The California Center for Cooperative Development (CCCD) is thrilled to announce Leila Roberts as our new Executive Director! Leila officially started her role on September 1st and is eager to connect with CCCD's network.
"It's a profound honor and joy to have been invited to steward and grow California's co-operative ecosystem.
I first connected with CCCD eleven years ago at the annual conference, looking for co-op resources, skills, and relationships to bring back to my rural community. It was clear then, and amply reinforced during my first week at CCCD, that this is the small and mighty team that does the complex, hands-on labor of building conditions for multi-generational family prosperity through economic democracy.
A growing number of policymakers, funders, and investors are paying attention to the value of an "ownership economy" as a strategy to create prosperity for all. We at CCCD are here to remind everyone that co-operatives have always been part of the fabric of the economy, and continue to create powerful leverage for California's competitive advantage and wealth creation.
We also understand that in co-operative economics lies our liberatory path to communities where everyone thrives. What if we all shared ownership, decision-making, and responsibility for the fundamental assets and activities of our lives? Imagine: your job, food, shelter, energy, financial services, childcare center, and more... all operating solely for your family's and community's benefit.
I remind people new to the concept that co-operatives are the oldest new-fangled idea in the history of human economic activity. Across the Golden State hundreds of worker, housing, land, food, agriculture, financial, artists, telecom, and energy* cooperatives are doing the work, sharing the resources, stewarding the land, making decisions, and reaping the benefits together... as your ancestors and mine have done since time immemorial.
The California Center for Cooperative Development is a bullhorn calling you home. Join the cooperative movement in California! Fund it through your donations, grants, loans, and mission investing! Support and protect it through your state and municipal policies! Invite us to help you start and grow your own cooperatives!
Thank you to the Board and Staff of CCCD for the warm welcome. I can't wait to open and renew relationships and collaborations with the members of our vibrant, dedicated network.
Contact Leila at leila@cccd.coop
* and many more sectors