UC Santa Cruz scholars aim to address climate change through new Sierra Health Foundation grant

credit: Tan Chin Tuan Foundation Facebook Page

"We should always be talking about 'our' economy rather than 'the' economy, to remind us that economic activity is organized by people, not created by nature, and thus reflects values, power, and decisions we make.

Our economy is rooted in collaboration and connection as much as it is competition, and when we invest in our mutuality, our economy does better."

So writes Dr. Chris Benner in Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter, a book he and Dr.

Manuel Pastor have co-authored over the last 20 years.

Benner and Pastor are behind the Community Economic Mobilization Initiative, a $17.7 million fund aimed at supporting nonprofits throughout the state of California as they work toward receiving funds and directing federal and state economic development and climate change initiatives, per a press release.

"There are major, multi-billion dollar pots of state and federal funding that are designed around promoting economic resilience and addressing climate change," Benner tells the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

"This is almost a once-in-a-generation opportunity to influence these kinds of public pots of money."

To that end, the CEMI has worked with a number of different funders, including the James Irvine Foundation, the California Endowment, and the Sierra Health Foundation.

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