大象传媒

We鈥檙e putting forward five pressing challenges that stand between us and tomorrow鈥檚 economy and inviting New Economy Coalition member organizations, community leaders, researchers鈥攁nd you!鈥攖o respond to them.

Each day, we鈥檒l publish original content鈥攆rom interviews and stories in traditional publications to Twitter chats and live YouTube panels. Find some of it here, and more at . We鈥檒l also bring you online events that grapple with these issues and highlight work being done to build the new economy in communities across the world.

Day 1:

Our work is a fundamental part of who we are and what we hope to achieve. Whether performed for a wage, for a salary, as a small business, or in direct support of loved ones, work takes up a majority of our adult lives. However, corporate power, austerity, and other factors have made well-paid work difficult to come by and left many unemployed or in unstable jobs with less control over their own lives.

Working people have fought back in a wide variety of ways鈥攆rom the #FightFor15 to global campaigns for a universal basic income鈥攂ut they still face a deteriorating situation.

听On this day we ask: 鈥淲hat are the strategies and policies to create an economy that guarantees good work and meaningful opportunity for all?鈥�

What If We Owned the Internet Together? It鈥檚 Time to Bring the Co-op Revolution to the Web
The flourishing of farmers markets and credit unions demonstrates a longing for business that serves the common good. Can it infiltrate the Amazon-dominated, Uberized Internet?听

Day 2:

The economy we know today is founded on the theft of indigenous lands and lives, slavery, and colonialism.

This legacy lives with us in many ways including an entrenched racial wealth gap that leaves black and brown communities without basic economic security and a growing prison economy that profits off the misery of those same communities. In this moment of visionary leadership and resistance from communities of color, we ask:

鈥淲hat are the economic tools and strategies that will dismantle systemic racism and move us closer to collective liberation?鈥�

Baltimore After the Uprising: 3 Trends Building a Fairer, Safer, Stronger Economy
Because structural problems need structural solutions.

听

What Would Reparations for African-Americans Actually Look Like?

Ta-Nehisi Coates focused national attention on the reparations debate, but the discussion has since focused largely on police violence. Organizer Ed Whitfield on what comes next.

After Ferguson Uprising, Should St. Louis Spend $1 Billion on a Football Stadium?

Just a year and a half after the St. Louis area became internationally known for racism, the city is considering building a billion-dollar stadium. If justice was our priority, says organizer Julia Ho, those tax dollars would be spent very differently.

Day 3:

confirms what most of us in the US already knew: Congress overwhelmingly makes decisions with no regard for the preferences of the American People, especially when those preferences clash with the interests of wealthy elites.

The financial crisis of 2008 exposed this failure of leadership on a global scale, and led many into the streets to reclaim their democratic voice. In recent years we鈥檝e seen waves of popular uprisings from Wisconsin and Wall Street to Greece, Spain, and beyond.

These revolts are increasingly impossible to ignore–even by the 1 percent and the politicians they bankroll. The resurgence of populist politics, calls for electoral reform, the growth of worker-owned cooperatives, and other efforts at bottom-up democracy are all changing the face of politics in 2015.

On this day we ask: 鈥淗ow can we advance democracy and self-determination on the issues that impact our lives?鈥�

7 Paths to Development That Bring Neighborhoods Wealth, Not Gentrification
The plan to build better, more connected, flourishing communities is here鈥攁nd it won鈥檛 require putting a Starbucks on every block.

Borrow, Save, Share: 3 Ways Seeds Can Democratize Our Food SystemJust six companies control 63 percent of the commercial seed market. But seed libraries offer us an opportunity to reclaim the seed commons and create our own community food systems.

Acts of Collective Imagination: Notes From the Chief Policy Wonk at America’s Department of Arts and Culture

What if we gave everyone a universal basic income, and studied the adverse impacts of development before razing neighborhoods? The policy agenda of a national network you didn鈥檛 know existed.

Day 4:

Over the past several decades, it has become increasingly clear that our grow-or-die, corporate economy is a root cause of the climate crisis.

While our political leaders delay taking meaningful action on climate, people鈥檚 movements have sprung up around the world. Many have promoted community-led solutions and rallied around demands for climate justice, based on the understanding that climate change is disproportionately caused by elites and disproportionately threatens those of us who are already economically vulnerable.

On this day we ask, 鈥淲hat are the policies, campaigns, and grassroots initiatives that can address the magnitude of the climate crisis while building shared prosperity?鈥�

3 Ways the TPP Will Hurt the Climate鈥擨f We Let It Pass

The next big trade deal is poised for a congressional vote in 2016. Here’s what that means for the planet.

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Energy Democracy: Inside Californians鈥� Game-Changing Plan for Community-Owned Power

Large utility companies control about 75 percent of the electricity market in California. A hybrid between a public agency and private utility, the new Community Choice program is a model for communities that want greener, cheaper energy.

听

Day 5:

Health care, access to education, (healthy) food, water, a stable and safe home, time to spend with our families and friends鈥攖hese are some of the basic needs that we all share, and that are increasingly falling out of reach for the majority of working people.

While organized elites try to convince us that we鈥檙e broke and that privatization is the only solution, we know better. We know that even on our finite planet there鈥檚 more than enough to go around if we change our priorities and demand a different economy for ourselves and our children.

On this day we ask 鈥淗ow can we claim access and control over what we need to live full and prosperous lives?鈥�

After Decades in a Food Desert, These Neighbors Are Building a $2 Million Co-op鈥擜nd They Own It

For 20 years, the residents of this mostly African-American Greensboro community had nowhere to shop for food. They tried to attract a big-box grocery store; when that didn鈥檛 work, they started their own.