Cooperation for liberation
WE ENVISION
a New Orleans with a strong Solidarity Economy Movement:
where Black, Brown, and Indigenous New Orleanians–fueled by the inherent brilliance, bravery and audacity of our ancestors– sustainably own our own labor and mentor each other on the collective and equitable governance of resources such as: food, care, land, and culture.
Our mission is to strengthen the solidarity economy movement in New Orleans, centering Black, Brown, and Indigenous people, prioritizing people and planet over profit. We do this by organizing educational resources, honoring people’s stories, base building, and technical assistance that supports building economic alternatives to meet our needs.
Solidarity and Cooperation come from the Black and Indigenous practice of collective work to meet collective needs. Cooperation can look like community childcare, feeding one another, pooling together our resources to meet our needs, practicing mutual aid in our daily lives or in the face of a disaster, owning our own work through a cooperative business, and so on. Cooperative businesses and projects use practices that our communities have been using for centuries, along with the7 Cooperative Principles to allow workers to have ownership of their work, and ultimately care for themselves and others.
Solidarity economies center the needs of a region or community over monetary gain. Part of building a solidarity economy movement is shifting our expectations as working class people of how the economy is a resource that should benefit us--not exploit us--and that we can work in alignment with our values without sacrificing our basic needs.
Fueled by the brilliance, needs, and offers of our base of Black and Indigenous working New Orleanians, the movement thrives off of an ecosystemic relationship amongst workers, small businesses and local marketplaces, non-profits, mutual aid groups and other solidarity economy practitioners, community leaders and educators, donors and resourced allies, and our regional/national coalition partners.
See some of the groups and coops we consider a part of our ecosystem below.
Check out our resource library to learn more about the Solidarity Economy movement, and click here to see how you can get involved.
"Black cooperatives are actually not a new strategy, it was in cooperation that formerly enslaved people built community, and so it is no surprise that many Black communities continue to create cooperative enterprises as a means to own the development that is taking place in their neighborhoods. "
Tamah Yisrael, Co- Founder and Steering Committee Member
Co-ops and Community
Our ecosystem is comprised of various individuals, cooperative businesses and mutual aid projects working to meet the needs of our communities. Below is a list of some of our cooperators, and where you can find them in New Orleans.
Groups listed as "TA Providers" are co-ops and movement partners that also work to provide technical assistance and support to other cooperative projects in our ecosystem.
Want to be added to this list? Click here.
Bancha Lenguas
BanchaLenguas is a worker-owned collective based in New Orleans (also named Bulbancha by the original native peoples of this land and its descendants) that partners with communities to create multilingual spaces through high-quality and responsible in-person and virtual interpretation, translation, consulting and language justice training.
BanchaLenguas is a worker-owned collective based in New Orleans (also named Bulbancha by the original native peoples of this land and its descendants) that partners with communities to create multilingual spaces through high-quality and responsible in-person and virtual interpretation, translation, consulting and language justice training.
Civic Studio
Our co-op is a multi-disciplinary group with diverse cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds. Our skills and experiences include research, writing, planning, design, curation, fabrication, media, technology, environment, sociology, ecology, education, organizing, and strategy.
Our co-op is a multi-disciplinary group with diverse cultural, economic, and educational backgrounds. Our skills and experiences include research, writing, planning, design, curation, fabrication, media, technology, environment, sociology, ecology, education, organizing, and strategy.
Mycelium
Advancing technological sovereignty for the solidarity economy by putting workers and their communities in control of their technological tools and infrastructure. Through deep, relational collaboration, we co-create solutions that serve both the material and moral imperatives of our partners.
Advancing technological sovereignty for the solidarity economy by putting workers and their communities in control of their technological tools and infrastructure. Through deep, relational collaboration, we co-create solutions that serve both the material and moral imperatives of our partners.
Birthmark Doula Collective
Birthmark is a New Orleans-based birth justice cooperative dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for pregnant and parenting people and their families, with a focus on increasing access to respectful services for communities facing barriers to care
Birthmark is a New Orleans-based birth justice cooperative dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for pregnant and parenting people and their families, with a focus on increasing access to respectful services for communities facing barriers to care
New Economy Coalition
NEC exists to support a just transition from an extractive to a regenerative economy by building the scale and power of the solidarity economy movement in Black, Indigenous, and working class communities in every region of the United States.
NEC exists to support a just transition from an extractive to a regenerative economy by building the scale and power of the solidarity economy movement in Black, Indigenous, and working class communities in every region of the United States.
Builders of the Highway
Builders of the Highway Foundation is a non-profit organization whose vision is for a world, functioning in truth, peace, and happiness. Our mission is to provide educational, economic, cultural, social, spiritual, and organizing resources for community advocacy to support the unification of good people.
Builders of the Highway Foundation is a non-profit organization whose vision is for a world, functioning in truth, peace, and happiness. Our mission is to provide educational, economic, cultural, social, spiritual, and organizing resources for community advocacy to support the unification of good people.
Melegance
Founded by Jaleesa Jackson, Melegance LLC a communications consultancy that collaborates with changemakers to work toward collective liberation through storytelling.
Founded by Jaleesa Jackson, Melegance LLC a communications consultancy that collaborates with changemakers to work toward collective liberation through storytelling.
New Orleans Food Co-Op
TOGETHER WE: Provide access to healthy food at a fair price; Are a center of community activity; Promote local and regional food production; Keep capital and jobs in our community; Practice environmental responsibility and sustainability; Reflect our unique and diverse community.
TOGETHER WE: Provide access to healthy food at a fair price; Are a center of community activity; Promote local and regional food production; Keep capital and jobs in our community; Practice environmental responsibility and sustainability; Reflect our unique and diverse community.
Want to support a worker-owned business in New Orleans?
Find them on the map!
Want to be added to our online database of Co-ops and Community?