The National Conference On
Black
Cooperative Agenda

8:00-9:00AM

Breakfast

9:00-10:30 AM

Conference Opening, Ron Hantz, Founder and Executive Director Network for Developing Conscious Communites

10:30-12:00 AM

"Workshop Session 1 Activating Political Power for Liberation

In the US, wealth and political power go together like hand and glove. Our representative government sets the rules of our economy, and these rules determine how the wealth that our economy creates is distributed among its people. In the Oppression Economy, wealthy elites use purchased political power to manipulate those rules and hoard wealth.

Our pathway to a Liberation Economy rests in our ability to fully participate in our democracy and hold the elected officials who represent us accountable to pass laws that enhance income, wealth, and ultimately, power. Too often non-profit leaders of color sit out of the very democratic processes established to distribute critical government resources to institutions and individuals. Are these democratic processes perfect? No. But we cannot leave the playing field open to the people and institutions actively working against us to block liberation.

This two-part session will offer information on the why and how leaders of color can activate their political power. The first session will explore why political advocacy is a necessary component of a leader’s work, and will offer and practice using tools to maximize their political strength. The second part of the training will provide information and resources on the rules of the road related to lobbying and electoral advocacy.

Jeremie Greer, Co-Founder/Co-Executive Director Liberation in a Generation

"Workshop Session 2 Session #BlackCoopsMatter

Cooperatives are a driving force within the solidarity economy - an economy built upon principles of justice, equity, democracy, solidarity, and sustainability. Still, cooperatives owned and controlled by Black workers, consumers, and other marginalized groups, are undercapitalized, insufficiently resourced, disadvantaged, and rarely supported without a White ally or leader. Furthermore, resources geared towards Black-led cooperatives are often funneled through White led organizations. This paternalistic support of Black cooperatives amounts to exploitation, extraction, and waste, and more importantly, promotes White supremacy and systematic racism within the solidarity economy. What can be done to ensure that #BlackCoopsMatter? Elizabeth L. Carter, Esq. Managing Attorney ELC Esq LLC"

"Workshop Session 3 Around the world farmers and business partners form to work as a cooperative (Perotin 2015). With the change in state cannabis legislation, many corporations have entered the market. Many have spread to multiple states (Curaleaf 2019) (Green Thumb Industries 2021) edging our local ownership due to various factors including regulations and cost for independents. There are only a few cannabis cooperatives in the world. However, with recent concerns of the lack of non-corporate cannabis participation many are taking a look at cooperatives (adult use and/or medical) members and/or investor types as a way to include more legal operators. Cherron Perry-Thomas and MBA candidate in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare with a minor in cannabis at the University of the Sciences."

12:00 – 1:30 PM

Dr. Anne Gessler: “Cooperating in the Crescent City: Lessons Learned from New Orleans’s Intergenerational Black Cooperative Movement”

Based on her book, Cooperatives in New Orleans: Collective Action and Urban Development, Dr. Gessler traces how New Orleans community cooperatives contribute to a social history of grassroots social justice mobilization in the South. She examines how the long civil rights movement shaped current New Orleans cooperatives. Exploring the work of Black hospital administrator Albert Dent, who worked with multiracial New Deal southern liberals to establish a cooperative public health plan for Black Louisianans, as well as how the collective experimented with Black liberationist rhetoric, non-hierarchical collective structures, and African diasporic spiritual and aesthetic practices to incubate a network of southern Black-owned cooperatives. Finally, she will discuss how post-Hurricane Katrina racial justice cooperatives have continued to thread isolated ethnic enclaves into a robust, regional economic network informing city and state economic development, labor policies, and land-use plans. "

1:30 -3:00 PM

Workshop Session 4 Activating Political Power for Liberation In the US, wealth and political power go together like hand and glove. Our representative government sets the rules of our economy, and these rules determine how the wealth that our economy creates is distributed among its people. In the Oppression Economy, wealthy elites use purchased political power to manipulate those rules and hoard wealth. Our pathway to a Liberation Economy rests in our ability to fully participate in our democracy and hold the elected officials who represent us accountable to pass laws that enhance income, wealth, and ultimately, power. Too often non-profit leaders of color sit out of the very democratic processes established to distribute critical government resources to institutions and individuals. Are these democratic processes perfect? No. But we cannot leave the playing field open to the people and institutions actively working against us to block liberation. This two-part session will offer information on the why and how leaders of color can activate their political power. The first session will explore why political advocacy is a necessary component of a leader’s work, and will offer and practice using tools to maximize their political strength. The second part of the training will provide information and resources on the rules of the road related to lobbying and electoral advocacy. Jeremie Greer Co-Founder/Co-Executive Director Liberation in a Generation

