Ujima Welcomes New Solidarity Economy Law Fellow: Renee Hatcher

The Boston Ujima Project Inc. is excited to welcome Renee Hatcher as our new Solidarity Economy Law Fellow.

Hatcher is a human rights and solidarity economy lawyer. She is the Director of the Community Enterprise and Solidarity Economy Law Clinic at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) School of Law, a legal clinic that provides free legal support to grassroots organizations, cooperatives, and other solidarity economy enterprises. Her research and clinical work focuses on solidarity economy and the law.

Daughter of the late civil rights activist and first elected Black mayor of a U.S. city, Richard Gordon Hatcher, she is committed to advancing the Black Freedom Movement through her work with coops and communities. She has previously served as Co-Director of the Chicago Community Wealth Building Ecosystem, a member of the City of Chicago's Community Wealth Building Advisory Committee, board member of the New Economy Coalition and a member of the current administration's Economic Vitality and Equity transition team. 

As the Ujima Solidarity Economy Law Fellow, Hatcher will support the development of Ujima’s emerging communications cooperative while conducting research on African Indigenous governance practices and their relevance to contemporary social movements. Drawing on lessons from the cooperative ecosystem of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, she will help develop a policy vision for community cooperatives in the United States. 

Hatcher will also design and facilitate learning opportunities that examine historical experiments in radical democracy within the Black Freedom Movement, connecting past practices to present-day efforts to build democratic, community-controlled institutions.

Join us in welcoming Renee to the Ujima team!