Community Listing
Building Our Solidarity Economy Conference: Resource Generation and the Edward Ginsberg Center
March 24, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
University of Michigan Brings Community Activists to Campus for Upcoming “Building Our Solidarity Economy” Conference on March 28th (Open to Students and Public)
Ann Arbor, MI - Resource Generation Michigan and the University of Michigan's
Edward Ginsberg Center are thrilled to be hosting the upcoming Building Our Solidarity Economy Conference, a one-day gathering for campus and community participants to learn with community organizers from around the Great Lakes region about reclaiming and resourcing our collective future. The collaboration will bring together local government officials, finance professionals, students, and regional community leaders to elevate the topic of class and wealth in discussions on environmental justice, coalition-building, and economic alternatives. Partner groups helping to promote the Conference include: the Inter-Cooperative Council of Ann Arbor, Science for the People, Michigan Rent is Too Damn High, The Mutual Aid Network of Ypsilanti, the Daytime Warming Center, Sunrise Ann Arbor, Ross Net Impact, Cleveland Owns, Toledo Permaculture Network, and dozens of others.
The conference will feature several workshops covering various topics related to building cross-class solidarity in social justice movements and focused on developing concrete skills in participants, ranging from fundraising to storytelling to interpersonal communication through conflict. There will be a “Solidarity Jam” after-party and fundraiser in the evening to celebrate the local cooperative ecosystem and fundraise for the Michigan Rent is Too Damn High Coalition. More details about the event location, timing, and registration can be found at: tinyurl.com/solidarityeconomy
Speakers include:
Angela Barbash, a values-based financial advisor with Revalue Investing
Dr. Ashley Glassburn, founder of the Miami Nation of Indiana Honor Fund
Antonio Cosme, environmental justice organizer and creative
Chuck Collins, an national advocate for wealth justice at Inequality.org and the Institute for Policy Studies
Dylan Patel, student leader with Not Rich at UMich
Gabriela Santiago-Romero, Detroit City Council member
Jamila Martin, state-wide campaigner on economic justice with Movement Voter Project
Pink Flowers, popular educator and theatre-of-the-oppressed practitioner with the Inter Cooperative Council
Prerna Agrawal, a co-op developer with Cleveland Owns
Sheri Wander, a community transformer with Peace House
ShuNahSii Rose and Nora Berry, community educators with True Earth
Tera John, an Indigenous economies practitioner
Will Lawrence, state-wide housing justice campaigner with The Rent is Too Damn High Coalition
Yodit Mesfin-Johnson, a nonprofit ecosystem builder with NEW
Several young wealth redistribution organizers from Michigan, Ohio, and New York.
Why a focus on wealth and class?
Wolverines, overall, are wealthy. Nearly half of UM undergrads’ parental incomes are in the top 10%, and two-thirds of students’ parents are in the top 20%. University of Michigan students have the highest median parental income of any university in Michigan, second highest in the Big 10, and highest out of competitive public universities. 75% of UM alums go on to earn in the top quintile.
This trends with the broader context of Washtenaw County, where the University of Michigan is located. Washtenaw County is simultaneously the most liberal and the most economically divided county in the state. Nationwide, it ranks in the 99th percentile for economic division.
In this context, it is critical to explore how people with wealth and class privilege can step into cross-class solidarity. This theme and others will be explored throughout sessions on Solidarity Economy in Practice, Fundraising, Coalition-Building, and two plenaries.
Resource Generation is a national membership organization that organizes young people with wealth and class privilege to redistribute wealth, land, and power. This conference creates opportunities for RG Michigan to expand its membership and visibility, promote cross-chapter exchange and leadership development, and deepen its own understanding of the role of young people with wealth and class privilege in building the solidarity economy.
The Edward Ginsberg Center is a unit within Student Life at the University of Michigan that helps facilitate equitable relationships between the university and community organizations. This conference relates to several of Ginsberg’s programming areas for students, namely social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, advocacy, and community organizing.
tinyurl.com/solidarityeconomy (University of Michigan School of Social Work Room 1840) ,Ann Arbor, Michigan. Register ahead of time at tinyurl.com/solidarityeconomy. Free. pmarshallmark@gmail.com. tinyurl.com/solidarityeconomyAdd this event to your calendar: Google Calendar | iCal
