International - NANSE North American Network for the Solidarity Economy

Centre for Community Enterprise

NANSE - The North American Network for a Solidarity Economy
The growing resistance to a development model that disconnects the economic from the social and environmental conditions needed for decent human life has been manifest for many years.
This resistance is important, but it is, in and of itself, insufficient. We must build the framework, networks and institutional capacity to promote and build a global economy that, while market-sensitive, elevates social solidarity to a central role and respects community and place as the crucible of meaningful participation in sustainable development.
It is this recognition that has led a series of meetings, beginning in Lima Peru, in 1997 and followed by a larger congress in that has led to the recent formation of the International Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy (INPSSE). The INPSSE Secretariat is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. In the current phase of its development networking on a continental basis is a key objective.
Representatives on the International Liaison commission to INPSSE have committed to this effort of building a Canada-U.S. Network. The North American Network for a Solidarity Economy (NANSE) is a membership-based organization of American and Canadian networks, organizations, and individuals who share a commitment to the building of the solidarity economy in North America and world-wide.
Individuals and organizations can join NANSE through:

Payment of an annual membership fee of $75 US for American members, $75 CDN for Canadian members. In addition to a contribution to NANSE to cover network costs, this fee includes a 1-year subscription to making waves, a quarterly magazine concerning the practice and principles of community economic development.

Participating in the discussions and exchanges of NANSE. We will host meetings from time to time, as well as initiate discussion and exchange on this website.
Download the NANSE membership application form (PDF).

The High Road, NANSE's Quarterly Newsletter
Summer 2004 (Vol. 1, No. 1): As part of its purpose to foster and develop "high road" strategies for the creation of wealth and profit, NANSE commences a quarterly newsletter, published in the pages of Making Waves magazine. This first issue of The High Road details a partnership between community-minded food processors in western Canada and Chicago, Illinois.
Download The High Road, Vol. 1, No. 1
Autumn 2004 (Vol. 1, No. 2): What has labour-sponsored investment to offer an equity-starved community sector? Tom Croft and Sherman Kreiner explain how their organizations, the Heartland Labor Capital Network (Duquesne, IL) and Crocus Investment Fund (Winnipeg, MB) integrate social and economic objectives in capital mobilization and investment.
Download The High Road, Vol. 1, No. 2
Winter 2004 (Vol. 1, No. 3): Pragmatism is not enough. The blossoming of local and regional innovations across the globe will not change hearts and minds. Mike Lewis challenges readers to start specifying the intellectual and theoretical base of community economic development and social economy.
Download The High Road, Vol. 1, No. 3
Spring 2005 (Vol. 2, No. 1): On the strength of 23 years with the Center for Labor and Community Research (Chicago), Dan Swinney calls upon practitioners of CED and social economy to contend for power as strenuously in the marketplace as they do in the political arena. There is now a great need to defend and develop the productive capacity that Low Road business practices have so cavalierly undermined.
Download The High Road, Vol. 2, No. 1