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In our first of five webinars, our speakers will introduce the framework of solidarity economy, its history and contemporary practice, and examples in Asian American immigrant and refugee experience.

Speakers:

Emily Kawano, US Solidarity Economy Network
Emily is the co-director of the Wellspring Cooperative Corporation which seeks to create an engine for new, community-based job creation in Springfield, MA. She serves as Coordinator of the United States Solidarity Economy Network. An economist by training, Emily served as the Director of the Center for Popular Economics from 2004 to 2013. Prior to that, Emily taught at Smith College.

Julia Ho, Solidarity Economy St. Louis

Julia is the founder of Solidarity Economy St. Louis. During the Ferguson uprising in August 2016, she worked with Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE). For the past two and a half years, Julia has been building a network of businesses, organizations, and individuals fighting for a just and sustainable economy.

Facilitators:

Yvonne Yen Liu, Solidarity Research Center
Yvonne is the co-founder and research director of Solidarity Research Center, a worker self-directed nonprofit that advances solidarity economies. She serves on the board of the US Solidarity Economy Network and was named the 2018 Activist-in-Residence Fellow at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Parag Rajendra Khandhar, Asian American Solidarity Economies Project
Parag is a founding principal of Gilmore Khandhar, LLC, a law firm focused on legal, policy, and advocacy tools to advance economic justice, racial equity, and social transformation. He teaches at George Washington University Law School. Parag co-founded Baltimore Activating Solidarity Economies (BASE) and the Asian American Solidarity Economies Network (AASE).

You can watch a recording of the webinar on our website.

Download flyer and social media

In our second of five webinars, our speakers will introduce cooperatives, its principles and examples, and the cooperative ecosystem.

Speakers:

Mai Nguyen, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
Mai serves on the board of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. They own and operate an organic farm and were the cooperative development specialist at the California Center for Cooperative Development. Now, Mai is an organizer for the National Young Farmers Coalition. They specialize in agricultural and worker cooperatives, and primarily work with immigrant and small-scale farmers to create cooperative alternatives to the conventional food economy.

Anh-Thu Nguyen, Democracy at Work Institute
Anh-Thu is director of special projects for the Democracy at Work Institute. She develops markets and opportunities for collaboration between cooperatives and cross-sectoral allies, including the development of a value chain within the textile and fashion industries. Born and raised in Tampa Bay, FL to Vietnamese refugee parents, Anh-Thu earned her BA at Georgetown University and JD at University of Texas School of Law.

Facilitators:

Yvonne Yen Liu, Solidarity Research Center
Yvonne is the co-founder and research director of Solidarity Research Center, a worker self-directed nonprofit that advances solidarity economies. She serves on the board of the US Solidarity Economy Network and was named the 2018 Activist-in-Residence Fellow at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Parag Rajendra Khandhar, Asian American Solidarity Economies Project
Parag is a founding principal of Gilmore Khandhar, LLC, a law firm focused on legal, policy, and advocacy tools to advance economic justice, racial equity, and social transformation. He teaches at George Washington University Law School. Parag co-founded Baltimore Activating Solidarity Economies (BASE) and the Asian American Solidarity Economies Network (AASE).

You can watch a recording of the webinar on our website.

Download flyer and social media

In our third of five webinars, our speakers will introduce the steps involved in forming a cooperative including deciding on its legal entity, cooperative finances, and governance and decision making.

Speakers:

Ro McIntyre, Red Emma’s Cafe and Bookstore
Ro has been a worker-owner at Red Emma’s Cafe & Bookstore for 4 years. Through their work at Red Emma’s they co-founded Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy (BRED), a local loan fund for worker-cooperative. BRED provides high touch technical assistance paired with non-extractive financing to help co-ops grow & thrive. Ro is currently the Educational Director at BRED and is happily spreading the good word of cooperatives in Maryland.

Annie Sullivan-Chin, A Bookkeeping Cooperative
Annie has been a worker-owner, bookkeeper, and consultant at A Bookkeeping Cooperative since 2013. She began her work with ABC as an intern with the Democracy At Work Network, helping ABC craft its cooperative bylaws and operations protocols. She is now a certified DAWN Peer Advisor, providing customized technical assistance to worker-owned and democratically-managed organizations throughout the country.

Facilitators:

Yvonne Yen Liu, Solidarity Research Center
Yvonne is the co-founder and research director of Solidarity Research Center, a worker self-directed nonprofit that advances solidarity economies. She serves on the board of the US Solidarity Economy Network and was named the 2018 Activist-in-Residence Fellow at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Parag Rajendra Khandhar, Asian American Solidarity Economies Project
Parag is a founding principal of Gilmore Khandhar, LLC, a law firm focused on legal, policy, and advocacy tools to advance economic justice, racial equity, and social transformation. He teaches at George Washington University Law School. Parag co-founded Baltimore Activating Solidarity Economies (BASE) and the Asian American Solidarity Economies Network (AASE).

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In our fourth of five webinars, our speakers will discuss legacy business conversions into cooperatives and how existing micro-business can work together in cooperative ways.

Speakers:

Shevanthi Daniel-Rabkin, Democracy at Work Institute
Shevanthi (Shev) is passionate about the intersection of sustainable business and economic development. Her work spans over fifteen years in community and labor organizing, and strategic capacity building with nonprofit and small businesses. She previously served as Lead Manager of Worker Cooperative Initiative at Pinchot University – Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship, and also helped develop a Cooperative Management Certificate program at Pinchot University. Shevanthi has managed and implemented large-scale labor organizing and worker justice campaigns with SEIU1199 NW, and programs centered on civil rights and social justice leadership, in rural and urban centers across the country, as well as solidarity work in South Africa, Nicaragua and Ethiopia. Shevanthi is also a co-founder of the O’Dell Education Center, a nonviolence direct action and leadership academy in Washington State, owned and operated by the Institute for Community Leadership. She is also Executive Board member at the Center for Women in Democracy, strengthening women’s capacity and leadership in public and private sector. Shevanthi has an MBA in Sustainable Business from Pinchot University and BA in History and Anthropology from University of Washington.

Soyun Park, Micro Business Network
Soyun is an organizer, a trainer, an organization builder and a movement strategist. She has over 25 years of experience with youth and community organizing in Black and Brown communities to affect local, state, and national policy change on racial and economic justice issues and immigrant rights issues.Over the last few years, Soyun has been focused on community economic development, working with owner operator micro businesses fighting predatory development in DC. A natural ally of neighborhood residents and workers, she has mobilized micro business owners in support of progressive worker policies, against public utility rate increases, and to push the largest electric holding company in the US to provide sustainable alternatives. She is also working in Baltimore with Korean owned liquor storeowners and the surrounding Black communities to identify solutions to city policies that perpetuate anti-Blackness and racial triangulation. She grew up in this country as the daughter of an immigrant shop owner and brings this experience into her political and organizing work to make an impact. She lives East of the River in DC with her two beautiful children.

Facilitators:

Yvonne Yen Liu, Solidarity Research Center
Yvonne is the co-founder and research director of Solidarity Research Center, a worker self-directed nonprofit that advances solidarity economies. She serves on the board of the US Solidarity Economy Network and was named the 2018 Activist-in-Residence Fellow at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Parag Rajendra Khandhar, Asian American Solidarity Economies Project
Parag is a founding principal of Gilmore Khandhar, LLC, a law firm focused on legal, policy, and advocacy tools to advance economic justice, racial equity, and social transformation. He teaches at George Washington University Law School. Parag co-founded Baltimore Activating Solidarity Economies (BASE) and the Asian American Solidarity Economies Network (AASE).