Statement from Terrence (Teddy) White
DETROIT – June 17, 2026 – After nearly two years of building relationships, launching programs, and deepening the practice of solidarity economics at the Detroit Community Wealth Fund (DCWF), my role as Director of Lending will end on June 30, 2026. The decision is driven by the same challenge facing so many mission‑driven organizations: a funding model overly dependent on grants that never fully matched the depth of the work.
I leave DCWF with profound gratitude for what we’ve built together, especially alongside my colleagues Dave Finet and Rosie DeSantis. We learned, dreamed, and labored side by side. That will not be lost.
What I carry forward is the web of relationships, the trust, and the shared imagination of a Detroit where cooperation is not a niche but the norm. And I am proud to announce that I will continue that work through Cooperation Detroit – a new solidarity economy organization dedicated to building worker‑owned, community‑controlled economic infrastructure in our city and beyond.
What We Built Together (a partial list)
Over the past several years, I have had the privilege of:
- Serving as Director of Lending at DCWF, where I drafted financial proformas, created the renewed Bookkeeping Skills Questionnaire, redesigned the loan intake process, deployed loan statements, and provided ongoing financial coaching to current and prospective cooperative projects.
- Launching and facilitating the Collective Courage Study Group, which produced the Collective Possibilities Journal and a bootcamp for emerging co‑op projects (where I’ll continue as a guest lecturer).
- Becoming a public thought leader and theorist on solidarity economies – including a talk at the Detroit Food Commons’ 2nd Anniversary on anti‑capitalist praxis.
- Presenting on non‑extractive lending to Motor City Match Cash Round finalists and at the National Microloan Conference (2025).
- Supervising and training DCWF’s first GDYT intern through No Barrier 2 Success, bringing cooperative possibilities to Detroit youth.
- Building deep partnerships across the city: Community Development Advocates of Detroit, Detroit CDFI Coalition, Detroit Black Food Sovereignty Network, Detroit People’s Food Co‑op, Talking Dolls, Black Bottom Garden Center, For Everyone Collective, Handy Relocations, and the emerging Metro Detroit Solidarity Economy Network through the People’s Hub training.
- Raising awareness of cooperative finance with the City of Detroit and Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) through Motor City Match.
- Supporting and meeting with emerging cooperatives such as a streaming entertainment co-op, a market/cafe cooperative, and many others.
- Representing Detroit at national gatherings: Seed Commons All Network Gathering (telling Detroit’s story), Co‑op Cincy Co‑op Union Symposium (renewing labor neutrality and trade union/co‑operative possibilities), and the Assembly of Black Possibilities (forging a translocal partnership with Boston Ujima and connecting with some of the greatest Black thinkers on the solidarity economy).
- Joining the Resist and Build process (conference October 16‑18 in Denver) and the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network board.
Most of all, I am proud of the relationships – the trust that turns transactions into transformation.
What’s Next: Cooperation Detroit
Cooperation Detroit is a new solidarity economy organization rooted in the belief that Detroit’s future must be worker‑owned, democratically governed, and community‑controlled. We will:
- Provide technical assistance and non‑extractive financing guidance for worker cooperatives and solidarity economy projects.
- Incubate shared infrastructure (tool libraries, mutual credit systems, rotating savings circles).
- Continue the Collective Courage study circle and expand popular education.
- Build a translocal network of practitioners and thinkers committed to anti‑capitalist, cooperative economics.
Our website and newsletter will launch in July 2026. You can sign up for updates and get involved at cooperationdetroit.org. For now, reach me directly at 313‑344‑6525 or teddy@cooperationdetroit.org.
A Closing Word
I am not leaving Detroit. I am deepening my commitment. The solidarity economy is not a side project – it is the only durable response to the extraction, displacement, and isolation that too many of us have been forced to survive. I have seen what happens when neighbors trust each other enough to share a dollar, a tool, a bail fund, a book. That is the world we are building.
To everyone who opened a door, shared a critique, or showed up to a study circle: thank you. The bridge is still under construction – but we have laid many planks.
Onward, together.
Terrence (Teddy) White
Founder, Cooperation Detroit
Former Director of Lending, Detroit Community Wealth Fund
Board Member, U.S. Solidarity Economy Network
Release: A New Chapter for Cooperation in Detroit: Statement from Terrence (Teddy) White