Our History
Our organization is born.
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
We cultivate participatory budgeting in Boston.
We Launch The Boston jobs Coalition.
BJC is a citywide network fighting to ensure that employment opportunities generated by Boston’s construction boom benefitted local residents.
2013
2014
We convene the Boston Community Finance Study Group.
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.
We launch the Solidarity Economy Initiative.
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
We help incubate the Boston Ujima Project.
We help seed the Solidarity Economy Initiative Fund.
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
We Incorporate As A 501(C)3 And Grow Our Team.
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.
The Solidarity Economy Initiative Grows.
To date, the Solidarity Economy Fund has made $612,000 in total grants to grassroots organizations.
2019
2019
We Help Launch The Massachusetts Employee Ownership Table.
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.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, we launch the Mass Redistribution Fund.
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
We launch Economics for Emancipation.
A pop-ed project about capitalism and alternative economies, in partnership with the Center for Popular Economics.
We organize with local grassroots organizations and win Ballot Question 1 in Boston.
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
We Continue To Build A State-Wide Coalition To Support Worker-Owned Cooperatives In Massachusetts.
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.
We Publish “Social Movement Investing”.
This groundbreaking report explores funding strategies for redirecting capital into the frontlines of social and ecological justice struggles.
2022
2022
With The Coalition For Worker Ownership And Power (COWOP), We Campaign For - And Win - The Massachusetts Center For Employee Ownership.
This office operates within the state government dedicated to cultivating worker-owned businesses.
We Formally Launch The Better Budget Alliance (BBA).
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
We Launch Our Pop-Ed Course, Economics For Emancipation.
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.
We Publish “Rewrite The Rules: Democratizing City Charters In Boston And Beyond”.
This influential report highlights “municipalist” strategies for co-governance and direct resident democracy through charter reform.
2023
2023
With COWOP, We Develop BIPOC And Working Class Leadership In The Cooperative Movement In MA.
This work is made possible through the Rise to Own It theory of change development project.
We Pilot The First National “Capital Strategies Camp”.
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
Our organization is born.
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
We cultivate participatory budgeting in Boston.
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
We launch the Boston Jobs Coalition.
BJC is a citywide network fighting to ensure that employment opportunities generated by Boston’s construction boom benefitted local residents.
2014
We convene the Boston Community Finance Study Group.
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
We launch the Solidarity Economy Initiative.
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
We helped incubate the Boston Ujima Project.
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
We help seed the Solidarity Economy Initiative Fund.
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
We Incorporate As A 501(C)3 And Grow Our Team.
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
The Solidarity Economy Initiative Grows.
To date, the Solidarity Economy Fund has made $612,000 in total grants to grassroots organizations.
2019
We Help Launch The Massachusetts Employee Ownership Table.
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
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, we launch the Mass Redistribution Fund.
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
We launch Economics for Emancipation.
A pop-ed project about capitalism and alternative economies, in partnership with the Center for Popular Economics.