SolidarityWorks is a new virtual community lab for social change designed by Shareable. This program consists of “Co-Labs” (virtual learning series) that empower people to build community solidarity projects. Our two pilot Co-Labs are: The Emergency Battery Co-Lab and The Library of Things Co-Lab — with more planned in the future — we’re really just getting started. Learn more about our SolidarityWorks journey below!
Why all the solidarity?
In a time of growing social and environmental challenges, the need for radical, bold, and fresh ideas could not be more clear — reshaping our climate and society requires creative alternative models for living. The tumult of 2020 showed us what was possible. We began navigating crises from a distance — literally. We reimagined and forged new paths from wherever we were in the world, remote-navigated and all. This got us thinking: What’s making all this possible? What tools do we need to keep it going? After a series of brainstorms, brain-dumps, community cafes, and ChatGPT fails — meditated upon in four different states across the country — we landed on a single idea: SolidarityWorks.
Because it always has.
What do we plan to do with all this solidarity?
Since 2009, Shareable has been instrumental in radical transformative cultures — we’ve published more than 4,500 stories and 300 how-to guides, distributed 50+ seed grants, and advised hundreds of organizers, policymakers, and social innovators. We are utilizing our history of storytelling, our role in the solidarity economy ecosystem, and our convening experience to help local communities move from inspiration to action through the Co-Lab virtual learning series.
What are the Co-Labs?
SolidarityWorks Co-Labs are virtual hubs for resource gathering and sharing. Our Co-Labs are designed to strengthen existing solidarity economy initiatives by learning from them and sharing this information through:
- Conducting research studies into best practices of existing projects of solidarity
- An open-source digital toolbox of learning resources
- Live educational workshops
- Capacity-building grants
- Field strengthening initiatives
- Paid fellowships to launch community projects
While Co-Labs are designed to get us closer to collective liberation, the paths we take to get there might look a bit different for all of us. This is why we have a Sprint Co-Lab and a Deep Co-Lab.
Sprint Co-Labs
These Co-Labs are 8-12 week learning sprints into a creative project of social collaboration. We’re bringing abolitionists, educators, grassroots organizers, and practitioners together to lead weekly workshops on a social practice we can all take home and embed in our communities. This digital hub of open-source toolkits, guides, live workshops, and support systems will help you and your people get started. Learn more about our upcoming Emergency Battery Co-Lab (July 2023).
Deep Co-Labs
For a deeper commitment, you can dive into one of our 12-month Co-Labs. These Co-Labs focus on projects that typically require a deeper support system. They can be more capital intensive and require a more substantial time commitment, but this is why we collaborate, or ‘co-lab,’ in the first place — to lighten the load. We partner up with a peer support network of organizers to collaborate in developing open-source toolkits packed with templates, step-by-step guides, webinars, and paid fellowships to launch more capital-intensive projects as part of the broader solidarity economy network.
Learn more about our Library of Things Co-Lab (to begin September 2023) here.
La BOM Staff and members participating in a World Cafe workshop exploring what it will take to become of ‘Sharing Hub’ led by Shareable’s Tom Llewellyn. Credit: Shareable
SolidarityWorks Fellowships
Our SolidarityWorks fellowships are the empowering component of those yearlong Co-Labs. Our fellowships are designed with and for communities that have been socially marginalized and most impacted by climate disasters, structural inequality, and class oppression. As part of the fellowship, 5-10 organizers across the U.S. will receive a monthly stipend, one-on-one coaching, technical assistance, and seed funding for their solidarity economy project.
More information about our ’23/’24 SolidarityWorks fellowship is coming soon.
We see new worlds on the horizon, but we know that it will take all of us working together to achieve collective liberation. SolidarityWorks is a program where we can work towards these shared goals and discover pathways to the more beautiful and equitable world we know is possible. Join us and find YOUR PATH here.
In solidarity,
Shareable
