Date:
Friday, September 26, 2014 to Sunday, September 28, 2014
Fifty youth from all over the USA are gathering in Minneapolis to discuss building the cooperative movement & allying their work with other struggles for social justice From September 26th through 28th, fifty young people under the age of thirty will join together in Minneapolis, Minnesota to spend three days working together to strengthen the role and voice of youth in movements for economic democracy and social justice. The Cooperative Youth Convergence is the third of its kind to be convened by the USA Cooperative Youth Council, making this “CYC3CYC.” The event is made as accessible as possible through 10k in available travel stipends for attendees, free lodging for all attendees, and a radical sliding scale for registration of 25 to 200 dollars. The Convergence will consist of much collective work and conversation, as well as skillshares and trainings, keynotes, social activities, and shared meals.
The heart of the work done during the Convergence will be two separate Peoples’ Movement Assemblies (PMAs) in solidarity with the various PMAs happening throughout the year for the decentralized 2014 US Social Forum. PMAs are large group consensus-building activities that seek to create a concise statement of agreements and/or actions by the group around a particular issue. Topics for the PMAs include how to build youth power with the cooperative movement, as well as how cooperative work allies with other issues and struggles that youth face throughout the US (e.g. mass incarceration, un/der-employment, racial equity).
These important conversations will be informed by a keynote from Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, author of the recently published book, Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. Through her work, Dr. Gordon Nembhard continues the conversation began by W.E.B. Du Bois’ in 1907 about African American cooperative business ownership and its place in the movements for Black civil rights and economic equality in the United States. Dr. Gordon Nembhard will speak with Convergence participants about the role of the Young Negroes Cooperative League, a national group that existed back in the 1930s, in that work and the role of youth in the African American cooperative movement. Convergence attendees will also be informed by the work and art of Guante, a hip hop artist, two-time National Poetry Slam champion, social justice activist, educator and writer, working in the Twin Cities. Guante's organizing work and perspective will be an inspiring and grounding addition to the collective work of the Convergence.
It is particularly auspicious that CYC3CYC will bring a broad coalition of young cooperative organizers from around the country to the Twin Cities, as the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives was founded in Minneapolis a decade ago and Minnesota is home to more cooperative businesses than any other state in the US. The rich cooperative culture and history in the Twin Cities will inform, inspire, and set the tone for the Convergence.
USA Cooperative Youth Council, General: info@youth.coop
Events Chair, Renata Ballesteros-Lopez: ballesteros.renata@gmail.com
Convergence Coordinator, Ruby Levine: ruby.levine@gmail.com
Register at: s.coop/cyc3cyc
