Reinvest in Our Power

Putting Capital to Work for People and Planet

What is Reinvest in Our Power?

The dominant financial system is organized to extract capital from labor and the living world only to accumulate in the hands of a few.. In order to build local, living, regenerative economies, we must divest from the extractive economy and reinvest in community projects that are democratically-controlled and that ecologically meet community needs. We are able to weave power and organize a large transfer of capital from extractive industries to Just Transition projects.

Reinvest in Our Power is a collaborative effort led by CJA to address inequity and democratize wealth by moving capital and governance from the extractive to regenerative economy. By leveraging momentum and political power, RiOP, including CJA member groups, is moving money into The Financial Cooperative, a democratically-governed cooperative of local, non-extractive revolving loan funds that invest in projects owned/operated by frontline communities to build economic democracy rooted in ecological integrity.

Reinvest in Our Power Campaign

CJA and RiOP recognizes that the climate and economic crises, are rooted in the ideology of extractivism, are fundamentally intertwined, and must be solved together

Our communities face three fundamental problems:

Capital is continually invested in extractivism, most obviously within fossil fuel industries.
Capital is seeking to further extract wealth through Green Capitalism and false techno-solutions to the climate crisis.
The rules maintain the concentration of capital in the hands of a few.
Frontline communities are denied access to capital to make their labor productive in regenerative ways.

The Reinvest in Our Power Campaign calls on Philanthropy to divest $100 million from the extractive economy and reinvest this capital in the regenerative economy being built and led by frontline communities. Over 92% of Philanthropy wealth– over $1.2 trillion dollars – fails to be circulated back to communities with the majority of it sitting in Wall Street and extractive investments that harm frontline people of color, Indigenous and working class communities.

We know we ultimately need to move trillions to the frontlines to solve the climate crisis, but $100 million in three years can go a long way for our movement.

We are moving capital in a way that:

Shifts economic control to the people
Democratizes the workplace
Advances ecological restoration
Drives racial justice and social equity
Relocalizes most product & consumption
Retains and restores culture and tradition

The RiOP Process

Transition is Inevitable. Justice is Not. from Climate Justice Alliance on Vimeo.

Highlighted Work

Natural construction worker owned cooperative

Numa’lo Refillery: Zero waste cleaning products cooperative.

Kheprw Integrated Fund: a recoverable loan fund supporting local BIPOC founders

Centro por la Justicia: a Regional Healing & Resiliency Hub

Detroit People’s Food Co-op and D-Town Farm

Tierra y Libertad: Farmworker owned cooperative.

Hierbas Ancestrales: Natural remedy worker owned cooperative.

UPROSE Community Solar Project

DIG: Green Infrastructure, worker-owned cooperative

Current Work

CJA has developed the Our Power Loan Fund , a member of Seed Commons community wealth cooperative, that (1) provides technical support and non-extractive financing to self-sustaining local Just Transition projects; (2) supports the development of democratically-run, non-extractive local loan funds; and (3) builds the field through shared learning.

CJA is launching the Reinvest in Our Power Campaign which moves divested money into non-extractive financing. Our work includes:

The Our Power Loan Fund – We work with CJA members to provide Non-Extractive Finance and technical assistance to the Just Transition projects making the Regenerative Economy real on the ground.
Assist in a collaborative RiOP campaign launch.
Hosting an Annual Just Transition Finance Training with the goal of educating our members and co-learning on the concepts of non-extractive finance, the regenerative economy and projects that are putting this in action.