Thursday, March 26, 2026 1 PM E / 12 PM C / 11 AM M / 10 AM P
Trust as a Resource: Rebuilding the Conditions for Cooperation
Dr. Angela M. Sayles, Institution of Financial Unity
This session examines trust as a critical and often invisible resource for cooperative development, particularly in Black and Indigenous communities shaped by histories of broken promises, extraction, and harm. Rather than framing mistrust as a deficit or obstacle, the session acknowledges it as a rational and protective response rooted in lived and ancestral experience. This FCI Live will explore how trust functions as shared capital, essential to membership growth, investment, governance, and long-term cooperative sustainability. Drawing from community-based practice and cooperative principles, the session will outline intentional strategies for building, repairing, and stewarding trust over time. Emphasis will be placed on creating safe and accountable spaces, deep listening, keeping promises, and centering local leadership as foundational infrastructure for cooperation and collective power.