COOPERATIVE WEALTH

As the characterization of wealth in this country continues its steady evolution – as different generations reimagine its concept as a matter of amalgamating convenience, contact, and comfort in some varying combination – its implications are still as, if not more, far reaching than ever, and access thereof is still a privilege.  Today, the campaign to maintain who is allowed access to said privilege is more active, insidious, coded, and inconspicuous than ever, as are the political and social currencies it avails, and the solution that we propose to begin leveling the playing field is to move forward in the tradition of the trusted cooperatives that have preceded us.  Our proposal is starting with the foundational approach of the cooperative concept of building community while centering, in this instance, the financial needs of persons who comprise it; then, moving it forward from something conceptually fixed and static, towards a fluid and modern movement predicated on resource mining and information networks.  We believe that moving as a collective is the most effectual and succinct way of affording our communities the socioeconomic and sociopolitical capital necessary to impact and further its aims, and to address the wealth, income, education, residential, and environmental disparities, among the enumeration, that besiege people of color.  We believe the wealth is in the cooperative itself.

REINVESTMENT

In route to greater economic mobilization, as COWRIE we find it pertinent, and otherwise our due diligence, to concert our efforts on reinvestment into our communities from literal, educational, and financial standpoints.  Whether its entrepreneurship,  commercial or residential ownership or lending, or combating the racial wealth and income gap, we will continuously strive to remain a resource and information hub to the community at large, to assist with navigating the various financial landscapes, and subsequent laws and regulations that have often been used to suppress the viability and economic growth potential of marginalized communities.  COWRIE pledges to remind agile and innovative in its approaches and deliverables concerning its commitment to reinvestment, because we believe that with these tools, specific to localities and their needs, we can begin the process of dismantling the barricades between people of color and generational wealth.  We believe that investment begins with access and education.

EMPOWERMENT

Building off a legacy of connecting our economic power to improving social and racial justice, and expanding our equity in America, one of the principal goals of COWRIE is to network our resources from within the current movement, and with the various movements themselves across the country.  We want to create a network of likeminded initiatives to create a broader coalition with more assets to leverage as we work to decommission the cyclical abuse, archaic legal loopholes, and economic disenfranchisement experienced by our communities.  We want to empower the broader collective in a decentralized effort to dismantle the remaining vestiges of economic inequality, while tooling individuals with the know how to tackle day to day financial obstacles like debt, diversifying their investment portfolio, acquiring properties, and the like; because we believe these things to be the seeds for sowing generational wealth.  We believe that community can empower the individual, and in turn, the individual has more to reflect back.

For more information email us at info@cowrieinitiative.org.