Start. Coop’s Black Co-op’s Matter project aims to develop specific resources and supports to recognize and meet the unique needs of Black co-op entrepreneurs. Our vision at Start.coop is that cooperative businesses thrive and lead by example across all sectors of the US economy, transforming what it means to be a worker and a consumer, redefining who is rewarded for the value they create in our economy, and reducing the racial wealth gap.  Co-ops, and the co-operative community at-large have an important role to play in repairing centuries of oppression and marginalization of Black and Brown individuals and communities.

Standing together as a co-op community, we will do the work to ensure that cooperativism truly lives up to its promise, and does so for all Americans, but most particularly for Black and Brown Americans who have been marginalized and oppressed by this country’s social, economic, and legal systems for far too long. 

Special thanks to Elizabeth Carter Esq., LLC a source of inspiration for Start.coop’s #BlackCoopsMatter initiative and this peer circle. Elizabeth’s firm set out on a mission to gather stories of founders and cooperators to build the knowledge and strengthen the ecosystem for “organizing and building a Black cooperative movement”. The Start.coop team and some of our Accelerator Founders have been fortunate enough to collaborate with Elizabeth on past projects, I encourage you all to check out the #BlackCoopsMatter YouTube series here.