Shared Wealth
Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative
The Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI) is an effort to harness local assets and drive a comprehensive regional economic development strategy that is focused on building wealth, ownership, and business leadership among low and moderate-income residents of the Bronx while fostering an environmentally just and sustainable regional economy.
The aim of the BCDI is to pursue a comprehensive development model, focusing on building wealth broadly, increasing the influence local residents and leaders have in the economy, and building the institutional relationships in the Bronx necessary to bring this bottom up approach of economic development to scale. The Bronx initiative embodies the principle elements of the CoLab “sweet spot” model. CoLab is helping to create tables for discussion among key stakeholders and supporting community engagement strategies. This project is coordinated by Nick Iuviene, director of CoLab's Just Urban Economies program and Yorman Nunez, a Mel King Fellow and community leader in the Bronx. This project is in part based on Nick's DUSP Masters thesis, which considered how to apply the strategic lessons of the Mondagron Cooperative Corporation in the Basque region of Spain, and the Evergreen Cooperative initiative in Cleveland Ohio in the Bronx.
CoLab is currently finalizing our Economic Democracy Training Curriculum. See the working draft of this comprehensive curriculum that includes workshop activities, goals, and information on a range of topics related to economic democracy.
Read CoLab's paper on Worker Cooperatives for the 21st Century and the Bronx Cooperative Development Study to learn more.
Contact:
Nick Iuviene
iuviene@mit.edu