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The Just Economy Lab is a space for members, partners, and community leaders to work together, share experience, and build practical solutions that support shared wealth and economic justice.
This first Lab will focus on Shared Equity through Community Owned Businesses, including employee ownership and cooperative models that help workers and neighborhoods build lasting, community-driven wealth.
We welcome nominations from members and partners who bring lived experience, local knowledge, or expertise in shared equity or community-owned business strategies.
Nominations will be open until December 15th
Contact us for more information.
Purpose of the Just Economy Lab
The Lab continues the work and momentum that came out of the Just Economy Summit: Nashville. It offers a place for participants to move ideas into action, strengthen relationships across the network, and work toward shared goals that matter locally and nationally.
Participants will:
- Follow up on the priority issues identified at the Summit
- Dig into real challenges and opportunities in their communities
- Develop and test solutions honed by local needs
- Strengthen collaboration and build new connections
- Link community insights to strategy, policy work, and advocacy
- Support local and state agendas by helping coalitions define what meaningful change looks like in their own context
The Lab is structured enough to provide direction and support, while still flexible enough to adapt to what participants want to focus on and learn from each other.
How the Just Economy Lab Will Work
1.
Each Lab will include about 15 to 20 participants representing a mix of organizations, geographies, and perspectives. Participation will be open to both self-nominations and peer nominations so individuals can put themselves forward or lift up others who should be part of the conversation.
2.
NCRC will provide facilitation, but the direction, priorities, and outcomes of each Lab will be shaped by the participants themselves. The Lab is designed to be collaborative, flexible, and responsive to the needs of members who are doing the work on the ground.
3.
In addition to staff support, NCRC will bring in outside expertise as needed to help participants with ideation, problem-solving, and implementation, regardless of the type of solution being developed.
Timeline
Participants are selected and notified
The Lab launches
Duration:Â 18 months
Summit 2027
Labs will share what they have learned, the solutions they have tested, what has worked in their communities, and how these successes can be replicated and expanded
Looking Ahead
This is the first in a series of Just Economy Labs. Additional Lab opportunities will open in Q2 of 2026.
The goal is to build a shared space for experimentation, collaboration, and meaningful impact across the network.
Questions?
Jacelyn Matthews ​​​​
Director, National Training Academy
jmatthews@ncrc.org
Nominate Yourself or Someone Else
We welcome nominations from members and partners who bring lived experience, local knowledge, or expertise in shared equity or community-owned business strategies.