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As our communities face Medicaid and HUD cuts, the rollback of SNAP, the threat of heightened surveillance, increased policing and criminalization, and more—we’re reminded that these attacks aren’t just policy decisions; they’re assaults on our collective well-being. But resistance is growing. Communities are organizing, fighting back, and building alternatives rooted in care and solidarity that can better assure our basic needs are met. This is where economic democracy shines: a vision of an economy that puts people and planet before profit. Another world is possible—and people are building it right now, in worker owned co-ops, housing collectives, community health networks, and mutual aid efforts that give folks reliable access to work, shelter, food, and healthcare. Join us in defending what we’ve won and creating the future we deserve.
Massachusetts worker owners and allies work to promote the Opportunity to Own bill!
What does it take to turn a regular business into a WORKER-OWNED cooperative? On July 1st, on NPR’s show “All Things Considered”, two powerful organizers connected to our Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP) in Massachusetts speak out about democracy at work, and how they’re making it happen. Click the button below to listen to the full interview featuring, May Nerudova of Circus Cooperative Cafe in Cambridge, MA, plus John Abrams, founder of South Mountain Company in Cape Cod. Together, they discuss a new bill in MA that will help workers buy their companies and own them together: “Opportunity to Own”.
The Opportunity to Own (OTO) bill is currently being considered by the MA state legislature’s Economic Development Committee. At the latest committee hearing, the COWOP coalition showed up in strength to show their support for the bill. OTO helps workers buy small businesses and creates pathways to worker ownership as thousands of MA businesses face closure due to retiring owners in the coming “silver tsunami.”
The process from here is wide open and may take several months to play out. But, by contacting your MA legislators, you can help it gain traction and pass through the state house with success!
This past spring, the Better Budget Alliance and its allies were hard at work advocating to divest from the police budget and invest in housing, youth jobs, alternative mental health crisis response and participatory budgeting. Although the City Council was not willing to take money from the $474 million police budget, we did have some success increasing funding for youth jobs, housing, and our first participatory budgeting increase ($200,000) due to our organizing. The outcomes of the FY26 budget season underscore the need to continue building people power to ensure that Boston’s Budget cares for and supports all residents.
BOSTON RESIDENTS: We need you to join our efforts!
1) If you have not yet filled out the People’s Budget survey, please do so today using the button below. If you have filled it out, please continue to share it with your community.
2) Now is also your chance to participate in the City of Boston’s Participatory Budgeting (PB) initiative, ‘Ideas in Action,’ which is collecting ideas until July 31 for how to spend $2.2 million of the City’s operating budget on programs and services. CED and many of our grassroots partners fought for this process so that residents have direct decision-making control over public resources. Please share your ideas through the online Participatory Budgeting Portal at boston.gov/participate.
If you can help us at tabling events or with outreach this summer around the People’s Budget and participatory budgeting, contact Eliza.
Massachusetts projects are building the solidarity economy with support from CED's Solidarity Economy Incubator!
In our last newsletter, we announced the launch of our first Solidarity Economy Incubator cohort made up of 5 groups across Massachusetts! Each member of this 2 year cohort will receive support in advancing their different goals and also go through a strategic learning arc around the Just Transition (Resist & Build) framework.
Learn more about each project below:
WILLOW Permanent Real Estate Cooperative is a queer and trans BIPOC-led cooperative business committed to cultivating healing and liberation through community-centered real estate investments. Through SEI, they are focused on launching training programs for residents and community members.
UPTIMA Entrepreneur Coop is a worker cooperative based in Boston and other regions that provide holistic and culturally relevant education, advising and community to support diverse entrepreneurs in creating thriving businesses in service to their communities. Through SEI, they are looking to increase access to capital for small businesses and worker cooperative.
Families for Justice as Healing organizes women and impacted families by the criminal justice system to shift resources away from the criminal punishment system and into Black and Brown communities. Through SEI, they aim to continue building their community shifters work, which is the team that holds hyperlocal mutual aid work around reimagining communities.
Mutual Aid Eastie is a network of neighbors creating community spaces that build unity, trust, solidarity, and community care. MAE promotes solidarity through mutual support – and in the belief that everyone has abundances and needs. Through SEI, they aim to continue building their reciprocity circles that so that they are self sustaining and directly connected to grassroots organizing efforts.
H.O.M.E Coalition of Greater Brockton is building a Community Land Trust committed to create and steward permanently affordable, community-controlled housing in the Greater Brockton area. Through SEI, they are focused on gaining a deeper understanding of land trusts to communicate and educate their benefits to community members.
CED hosts the first-ever Movement Finance Forum!
In early June, CED hosted the first-ever Movement Finance Forum with nine convening networks of grassroots organizations and funders/investors; Climate Justice Alliance, Chordata Capital, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, Movement for Black Lives, Neighborhood Funders Group, New Economy Coalition, Resource Generation, Seed Commons and Solidaire Network.
We gathered 130 people for three days to:
1) build and deepen relationships across our networks;
2) hear about inspiring examples of how grassroots organizations, funders, investors and other practitioners are leveraging capital strategies (such as divestment campaigns, shareholder engagements and community-and-movement governed funds) to build grassroots power; and
3) explore possibilities for collaboration and experimentation across our different roles, issue areas, projects, campaigns, and regions.
Amidst escalating crises – from genocides and war to ICE raids, political repression, attacks on trans people, cuts to critical federal programs and beyond – we’re clearer than ever about the need to build power together across our ecosystems rooted in a liberatory vision for people and planet beyond racial capitalism.
A new divest/invest tool has just launched this summer: The People's Portfolio!
The People’s Portfolio: Moving Money toward Collective Freedom is now live at https://movemoney4freedom.org/.
The site aims to guide users through concrete steps that individuals and collectives can take to divest from harm and invest in life. Featuring various resources, the website offers divestment stories for inspiration, tools to move employment-based retirement benefits out of the military industrial complex, and more. Whether you are an individual with investments in wall street or are part of a group calling on an institution to divest, this site has the tools you need to investigate where your money is going and make a change.
The People’s Portfolio provides concrete tools for not only divesting, but investing back into an economy rooted in solidarity. Take action against war and genocide and help us build the liberated future we all deserve.
Already divested? Use the site to share your story and inspire others.
