partnerships. This requires that ecosystem organizers build capacity for practicing collective governance, cooperative ownership, community-driven decision-making, and deep democracy. 

Read the articles in the series:

• Building the Spokes in the Wheel of a Solidarity Economy: A DC Story
• Building the Solidarity Economy by Boosting Black-Owned Co-ops
• How the City of Angels Can Become a City of Worker-Owners
• Building Economic Resilience in the Rust Belt: Buffalo’s Growing Co-op Network
• Building an Arts Solidarity Economy