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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Financing & Financial Services

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January 22, 2024

Transform Finance: An Interview with Curt Lyon

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Summary

Transform Finance Executive Director Curt Lyon talks with Jim, Matt, and Josh about their work educating investors about ways to support businesses with a focus on worker empowerment.

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October 26, 2023

The Ghana Susu: Reimagining Financial Development

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In Ghana, a centuries-old financial system called Susu provides an example of effective bottom-up development that contributes meaningfully to reducing poverty and economic inequality.

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September 14, 2023

Words Matter: Measuring the Cooperative Identity Crisis

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Using text-as-data techniques, we apply the dictionary to a 15-year sample of credit union (a type of co-operative) and bank (IOFs) annual report texts. The resulting model ranks credit unions and banks on a co-op versus IOF firm scale and identifies credit unions that may be at risk of losing their identity because of their use of IOF language.

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September 7, 2023

The Banker Ladies Council

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Meet the Black women organizers defying anti-Blackness to build a Canadian federation of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations.

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February 16, 2023

Building, Here and Now, The World We Yearn For

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Cecosesola is established in Barquisimeto, capital of the state of Lara, located in the central-western region of Venezuela, as a cooperative integration organization that has been established since 1967. It is a meeting space where we make active life of more than 50 organizations, integrated into a network for the production of goods and services that brings together more than 20,000 associates from popular sectors. Through this network, we develop a wide variety of activities such as: agricultural production, small-scale agro-industrial production, funeral services, transportation, health services, financial services, mutual aid funds, distribution of foods and household items. We are made up of about 1,300 associated workers who manage daily activities through participation that is open to everyone, without hierarchical positions.

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August 22, 2022

How the Ghana Susu System Helps the African Diaspora

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Canadian members of the African diaspora make use of traditional forms of group savings, known as susu, to overcome financial and cultural exclusion in the mainstream system. 

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February 15, 2022

A Crisis of Jurisdiction in the Economy

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An interview with Gopal Dayaneni on the Seed Commons and building community power for a just transition.

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September 23, 2021

Credit Unions are Co-ops, Too!

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We discuss the origins and development of the credit union movement, the unique role of Community Development Credit Unions, and how these member-owned financial co-ops grow community wealth, support economic development, and build resilient local economies.

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September 16, 2021

‘Black Banker Ladies’ and the Power of the Informal

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Summary

ROSCAs consist of the regular pooling of money among friends and neighbors. It’s a way for individuals to amass chunks of money and is relied upon by millions of Black women in Africa, the Caribbean, and North America as a trusted alternative to formal banking systems that often exclude them.