FREEDOM DREAMS COOPERATIVE EDUCATION INITIATIVE

Freedom Dreams Co-operative Education Program is an online and place-based workshop series that shares knowledge about co-operatives and the solidarity economy from a Black, Indigenous and Person of Colour (BIPOC) perspective.

The team members at Freedom Dreams Co-operative Education Program, led by co-founders Christine Clarke and Susanna Redekop, have been invaluable partners of BWPW Co-op, providing culturally informed cooperative support, training, consulting services to our co-operative.

This is a 4-part taining in their workshop series elevating the work of BIPOC communities in the co-op movement.

PART I: Transformation on our own Terms – BIPOC led co-ops then and now.
Solutions for us and by us have been the cornerstone of co-operative work among BIPOC folks marginalized by mainstream institutions. Join the Freedom Dreams Cooperative Education Team for an introductory workshop into the co-op model and how it’s empowered our own forms of community economic development.

In the first of their fall workshops, Freedom Dreams’ co-founder Christine Clarke and Susanna Redekop, Communications Coordinator for Local Food and Farm Co-ops and Masters graduate of York University, explore what are co-ops and why have they been an enduring tool for economic development among BIPOC communities in Canada and worldwide.

PART II: Co-ops for Liberation – The Role of Co-op in the Fight for Social Justice.
In times of crisis, BIPOC folks didn’t seek to repair the systems that failed us, we sought and fought to reimagine them. In our second workshop of our Transformation on our Own Terms Fall Workshop series, Victor Beausoleil, founder and Executive Director of SETSI – The Social Economy Through Social Inclusion Coalition, joins us to look at the historical and current role co-ops play in the fight for social justice and how co-ops can be powerful tools for social change.

PART III: Nourishing Belonging – Forging co-operation in Food and Farming.
When resources were scarce, BIPOC folks worked the land together in a spirit of abundance. In our third workshop, Afri-Can FoodBasket founder and farmer Anan Lololi joins us for a look at how co-ops offer a sustainable approach for small-scale food and farm businesses.

PART IV: Freedom Dreaming – Creating Co-ops that Empower and Enliven Community.
Community-led solutions lead to transformative social change and co-ops put the power to shape our realities and decide our own futures back into people’s hands. Community organizer and human rights advocate Josephine Grey of St. James Town Community Co-op joins us to explore impact co-op models that meet community needs.