Commonwise Education

In 2023 BCDI supported the development of Bronxwide community planning and business infrastructure for economic democracy. This took the shape of co-leading a Bronxwide community planning coalition through our Policy and Planning team, convening and supporting Bronx anchor purchasers and small businesses through the BronXchange, and educating community leaders on models and projects for deepening shared ownership and shared wealth in our communities through the Economic Democracy Learning Center. A signature piece of BCDIs work is co-leading a coalition of 12 community, faith, and labor organizations for a Bronxwide Plan: a long-term Bronxwide economic development plan grounded in racial justice and economic democracy. In 2023 BCDI continued this multi-year effort by synthesizing 20 community-led economic development projects and concept ideas through an online and offline public engagement campaign. We then convened community leaders from across the borough to develop a rubric to assess the viability of projects to advance further. This led to the development of the Sustainable Economy Partnership, scoped as a multi-million dollar borough-wide initiative to advance environmental resilience, small business, and workforce development aligned to our values.In 2023 the BronXchange continued to provide technical assistance to all of our small business clients. Cooperative succession planning became a new addition to our work. BronXchange partnered with the Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) in hosting in-person events focused on connecting Bronx businesses in their catchment area with institutional purchasing opportunities. The events and procurement panels centered small Bronx businesses. We shared lessons learned over a decade in contracting with local businesses.For our learning and education work, we continued to engage educators on pathways to educating for economic democracy from K-12 through higher education. We published a report and article in Nonprofit Quarterly reflecting on the 2022 Economic Democracy Schools Fellowship and continued to support educators to develop curriculum aligned to these principles. For postsecondary educators, teh Teaching Economic Democracy webinars we hosted invited panelists to share ways to incorporate employee ownership, cooperatives, and economic democracy into a class and discipline. Panelists also share their latest resources, materials, and concepts for subjects ranging from business, sociology, and public policy, to urban, labor, and community development.