In 2025 we turn our attention towards “Community Engagement and the Grassroots of Change.”

Throughout the year we explore the stories, strategies, and successes of community-driven movements making a difference.

From Self to Solidarity: How Personal Empowerment Fuels Cooperative Economics
A Conversation with LeKeisha Wolf, Executive Director of Ujamaa Collective 

In this episode we explore Personal Empowerment and Cooperative Economics through the lens of Ujamaa Collective, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The Ujamaa social mission to act as a catalyst to advance Africana Women by providing a fair trade marketplace for cultural, artistic and entrepreneurial exchange through cooperative economics. In this conversation with LaKeisha Wolf, Executive Director of Ujamaa Collective, we take a deep dive into movement from self to solidarity and how personal empowerment fuels cooperative economics.

Personal Empowerment begins with individuals recognizing their inherent worth, capabilities, and power to make choices that impact their life and community. It cultivates self-awareness, responsibility, and action. Cooperative Economics channels that personal power into collective agency by providing structures—like cooperatives, credit unions, and mutual aid networks—that allow individuals to pool resources, share risks, and make collective decisions for mutual benefit.

 Watch: https://youtu.be/dWH9ddJG3Ms 

Episode giveaways:

• Ujamaa Collective https://ujamaacollective.org | Capital Campaign – Building Our Shared Future https://givebutter.com/PN1iZS/sadikroberts1
• Congratulating Our Cooperative Leadership Graduates and Welcoming Our New Cohort https://www.nasco.coop/leadership-cohort
• Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy https://f4dc.org/looking-forward-to-the-eastern-conference-on-workplace-democracy/
• National Cooperative Business Association https://ncbaclusa.coop
• The Barber of Little Rock Documentary Film https://youtu.be/1amOPUn49aM?si=EIbaMgfMC3nAPnbE
• Pittsburgh Black Workers Center https://www.pghblackworkercenter.org
• Network for Developing Conscious Communities https://ndccnetwork.org
• Collective Courage – A History American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Professor, Political Economist, Author https://youtu.be/HvMfYOPeUpM?si=BAcBOQ1Vem9zFMsF | https://sji.uic.edu/profiles/gordon-nembhard-jessica/