SEC4CD Throughout the Region
BY BENNY OVERTON, CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
3 min read Co-Executive Director, Benny Overton, reflects on our work to expand our offerings across the state and Southeast. This reflection is part of our Co-op Month Campaign series, which you can learn more about and support here.
Although we are headquartered in Nashville, TN, our mission is to combat inequality (income and wealth) through democratic economics in the geographic area of Southeast US. We are currently expanding throughout the state of Tennessee with an immediate expansion focus on West Tennessee. The NET Fund (New Economy of Tennessee Fund) is a key part of our support infrastructure and provides non-extractive financing to the cooperative businesses we help launch and/or grow. We are soon extending the operation of this financing service to the Memphis area as we further develop our presence in West Tennessee and particularly around the Ford Blue Oval Project in Haywood and Tipton Counties, Tennessee.
I have been visiting these areas recently, with stops in Memphis (Shelby County) and Covington (Tipton County). In Memphis, we were on a panel where we shared an overview of what we do and why. Compelled by growing and persistent inequality, we talked about how workers-owned cooperative businesses are effective counters to the growing income inequality where cooperatives worker pay ratio averages 2-to-1 while the average corporation pay ratio is 320-to-1. We examined how wealth inequality was even more problematic, and extremely more so when viewed from the racial perspective; it has been concluded that it would take over 225 years for average black household wealth to equal today’s average white household wealth – indicating that the wealth parity is essentially impossible on our current trajectory. It is obvious that more effective alternatives are needed, and we explained why cooperative democratic economics offer one such effective alternative.
From left to right: Cardell Orrin, Keeda Haynes, Benny Overton, and Sekou Franklin at the Tennessee NAACP Convention in Memphis, TN.
In Memphis, we pointed out the various needs we have (as supported by Abraham Maslowe) which go beyond economic needs. We also pointed out how the imbalance of power often encountered in an autocratic work environment has dehumanizing effects which tend to help subordinate people to profit. These are issues effectively addressed with the democratic, cooperative businesses.
The next week, we were in Covington (Tipton County) Tennessee. Here, the central topic was how the community could empower itself to ensure the availability of affordable housing through housing cooperatives models. We examined models that could remove real estate from the forces of the speculative market and thereby prevent displacement of residents due to gentrification.
We offer business and economic development services to the general population, while specifically targeting the marginalized and typically excluded communities. These services are free and include our Co-op Academy (a 10-week business development training), technical assistance, non-extractive business financing (personal assets and credit are not required), and on-going business support services. We work with those who have a sound business proposal and the commitment (and determination) to make it succeed.
Help us to continue the expansion of our work. We are a 501c3 nonprofit and need your tax-deductible contributions. Please consider supporting our Co-op Month Campaign!