Sarah McKinley, Author and Manager of Community Development Programs for The Democracy Collaborative, discusses the value of establishing an ecosystem of interdependent cooperatives in major cities. Sarah also talks about case studies included in Cites Building Community Wealth, a book she co-authored, and community wealth building strategies, such as; community development, finance institutions and cooperatives. Sarah McKinley is Manager of Community Development Programs for The Democracy Collaborative. She manages the Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building, a multi-year initiative supported by the Northwest Area Foundation, assisting five organizations in Indian Country to create social enterprises and employee-owned companies. She co-authored Cities Building Community Wealth, The Anchor Dashboard: Aligning Institutional Practice to Meet Low-Income Community Needs, and Raising Student Voices: Student Action for University Community Investment. She has a background in community development and has worked with a number of community groups, including the Greater Southwest Development Corporation, a Chicago-based community development corporation, and the National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations. While earning her master degree in urban and regional planning at Cornell University, McKinley was a co-author of A People’s Plan for New Orleans a bottom-up community development plan for the 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina. She holds a bachelor’s degree in urban history from the University of Chicago. In her spare time, McKinley, an avid food lover, is a member of the board of Slow Food DC, the local chapter of an international organization that promotes a good, clean, and fair food system.
