#BlackTrust Chuck Turner Arts & Lecture Series with Esteban Kelly

Join us for the next event in Ujima’s #BlackTrust: Chuck Turner Arts & Lecture Series!

As we continue to grieve the loss of beloved Boston community member and longtime activist Chuck Turner, we are very honored to continue remembering Chuck’s legacy and continuing in his footsteps through our #BlackTrust Chuck Turner Arts & Culture Series. This series began with Chuck’s blessing in December, 2017, and featured Chuck himself as a speaker in February, 2018. Chuck’s love and leadership shaped the foundation and vision of the Boston Ujima Project in countless ways, and we will strive to honor him through our collective action.

We are thrilled to welcome ESTEBAN KELLY, Executive Director of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives and Co-Founder/ Worker-Owner at the Anti-Oppression Resource & Training Collective, to Boston for the next event in Ujima’s ongoing #BlackTrust: Chuck Turner Arts & Lecture Series.

SAVE THE DATE & STAY TUNED.

The location and accompanying artist will be announced in the coming weeks.

The event is free and open to the community. Light food provided. Email info@ujimaboston.com if you are interested in childcare!

About Esteban Kelly:

Esteban Kelly is a visionary leader and compassionate strategist who inspires organizers by drawing on science fiction, social theory, and collective liberation. Uniting close friends and long-time co-organizers, Esteban was inspired to co-create AORTA culling together his creative energy and organizational skills for expanding food sovereignty, solidarity economy & cooperative business, gender justice & queer liberation, and movements for racial justice.

Esteban’s work is vast. In addition to working for AORTA, he is the Co-Executive Director for the US Federation of Worker Co-ops (USFWC), and a co-founder and current board President of the cross-sector Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA).

Internationally, Esteban has advocated for workplace democracy through the ICA (International Cooperative Alliance) and CICOPA (the international worker co-op federation), and for land reform and other social movements from Canada to Brazil.

After many years as a PhD student of Marxist Geographers at the CUNY Graduate Center, Esteban has left academia with a Masters in Anthropology. Most recently, Esteban worked as Development Director and then Staff Director for the New Economy Coalition. From 2009-2011, Esteban served as Vice President of the USFWC, and a board member of the Democracy At Work Institute (DAWI) and the US Solidarity Economy Network. He is also a previous Director of Education & Training and Board President of NASCO (North American Students for Cooperation) where he was inducted into their Cooperative Hall of Fame in 2011. He currently serves on the boards of the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) and the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA–CLUSA), and is an advisor to the network of artist-activist trainers, Beautiful Trouble.

Firmly rooted in West Philly, Esteban’s skills and analysis of transformative justice stem from his decade-plus of organizing with the Philly Stands Up collective. Similarly, Esteban worked through a major food co-op transition as a worker–owner at Mariposa Food Co-op, where he co-founded its Food Justice & Anti-Racism working group (FJAR) and labored to institutionalize the Mariposa Staff Collective. In light of these efforts, Esteban became a Mayoral appointee to the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council (FPAC), and works to advance education, systemic thinking, and anti-oppression organizing into all of his food advocacy work.

Why #BlackTrust?

“We are in the midst of a paradigm shift, a reclamation of power in every aspect of our lives. We plan to see our agenda through. Cooperative economics, solidarity economy, economic democracy will become household terms. Relationships will not be transactional or zero sum. Relationships will be organized around and incentivized by mutual benefit and health. We will trust each other. Black Trust.” – Nia Evans, Director of Ujima

#BlackLove #BlackExcellence #BlackJoy #BlackTrust