"Workshop Session 5 Around the world farmers and business partners form to work as a cooperative (Perotin 2015). With the change in state cannabis legislation, many corporations have entered the market. Many have spread to multiple states (Curaleaf 2019) (Green Thumb Industries 2021) edging our local ownership due to various factors including regulations and cost for independents. There are only a few cannabis cooperatives in the world. However, with recent concerns of the lack of non-corporate cannabis participation many are taking a look at cooperatives (adult use and/or medical) members and/or investor types as a way to include more legal operators. Cherron Perry-Thomas and MBA candidate in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare with a minor in cannabis at the University of the Sciences. "

Workshop Session 6 Ella Baker proclaimed, “To me, young people come first. They have the courage where we fail. And if I can but shed some light, as they carry us through the gale.” This session will feature the voices and the liberatory work of young people. The goal is to understand better the current unmet cultural, economic, and social needs of young people and identify what barriers young people face when exercising their leadership. We will explore how young people use cooperation and how cooperation can best support their aspirations. Finally, we will bring experienced coop owners into the conversation to ask our youth panel questions and lean into an intergenerational dialogue with curiosity and explore the leadership of youth in our emerging national network of black cooperatives. Assata Richards

8:00-9:00AM

Breakfast

9:00-10:30 AM

"Symposia: Sankofa Circle. This session brings together all conference participants in the Sankofa Circle to reflect on what has brought each of us into this cooperative economics work. And now that our paths have intersected, there’s quite a bit of pressure to push our movement to the next step. We’ll spend this time building intentionally around our personal and collective experiences in a culturally-responsive format to address some of the following concerns:

How do we move forward with a connected and integrated national agenda for Black cooperation? What are the ways we can be certain to center Black people and our needs in this work, and to not replicate oppressive dynamics as we build co-op enterprises? How can the focus on our community’s economic self-sufficiency shift to a collective understanding of all-sufficiency that’s rooted in the ethos of Africana history?"

10:30-12:00 AM

"Workshop Session 7 Part 1. Community Economic Development (CED) Project Planning and Grant Writing Strategies

Join this interactive session to learn from a grant writer’s perspective, planning and application strategies organizations have utilized to obtain funding for over 50 CED grants nationwide. In this session attendees will gain strategies on planning an eligible CED project, identifying partner organizations and preparing strong responses to each section of the most recent CED funding opportunity announcement. The Office of Community Services’ Community Economic Development (CED) program funds projects that support businesses and create full-time jobs for individuals with low income. This flexible funding can be used for commercial developments and equity investments or loans to businesses and have supported a wide range of projects from business incubators to manufacturing business expansion. Storm Taliaferrow Associate Director of Programs National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB)"

Workshop Session 8 USDA Rural Development is committed to maximizing opportunities to engage with stakeholders who can assist us with raising awareness of our federal funding opportunities to historically underserved and underrepresented communities. Rural Development ‘s Business and Cooperative Programs administer numerous programs ranging from grants to guaranteed loans to assist rural communities in establishing and supporting sustainable business ventures. The funds can be used for targeted technical assistance, training, and other activities to include equipment purchase depending on the program. During this session we will discuss three of our grant programs: Socially Disadvantaged Group Grant, Rural Business Development Grant, and Rural Cooperative Development Grant. We will provide an overview of the programs and application processes and explain how these grants demonstrate our primary work to establish sustainable businesses within rural communities., Branch Chief, Public Private Partnerships Letitia Nichols, Program Director, Maryland/Delaware Rural Business & Cooperative Services

"Workshop Session 9 Co-op 101 - The many paths of today’s Black cooperatives This session will cover the many different kinds of cooperatives: worker, consumer, marketing (producer), shared services (purchasing), and multistakeholder. We will review their structures, benefits, and challenges through the stories of members of Black cooperatives from across the spectrum of cooperative types currently in operation. Omar Freilla Cooperative Development Strategist"

12:00 – 1:30 PM

"Dr. Karama Neal, Administrator Rural Business Cooperative Service Prior to joining USDA Rural Development, Karama Neal served as president of Southern Bancorp Community Partners, a nonprofit community development loan fund and financial development organization promoting economic mobility in rural Arkansas and Mississippi. She spent twelve years at Southern and led their small business, consumer and other development lending, consumer and savings focused public policy work, and a variety of financial development services to help low and moderate wealth families and communities build wealth.

In 2013, Dr. Neal started a statewide grassroots organization promoting passage of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act in Arkansas which was passed in 2015. This work was inspired by her family’s ownership of rural heirs property in the state. Before joining Southern, she had a career in the biosciences and worked for a period in biofuels informatics with a focus on feedstocks and balancing food and fuel priorities. For six years, Dr. Neal served on the board of the Little Rock Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

After completing her undergraduate degree in biology at Swarthmore College, Dr. Neal later earned a doctorate in genetics from Emory University and a master’s in bioethics and health policy from Loyola University Chicago. She also completed executive education in impact investing at the University of Oxford Said School of Business."

