One of the many ways we work towards a more just and resilient economy is by providing educational opportunities and resources to those doing similar work. That might make us seem like experts in the information we’re providing, but the opposite is true: we’re in a constant state of learning and practice. 

We learn and experiment with our peers, legal practitioner colleagues, and all the different kinds of students we get an opportunity to host. Our workplace democracy peers at Nonprofit Democracy Network share in our ups and downs of creating a participatory, responsive, and leaderful workplace. Our legal fellows come for the mentorship but end up staying for years and years because they can ask questions of us and each other within a safe and trusted space.  The beauty of our Radical Real Estate Law School, aka punk rock law school as Dorian likes to call it, is that they get to work directly with clients and work through legal issues as part of their learning experience. 

We love to say,  “Democratize land, labor, and law!” To do that, we try to be generous with our knowledge and experiences as we transform, so we can bring others along with us. It’s easy to be generous with the information we’re confident in; it’s an entirely different experience to be generous with the messy details of figuring out problems where there has never been an answer. Mistakes can be made. We often hit dead ends. In sharing these messy details, everyone is able to see that we are all capable of becoming “experts” with the right space, resources, and peer support.  

For a peek into our community of learning, check out these past training webinars from the Radical Real Estate Law School!

We <3 our interns!

Speaking of the joy of learning and practice, we want to thank our interns Alex, Ari, Blair, and Maya for all of the invaluable work they contributed to the Law Center this summer. They each brought their own unique contributions to our land rematriation and housing justice work; support in public legal trainings; and help to expand the accessibility of co-oplaw.org. Their curiosity, passion, and thoughtful questions will have a lasting impact on us.

Dividing the Pie: Equitable Approaches to pay in Art Organizations

Wednesday, September 7 2022 12:00 PM — 1:00 PM PDT

A webinar for anyone working in the arts on alternatives to racialized capitalism for equitable employee compensation hosted by Bridge Live Arts.

Let’s talk tactics: how do arts organizations in search of alternatives to racialized capitalism equitably compensate their employees? In this webinar, we’re sharing what Sustainable Economies Law Center has learned in its compensation journey from offering flat salaries to more creative pathways in the vein of BIPOC reparations. We hope you’ll join us in this practical breakdown of the tips, tricks, and lessons regarding equitable compensation that we’ve learned along the way.

TICKETS: $10 - $50 sliding scale for individuals / $25 - $200, sliding scale for organizations. RSVP here.

Can’t make it to the webinar? No worries, you can watch a similar recording from our webinar “How to Pay Ourselves Equitably” from  #Coopalooza Week.

Legal Apprentices are on 🔥

Last month, our Director of Economic Democracy, Ricardo Nuñez, was sworn in as a California attorney. Just this month, our Co-director of Radical Real Estate Law School & Apprentice and Director of Holistic Land Relations Dorian Payán passed the baby bar.  We’re so excited and proud to be growing the next generation of legal practitioners directly from our community of learning and practice!

2022 Worker Co-op Conference

Registration for the 2022 Worker Co-op Conference in Philadelphia is officially open!

Join us on September 9th and 10th for two exciting days of in-person connection, innovative strategy, collective learning and celebration.Register and find all the details on track schedule, locations, COVID safety and more at conference.coop