Building Our Solidarity Economy Conference View Other Sessions

Building Our Solidarity Economy is a one-day conference to be held at the University of Michigan on March 28, 2025. The conference is co-organized by UM’s Ginsberg Center and the Michigan Chapter of Resource Generation, with engagement from over a dozen other units, organizations, and local groups. This conference will offer students and community members opportunities to deepen their understanding of the solidarity economy in theory and practice, access concrete skill-building (fundraising, redistribution, community investment, navigating conflict), and reflect on the importance of organizing cross-class movements for economic justice at UM and in the broader community.


The Ginsberg Center is a unit within Student Life at the University of Michigan that helps facilitate equitable relationships between the university and community organizations. This conference relates to several of Ginsberg’s programming areas, namely social entrepreneurship, philanthropy, advocacy, and community organizing. 


Resource Generation is a national membership organization for young people with wealth and/or class privilege. Half of UM undergrads’ parents are in the top 10% based on income. 10% are in the top 1%. This conference creates opportunities for RG Michigan to expand our membership and visibility, promote cross-chapter exchange and leadership development, and deepen our own understanding of the role of young people with wealth and class privilege in building the solidarity economy.


Support for this event is provided by the U-M Year of Democracy, Civic Empowerment, and Global Engagement and our partners.


If you do not have a University of Michigan email, please sign up for a friend account before registering for any conference sessions.




Session Is Over
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School of Social Work Building - 1840 (Educational Conference Center - Room 1840)
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We will start by moving outdoors, where Tera John (member of the Grand Traverse Bay of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians) will open with smudging and a water song. After moving back inside, Laura Valencia and Jerrod MacFarlane (Resource Generation) and Jesse Carr (Ginsberg Center) will share about the purpose of this conference and our collaboration. Then, led by Sheri Wander (Peace House) and Yodit Mesfin Johnson (NEW), we will turn to Reckoning and Remembering. We will learn about the dynamics of the economic divide in Washtenaw County through stories of their work. We will close with a Ritual for Transformation offered by Sherina Rodriguez-Sharpe and Chace Morris from The Tetra. After, we will have 5 mins of quiet time before moving forward.


Important: Participants are requested to arrive early for breakfast. Participants are requested to move in the session with reverence and solemnity, so we can activate parts of ourselves we do not always relate to.


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