1:30 -3:00 PM

"Workshop Session 10 Building the Conditions for Black Cooperation: The Sankofa Circle

This session introduces a trauma-informed, culturally responsive model for co-creating affinity space for courageous conversations that build fertile ground for community self-determination.

By examining a wide variety of topics impacting Black/Africana people within the Sankofa Circle, participants move to a greater understanding of the complex and interconnected nature of the needs of our community. The discussion series is designed to guide participants on a journey of self discovery within a collective context. Sankofa provides the knowledge, confidence and sense of responsibility for individuals to become interconnected leaders who draw upon the strength of their past in order to build their cooperative future. LaKeisha Wolf, Executive Director Ujamaa Collective"

Workshop Session 11 Emerging Collective Hope" This workshop will explore the pre-eminance of emerging participation and transforming our communities into co-strategist as we walk towards building coops to meet our community needs. Amaha Sellessie

"Workshop Session 12 Legal Considerations for Developing Black-led Worker Cooperatives

Though many worker cooperatives are small businesses, their structure creates a unique set of legal considerations. For Black-led worker cooperatives, particularly those rooted in solidarity and anti-capitalism, lawyers must also consider important values and histories in their counseling. This session will explain key legal and certain non-legal considerations when advising Black-led worker cooperatives, including corporate, securities, tax, immigration and labor law. Carmen Huertas-Noble, Julian Hill"

5:00 -7:00 PM

Reception

8:00-9:00AM

Breakfast

9:00-10:30 AM

"Symposia: Continuing Garvey’s Legacy: Building Pan-African Cooperation

We have long dreamed of building connections among Black people throughout the diaspora, uniting our efforts, and lifting up our communities against the legacies of slavery and colonialism, and the ongoing reality of white supremacy and racialized capitalism. Join this conversation among Black cooperatives and co-op developers showcasing exciting projects to build transnational cooperatives and connections across the African diaspora and the African continent."

10:30-12:00 AM

"Workshop Session 13 Guidance and Resources for Effective Advocacy This session provides tools, resources, and advice on how to effectively develop your own advocacy campaigns and influence public policy change. Advocacy is a powerful tool for organizations seeking to increase awareness of important issues facing their community and generate support for change. Most often used in the context of public policy, advocacy describes an action or process a group takes to support a cause or proposal. Faciliator: Chelsea Burroughs Public Policy Associate, National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders"

"Workshop Session 14 Group Decision Making: An Interactive Modeling Workshop

Join LaKeisha and Assata for a hands-on session that will help build the muscle for group decision-making and actualizing cooperative values. Participants will work together in a cooperative enterprise simulation that allows them to practice working through common interpersonal and business challenges by developing community agreements and prepping the cooperative toolbox with shared principles and socially-practical skill-sets. Faciliators: LaKeisha Wolf, Executive Director Ujamaa Collective and Assata Richards, Director Sankofa Research Institute"

"Workshop Session 15 Legacy to Legal: How to transition your marijuana business into the regulated market

Rooting us in our legacies of resistance, power and love: Coops and Marijuana hold our communities through our struggles and joy. As we celebrate the end of the era of prohibition, and begin to lay the foundation of restoration and repair we must remember our ancestral knowledge and honor our traditions of stewarding the land and protecting Mother Earth. By centering the voices of intergenerational legacy operators you allow industry experts to set the standards for quality and care. If racial equity, the endocannabinoid system and environmental protection are not at the center of your advocacy and regulation then you have failed to understand the harm of the War on Drugs holistically and continue to fail the communities who’ve been harmed by marijuana prohibition.

Roll up to this budding issue as industry experts and legacy operators Emily Marie Ramos Rodriguez and Meaka Brown break down the botany of the plant so the consumer can become intimate with their medicine and begin to understand the powerful healing capacity of the marijuana plant. Escape some of the hurdles that have prohibited some Marijuana businesses from opening. Specifically the trials and tribulations of acquiring Real Estate, Comprehension of Federal, State and Local Taxation Laws, and having complete understanding of the regulations that govern the adult use market. Emily Ramos and Meeka Brown"

Workshop Session 16 The Gem City Market is a brand new worker and community owned co-op grocery store that has emerged in an area that was intentionally underdeveloped. Today amaha sellassie, board president and co-founder will explore the steps they took to emerge the grocery store, how to build a funding health case in areas that have been intentionally underdeveloped along with key lessons learned on how to walk with the community towards emerging collective hope. Amaha Sellassie

12:00 – 1:30 PM

Lunch - Lunch Closing