Core Strategies

See the strategy. Follow the work.

DC Community Wealth Builders is nourishing the ecosystem for a community-owned economic system.

Our strategy in action

The work moves through three strategies.

01 · Landscape Building

Map and connect what already exists.

Develop a map of DC's community wealth building, cooperative, solidarity economy, and alternative economic landscape to identify needs, gaps, capabilities, relationships, and opportunities.

Explore the ecosystem map

02 · Public Education

Teach the model in community spaces.

Partner with community groups, especially in neighborhoods most impacted by displacement, to educate and share practical CWB materials and cooperative skills.

Read the public finance briefing Explore the official DC studies

03 · Legislative Advocacy

Changing the conversation in the Wilson Building.

Build a team of neighbors to testify at budget hearings and advocate regularly to the Mayor and DC Council so they move public resources toward local economic infrastructure and community-controlled wealth.

Review the policy platform

Landscape Building: Ecosystem Map

Make the solidarity economy easier to find and connect.

Many local communities and community organizations are building on DC's history of cooperation and Black liberation: developing cooperative businesses, affordable housing, community finance, legal support, and shared infrastructure to strengthen community wealth across the city.

We are building a public map so residents, organizers, cooperatives, small businesses, and partner organizations can find each other and see where new support is needed.

Case studies in DC

Incubation

Beloved Community Incubator (BCI)

Supporting cooperative development and non-extractive startup financing for community-rooted businesses.

Visit BCI

Purchasing power and savings costs together

Community Purchasing Alliance (CPA)

Helping nonprofit building owners buy essential services together and explore more cooperative vendor infrastructure.

Visit CPA

Legal support collaborative

LawHelp connects legal clinics and service providers

The many legal services providers collaborate on making a unified intake and dispatch system.

Visit LawHelp

DC Area Co-op Directory Help build the map