2023 Year in Review
In 2023, People’s Economy Lab continued our work to reshape our economy towards one that is just, sustainable, and regenerative. We spent most of our time on creating strategies for…
2023 Community Wealth Building Pilots: Becoming a Spanish-language Resource for Cooperative Development
Villa Comunitaria envisions a community where all families thrive and participate. In particular, they’re working toward a thriving and empowered Latine community in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood and beyond. To…
2023 Community Wealth Building Pilots: Building & Retaining Wealth Among African American Legacy Homeowners in Seattle
Caleb Jackson presents Uplift Investment Group's track record.
Homeownership creates financial stability and allows families to build and pass on wealth to future generations. But not all families have equal access to homeownership, or even to making the…
Event Recap: Piloting Community Innovation and Building New Economic Models
Stephanie Ung leads the 2022 NEW Fellows and audience through a series of hand gestures from traditional Khmer dance.
On May 22, 2023, People’s Economy Lab invited community partners, funders, government leaders and staff, and other folks in the PEL network to a showcase event. We packed the classroom…
2023 Community Wealth Building Pilots: A Community-controlled Fund for BIPOC-owned Businesses in the Central District
Central Area Collaborative visits Central Cafe and Juice Bar.
Dennis Comer, executive director of Central Area Collaborative (CAC), wants elected leaders and policymakers to know three things: What you’re doing to help small BIPOC-owned businesses isn’t working. There are…
Three-year Report, 2020-2022
People’s Economy Lab is a small organization with big dreams. We’re fiscally sponsored. We only have five team members, most working part-time. But there’s more to us than that. We…
Aligning Toward Justice, Co-governance, and Well-being in Washington State
A community panel speaking about their communities' experiences and vision for co-governance.
This blog post was co-authored by Laura Nash of the People’s Economy Lab and Lori Pfingst of DSHS. How can we achieve justice and well-being for all Washingtonians? Could sharing…
2023 Community Wealth Building Pilots: A Small Business Incubator for Latinx Creatives
José Manuel Vasquez
José Manuel Vasquez grew up in South Park, the son of entrepreneurs. His parents owned a video store and sandwich shop that served as a community hub for the neighborhood.…
NextCycle Washington is Advancing a Just Transition to a Circular Economy
Restaurant 2 Garden celebrates winning the Community Impact Award at the NextCycle Washington March 2023 pitch competition. Source: Bridgette Pollaski, Resource Recycling Systems
The Just Transition and Circular Economy movements have a lot in common, but they’re also both missing key pieces of the puzzle. That’s why Kamal Patel–a civic and service designer…
Building Community Wealth to Close the Racial Wealth Gap in Seattle
"The Wedge," courtesy of Democracy Collaborative, https://democracycollaborative.org/blog/how-is-community-wealth-building-practiced
According to Movement Generation’s Just Transition Framework, each economy has a purpose, an outcome we choose to manage toward. It may be the accumulation of money and the enclosure of…