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Building Austin’s Black Cooperative Movement
February 26 @ 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Black communities across the U.S. and the world are engaging with the cooperative model as a tool for economic, social, and cultural liberation. In this session, we will build on Austin’s Black co-op history to connect with the active and growing National Black Cooperative Movement. Guest speaker Assata Richards will explore an example from our neighbors in Houston, where We Are The Ones cooperative is transforming what economic development means for Third Ward, a historically Black neighborhood threatened by economic and social forces including gentrification.
Participants will have the opportunity to engage with each other to lay the groundwork for an ongoing Black-Led Cooperative study group here in Austin.
More about Instructor Assata Richards
Assata is the founding director of the Sankofa Research Institute (SRI), a nonprofit with a mission to “create knowledge to build community” through community-based participatory research. In addition, as a public sociologist, Assata serves as the Board President of the newly formed Houston Community Land Trust, the Third Ward Cooperative Community Builders, and the Emancipation Economic Development Council. Most recently, she was elected as the founding board president of the Community Care Cooperative, Houston’s first home care agency owned by caregivers and community health workers. Lastly, she is a founding member of We Are The Ones, a cooperative working to build a “Black Solidarity Economy,” enabling community members to define what success is for them and hold accountable institutions that claim to act on their behalf and develop economic enterprises that fairly compensate workers and build community wealth.
