NPQ’s latest webinar in our Remaking the Economy series explores a central economic justice organizing question: What does it mean to engage in system change for economic justice?

This webinar features three practitioners approaching this question from the standpoints of policy and law, communications and culture, and on-the-ground co-op organizing.

Leading the conversation are three expert panelists:

Camille Kerr is founder and principal of Upside Down Consulting in Chicago, where she works to build “an economy that liberates us.” One aspect of this work involves support of ChiFresh Kitchen, a worker co-op founded by formerly incarcerated Black women.

Natalia (“Nati”) Linares is communications organizer for the New Economy Coalition, a national membership group that supports the solidarity economy, and a coauthor of a report published this year by Grantmakers in the Arts on arts and the solidarity economy.

Ricardo Samir Nuñez is the director of economic democracy for the Sustainable Economies Law Center—a nonprofit based in Oakland, California—where he coordinates educational programs, legal services, and policy advocacy that advance systemic change.

This webinar explores:

  • How do law, culture, and politics reinforce the status quo—and what tools can be used to change that dynamic?
  • When supporting community-owned businesses, how do you balance nuts-and-bolts small business development and maintaining a vision for systemic change?
  • What legal and policy changes have had the greatest positive impact on economic justice? What additional legal and policy changes are most needed?
  • What does art that supports a solidarity economy look like?
  • How can philanthropy that supports arts and culture engage in systems-change work that addresses root causes rather than just symptoms of cultural inequity?
  • How can popular education support economic system change? What are the fundamentals that we all need to know?
  • What role can nonprofits and philanthropy play in supporting systemic change in the economy? And how can they avoid buttressing the status quo?

Resources