Our History

The Center for Economic Democracy was founded as the Economic Justice Funding Circle (EJFC) in 2012 to provide a space for Boston’s grassroots leaders and funders to develop shared vision, strategy and practice for transformational movement building in Massachusetts and beyond.

2012

2013

CED staff partnered with the Participatory Budgeting Project to help design the City of Boston’s “Youth Lead the Change” initiative, Boston’s first participatory budgeting process and the first citywide youth-led democratic budgeting process in the country.

BJC is a citywide network fighting to ensure that employment opportunities generated by Boston’s construction boom benefitted local residents.

2013

2014

The study group includes local investment fund Boston Impact Initiative, housing justice organization City Life/Vida Urbana, and two dozen other organizers, funders, business owners and nonprofit staff. The group explores alternative financial institutions and economic power building strategies.

Along with Access Strategies, we create a hub and community of practice for both grassroots organizers and movement funders, designed to strengthen the grassroots ecosystem across Massachusetts.

2014

2015

Following the Boston Community Finance Study Group, CED developed a proposal for the launch of the Boston Ujima Project. Centering Boston’s working class communities of color, Boston Ujima Project was conceived as a cooperative economics ecosystem that connects small business owners, impact investors, residents and anchor institutions to grow and circulate local wealth, expand the community’s capacity to govern their own economy, and model the democratic control of finance.

SEI forms a pooled grant-making vehicle hosted by the Solidago Foundation to resource the learning and incubation of new grassroots strategies for a just transition to a solidarity economy in Massachusetts.

2015

2018

Six full-time employees, a small board of practical visionaries, five inaugural CED Fellows came together partnering with a robust range of organizations in Massachusetts and across the US.

To date, the Solidarity Economy Fund has made $612,000 in total grants to grassroots organizations.

2019

2019

Other projects and initiatives at this time include co-convening a study group on democratizing Boston’s City Charter, assisting in the establishment of the Boston PILOT Action Group, and co-convening the Boston Divest-Reinvest Network. CED also continues to advise foundations and wealth holders to adopt “Solidarity Philanthropy” practices while providing trainings and workshops for progressive networks across the United States.

Organizing individuals and foundations to directly donate to frontline relief during the coronavirus crisis. We raised over $900K for 27 community-led relief efforts from across Massachusetts.

2020

2020

A pop-ed project about capitalism and alternative economies, in partnership with the Center for Popular Economics.

Mandating participatory budgeting in Boston so that residents can directly propose and vote on how to spend part of the City’s budget.

2021

2021

Known as the Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP), the group  brings together worker co-ops and developers, grassroots organizations and labor unions, and funders and investors to resource and coordinate the advancement of a worker ownership movement across Massachusetts.

This groundbreaking report explores funding strategies for redirecting capital into the frontlines of social and ecological justice struggles.

2022

2022

This office operates within the state government dedicated to cultivating worker-owned businesses.

The BBA is a coalition of community-based organizations rooted in Boston’s working class, BIPOC neighborhoods, to mobilize for democracy and justice in Boston’s budget. The coalition continues to build for strong participatory budgeting.

2022

2022

This online platform and curriculum trains community organizers on alternatives to capitalism and building the solidarity economy to share it with members of their organizations.

This influential report highlights “municipalist” strategies for co-governance and direct resident democracy through charter reform.

2023

2023

This work is made possible through the Rise to Own It theory of change development project.

We bring together a strong ecosystem of social movement organizations that are utilizing finance and capital as tools to build power towards our liberatory visions.

2023

2012

The Center for Economic Democracy was founded as the Economic Justice Funding Circle (EJFC) in 2012 to provide a space for Boston’s grassroots leaders and funders to develop shared vision, strategy and practice for transformational movement building in Massachusetts and beyond.

2013

CED staff partnered with the Participatory Budgeting Project to help design the City of Boston’s “Youth Lead the Change” initiative, Boston’s first participatory budgeting process and the first citywide youth-led democratic budgeting process in the country.

2013

BJC is a citywide network fighting to ensure that employment opportunities generated by Boston’s construction boom benefitted local residents.

2014

The study group includes local investment fund Boston Impact Initiative, housing justice organization City Life/Vida Urbana, and two dozen other organizers, funders, business owners and nonprofit staff. The group explores alternative financial institutions and economic power building strategies.

2014

Along with Access Strategies, we create a hub and community of practice for both grassroots organizers and movement funders, designed to strengthen the grassroots ecosystem across Massachusetts.

2015

Following the Boston Community Finance Study Group, CED developed a proposal for the launch of the Boston Ujima Project. Centering Boston’s working class communities of color, Boston Ujima Project was conceived as a cooperative economics ecosystem that connects small business owners, impact investors, residents and anchor institutions to grow and circulate local wealth, expand the community’s capacity to govern their own economy, and model the democratic control of finance.

2015

SEI forms a pooled grant-making vehicle hosted by the Solidago Foundation to resource the learning and incubation of new grassroots strategies for a just transition to a solidarity economy in Massachusetts.

2018

Six full-time employees, a small board of practical visionaries, five inaugural CED Fellows came together partnering with a robust range of organizations in Massachusetts and across the US.

2019

To date, the Solidarity Economy Fund has made $612,000 in total grants to grassroots organizations.

2019

Other projects and initiatives at this time include co-convening a study group on democratizing Boston’s City Charter, assisting in the establishment of the Boston PILOT Action Group, and co-convening the Boston Divest-Reinvest Network. CED also continues to advise foundations and wealth holders to adopt “Solidarity Philanthropy” practices while providing trainings and workshops for progressive networks across the United States.

2020

Organizing individuals and foundations to directly donate to frontline relief during the coronavirus crisis. We raised over $900K for 27 community-led relief efforts from across Massachusetts.

2020

A pop-ed project about capitalism and alternative economies, in partnership with the Center for Popular Economics.