MIT CoLab Director Commits to Shared Power of Community
Yorman Nuñez is advancing economic development models that aim to shift local economies to build generational wealth for people of color throughout the Americas. Nuñez is the director of the Just Urban Economies program at MIT CoLab, an effort to build shared analysis, co-develop economic infrastructure, and cultivate leaders who advance economic democracy and self-determination in marginalized communities across the United States.
His commitment to profound economic transformation emerged out of his work as a community organizer with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, where he organized youth around issues of sustainable economic development, education reform, and voter education. It was during this time that Nuñez co-founded the Urban Youth Collaborative, a citywide youth organization working on education reform, and the Leadership Institute, a small school in the Bronx where he taught community organizing and spoken word at the high school level.
Here are some highlights from the LIFT Economy interview with Nuñez:
- Stories about growing up in the Bronx and how he came to develop a sense of shared power in community on his journey to become a community organizer.
- A look at MIT CoLab and its Just Urban Economies program.
- The backstory on the community-led Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative and the institutional infrastructure it is building with MIT CoLab’s Just Urban Economies program.
- The innovative community-led programs in Brooklyn linking health with community economic development to support wealth-building in Black and Brown communities.
- An overview of the Economic Democracy Training Series available for free online.
LIFT Economy is an impact consulting firm with a mission is to create, model, and share a locally self-reliant economy that works for the benefit of all life.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
Building Stronger Urban Communities Through Economic Transformation was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
