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.
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.
Red Cypress Consulting
We craft communications, creative and digital campaigning strategies rooted in community so that our movements can grow as big as they need to create real change. Whether you have a campaign to win, a narrative to shift, or a voter base to turn out, our team can help you reach new heights while staying true to where you come from.
We craft communications, creative and digital campaigning strategies rooted in community so that our movements can grow as big as they need to create real change. Whether you have a campaign to win, a narrative to shift, or a voter base to turn out, our team can help you reach new heights while staying true to where you come from.
Spring Up
For over 10 years, Spring Up has used fiction, art, role play, and community education to popularize the skills and frameworks necessary to be free together. We support individuals and grass roots formations through offering free resources, zines + workbooks, 1:1 coaching, and webinars, courses + retreats at bluelight academy of the liberatory arts.
For over 10 years, Spring Up has used fiction, art, role play, and community education to popularize the skills and frameworks necessary to be free together. We support individuals and grass roots formations through offering free resources, zines + workbooks, 1:1 coaching, and webinars, courses + retreats at bluelight academy of the liberatory arts.
Pagoda Cafe
We are Pagoda Cafe, a worker owned cafe with breakfast tacos, homemade pastries, & sandwiches. We offer a large drink menu with locally roasted coffee.
We are Pagoda Cafe, a worker owned cafe with breakfast tacos, homemade pastries, & sandwiches. We offer a large drink menu with locally roasted coffee.
TMH Solutions Hub
TMH Financial & Management Solutions is proud to be a financial management company that helps business clients make sound financial decisions on a daily basis. Our commitment is to help businesses succeed by performing the critical accounting and bookkeeping functions needed to remain financially solvent and compliant with financial regulations.
TMH Financial & Management Solutions is proud to be a financial management company that helps business clients make sound financial decisions on a daily basis. Our commitment is to help businesses succeed by performing the critical accounting and bookkeeping functions needed to remain financially solvent and compliant with financial regulations.
Project Hustle
Project Hustle is a Black, queer, hood feminist-led transformative organizing project in Southeast Louisiana. We center Black working class hustlers through people-power building, popular education, and storytelling projects that capture our creativity and ingenuity as Black women, Black femmes, and Black queer workers.
Project Hustle is a Black, queer, hood feminist-led transformative organizing project in Southeast Louisiana. We center Black working class hustlers through people-power building, popular education, and storytelling projects that capture our creativity and ingenuity as Black women, Black femmes, and Black queer workers.
Ujima Childcare Co-op
Ujima is providing community-led education that activates the young learner into collective action, through project-based learning, cooperative practices and Black libratory care. The Ujima Childcare Cooperative is held by organizers, educators, artists, and environmentalists who share their wealth of knowledge, to families of all structures, that centers a child’s development and prepares them to be change-makers.
Ujima is providing community-led education that activates the young learner into collective action, through project-based learning, cooperative practices and Black libratory care. The Ujima Childcare Cooperative is held by organizers, educators, artists, and environmentalists who share their wealth of knowledge, to families of all structures, that centers a child’s development and prepares them to be change-makers.
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?