CEND is a member organization whose mission is to facilitate & support a network of solidarity, mutual aid, resource sharing, and economic collaboration between Detroit’s co-ops and democratically-governed community-based collectives in order to strengthen Detroit’s cooperative economy.
CEND is a program of Detroit Community Wealth Fund that began with visioning sessions, focus groups, surveying, and social gatherings of local coops in the Wealth Fund’s network over the summer and fall of 2021. At this phase in its development, CEND provides online tools and resources, technical assistance, educational workshops for its members, and more to its members, as well as facilitating collaborations, partnerships, & peer-to-peer learning between members.
In the future, we plan to engage in grassroots neighborhood outreach to expand membership, more deeply support cooperative economic practices in our neighborhoods, as well as increase public knowledge of the co-op community in Detroit and the potential for a post-capitalist future in our city.
Vision & Values
Our vision is of a vibrant, growing, and supportive network of local cooperative enterprises engaging in mutual aid and interconnecting supply chains to provide essential services in all sectors of the local economy through cooperative means outside of institutions of racial capitalism.
We value:
Neighborhood self-determination of Majority Black Detroit through democratic community ownership of land, resources, and wealth.
Worker-owned, hyper-local, ecologically sustainable production and localized supply chains.
Cultivating deep member engagement and democratic governance in all structures of the network.
Solidarity over charity, which means facilitating platforms and opportunities for members to source and share resources from one another and practice reciprocal support.
