Examining Community Economies in West Virginia

Sustainable Development Internship 2023

Area of Inquiry

Community Economies and Sustainable Regional Development

The Center for Resilient Communities (CRC) has explored the role of community economies in building local wealth and promoting social and economic justice and sustainable development at regional, national, and global levels. The CRC's inquiry is rooted in a vision of non-extractive wealth building where economic cooperation, community wellbeing, place-making, racial diversity, gender equity, and shared prosperity form the basis of everyday life and livelihoods in small towns and cities. 

The work completed by the Solidarity Economies Group in the 2023 Spring semester supports the research completed under this area of inquiry.

Sustainable Development Internship (SDI) Project

Through the CRC's SDI program, a group of graduate and undergraduate students participated in the Spring 2023 SDI program. Forming the Solidarity Economies Group, these individuals worked collectively to research and address the global issue of wealth inequality. The complexity of this problem is demonstrated through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Specifically, the Solidarity Economies Team took actions that furthered the realization of three main SDGs. First, SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere. Second, SDG 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all. Lastly, SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Within each SDG the group worked with distinctive Targets including Target 1.4: Equal rights to ownership, basic services, technology, and economic resources, Target 8.5: Full employment and decent work with equal pay, and Target 12.6: Encourage companies to adopt sustainable practices and sustainability reporting. Working within these specified goals and targets, the SDI project sought to answer three research questions:

  • How are Community-Based Cooperative Development Institutions (CCDI) contributing to building solidarity economies?
  • How has arts-based community building fostered a culture for building solidarity economies?
  • How are campus-based youth initiatives contributing to building solidarity economies?

Click  here  for more information on UN SDGs.


What are solidarity economies?

"Global economic models and practices of different scales that seek to center the wellbeing of human beings and the environment. These models are governed by principles such as cooperation, sustainability, justice, equity, responsibility and collective empowerment through reciprocity and mutual aid. Solidarity economies are especially concerned with the social and economic wellbeing of marginalized and underserved and communities that have been excluded and exploited by the dominant economic model; neoliberal capitalism." -Solidarity Economies: Key Issues, Ethan Miller (2010)


Cooperative Community Development Institutions (CCDIs)

Two CCDIs were examined over the course of the semester including New Economy Works, West Virginia (NEWWV) and Seed Commons. Seed Commons "gives the power of big finance to small, community-centered actors, creating a national network that makes local investments that serve people rather than extracting from them." The Seed Commons Cooperative Network numbers almost 30 different organizations throughout America. NEWWV based in Charleston, WV is a part of this network.

Seed Commons Peers Map

Research Process

Research was guided by several conversations with the NEWWV Director of Lending, Mavery Davis. The members of the Solidarity Economies were able to gather available data from websites of each CCDI that is a part of the Seed Commons Network. Individuals additionally participated on the Seed Commons Quarterly All Network Call and interviews that provided further insight into how Seed Commons Operates. From this research and data compilation, the group aims to produce a report to be shared with the community partners engaged in the study.


Arts-Based Community Building

Princeton, West Virginia

To explore the second research question, the Solidarity Economies team explored Princeton, WV. A town located in the Southern part of the state.

The center of Princeton’s downtown area is Mercer Street. About 20 years ago, the street was at an 80% vacancy, and served as a good model of the economic hardship that West Virginia has experienced for decades. Prior to this time, Mercer St. was a thriving center of the community. In the past 16 years, through arts-based community building efforts and collaboration with community partners, Mercer St. has returned to near maximum capacity.

The RiffRaff Arts Collective and Mercer St Grassroots District

The RiffRaff Arts Collective, which was originally founded as a business but has since transitioned into non-profit organization, has been at the forefront of the efforts to create a more inclusive community and local economy since their founding in 2006. These efforts have taken place in the form of arts-based community change, which has been recognized as Creative Placemaking. As a result of these efforts and the culture of solidarity and community collaboration that has been fostered, the Mercer St. Grassroots District emerged. 

The Grassroots District fosters a community of artists, small business owners, and even a community land trust – one building, acquired through a non-extractive loan, with shared ownership and management among 10 members of the community.

