Nia Umoja, Co-op New West Jackson

I am a seasoned ground working designer and folk entrepreneur currently serving as the Lead Organizer and Creative Director of the Cooperative Community of New West Jackson (Co-op NWJ), an initiative I co-founded in 2014. Co-op NWJ is a grassroots, resident-led development model that seeks to transform a neighborhood marred by violence, drugs, abandonment and neglect, into a sustainable model community employing a culturally creative reuse strategy to incubate cooperative enterprises based on the underutilized skillsets of residents. We create self-determined opportunities that challenge the long-term socio-economic injustices we face and inspire new ideas of place and possibility.