MA in Urban Sustainability alum Mary Sutton published had her article “Using Cooperatives to Empower Formerly Incarcerated People—An L.A. Story” published in the Nonprofit Quarterly. Mary is a social activist, artist, and designer of the Collective Remake, a non-profit she started during her studies in the Urban Sustainability program. Mary works full time to move the project forward while a student in the PhD in Leadership and Change program. She writes:
Throughout the world, cooperatives are engaging people in prison and individuals who have been released from the carceral system to create dignified work that benefits the individual and the broader community.
Can cooperatives, based on the values of democracy, equity, and “one person, one vote,” offer sustainable solutions for people navigating reentry in the United States? Collective REMAKE, a hybrid cooperative nonprofit in Los Angeles County, is working to do just that, along with a broad stakeholder network.