We Need to Talk - Art & Conversations

RiffRaff's on-going "We Need to Talk" project in Princeton critically contributed to the research completed through the semester. We Need to Talk is a series of educational music videos and mini-documentaries that addresses current societal issues with the goal of educating about and sparking a larger conversation around these issues. These videos are filmed, produced, and created by members of the community, and then screened at a bimonthly showcase with City Council and the larger community. 

The team's goal was to help study the effects of this project in the community, because the funding for the program comes from a national endowment of the arts grant that requires a project evaluation to expand the series. Specifically, examining how arts can be used as a means to transform communities and generate a culture of solidarity in Princeton.

Findings from Visit to Princeton, WV

To collect data, several group members traveled to Princeton to conduct interviews with people involved with the We Need to Talk Project, as well as other community partners and small business owners. Serving as a great opportunity to experience and engage with the local community and economy first hand.

After conducting 12 interviews, some main findings on what has occurred and is actively taking place in Princeton that has has allowed for instances of an inclusive, solidarity economy included:

  • Solidarity economies depend upon cultural change and the arts have the power to stimulate this change 
  • The GrassRoots District member businesses cite RiffRaff as a catalyst for community building and economic change
  • Dialogue on inclusivity growing from music video screenings and discussion groups
  • Arts as a means of creating culture of solidarity
  • Solidarity and cooperation are likely prerequisites to creating inclusive economic development


Campus-Based Youth Initiatives

Firsthand Cooperative

Firsthand Cooperative is a worker owned coffee cooperative based in Appalachia. Firsthand works to go beyond fair trade, with responsibly sourced and non extractive practices that seek to connect the Appalachian region to the coffee’s source of Nicaragua. This work builds solidarity economies in both regions. This works helps connect local economies to global economies, creating cooperation along with solidarity. 

One of the biggest driving forces to Firsthand success is youth participation. The cooperative previously had locations here at the WVUs, powered by young people’s participation and inclusion. Firsthand created opportunities for young people to contribute to economic decisions, help build solidarity economies, and provided access to responsibly sourced, solidarity based goods.

Firsthand Coffee

Connection to Research

The goal of examining Firsthand was centered on learning how to support their work, fostering youth participation in their present state. In the past 5 years, Firsthand has lost its campus locations due to the privatizations of dining services on campus with Sodexo’s contract. With this shift, youth became somewhat excluded from direct access to the economic participation they were given in the cooperative. The physical distancing of young people and the initiatives of Firsthand has led to a need for connecting the two entities. 

Specifically questions on how to help re-engage young people into the conversation of solidarity economies emerged. Thus, how to help provide access to non-extractive, responsibly sourced goods and aid in extension of the initiatives of Firsthand through partnerships with other local actors.

Research Process

Research began by looking at the landscape Firsthand originally was operating in and where they are now. HIghlighting how youth participation collectively impacted Firsthand as a cooperative and young people's access to solidarity economies. Additionally, the team explored different cooperatives that could extend the initiatives as potential partners.

To do this the Solidarity Economies Group found that an outreach survey would work best to answer questions surrounding current opinions on co-ops, Firsthand, and engagement. The survey was developed to gauge student opinions about Firsthand, discovering if students would like to see Firsthand return to campus in a pop-up format. The survey was implemented through tabling on the 1st floor Brooks Hall, alongside free Firsthand coffee samples. 

The goal being to receive both quantitative and qualitative feedback, inviting students to conversate and learn more about solidarity economies. The results from this work prompted an evaluation of scale in the future

Firsthand - Research Findings

A multitude of positive results were discovered from the completed field work. Result of the survey displayed that:

  • Less than 60% of respondents have heard of cooperative enterprise as a business model
  • More than 85% want to learn more about the cooperative model of business
  • 70% of respondents are interested in the work of Firsthand specifically
  • 90% of respondents are interested in learning about how their coffee and produce purchases impact the food system
  • Most remarkably, 96% of respondents would like to see coffee/produce pop-ups on campus

Call to Action

Explore the RiffRaff's website and watch the videos that have been released for We Need to Talk! Engaging with this project can generate new perspectives, conservations, and awareness of arts-based community building.

Support Seed Commons and other organizations that aid local cooperative missions. These organizations are actively working towards a just and sustainable economy.