Womxnist Liberation Cooperative (WLC), a Solidarity Economy project birthed out of The Womanist Working Collective in 2020, is building an alternative workplace infrastructure as a freelancer’s cooperative that offers workplace benefits and wellness resources for Black women, femmes and gender expansive folx working on behalf of themselves and their community. 

 

We offer an accessible Suite of Services and resources for Black women and femmes looking to go into business for themselves and work as community organizers, entrepreneurs, freelancers or independent contractors. We allow for autonomy, agency and access to the support to sustain them as they make a living for themselves and their families. Once fully launched, we will meet the backend support needs, provide insurance coverages, access to professional development, cooperative education, providing a space to access workplace benefits (Dental insurance, Health insurance, Childcare/Eldercare, Paid time off, Parental leave, Retirement plan, Vision insurance, etc.), access to funding support and professional development opportunities doing the community benefiting work they desire to do. 

 

Ultimately, our organization aims to be an Afrofuturist re-imagining of labor and community built upon Black Liberation, Womanist Praxis, Black Feminist Theory, and Solidarity Economy Principles. We aspire to build the perfect workplace for Black women and femmes using qualitative research, first-hand experiences, and extensive network tapping to pull in both liberatory practices and ethical models of engagement in labor.

 

In this multi-stakeholder collaborative structure, members will make a thriving wage, have access to mental health care and many of the services independent contractors and under-resourced entrepreneurs are deprived of. According to 'An Economy For All: Building A Black Women Best Legislative Agenda' report by the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, “Black women in particular cannot escape the “hole” of lower wages, worse job related benefits, and less stable work even when our educational attainment outpaces that of other groups. Black Americans, for example, face lower rates of access to employer-provided health insurance or employer-sponsored retirement plans compared to white Americans.” With the resources our co-op will provide, these barriers to necessary insurances and unlivable wages will no longer be a problem.

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Worker-ownership in the form of a cooperative removes the class-divide between the Worker and The Owner by making them the same person, so those who directly benefit from the work of the co-op are also the people making the decisions, ensuring community benefit is central and collectively managing funds so every worker-owner has economic security and the ability to thrive.

 

We’re offering to help folx own their Means of Production. Other important perks include cost-sharing, consensus-based practices and being deliberate about community benefit. Being able to eventually support our work and sustain ourselves on our own is the goal.