Esteban Kelly
Executive director, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives; co-founder & worker-owner, AORTA
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“Democracy depends on strong movements for workers’ rights and structures that enhance participatory economics.”
Esteban Kelly is the executive director for the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) and is a worker-owner and co-founder of AORTA (Anti-Oppression Resource & Training Alliance), a worker co-op that has built capacity for hundreds of social justice projects through intersectional training and consulting. Esteban is a compassionate leader and visionary strategist who inspires organizers by drawing on science fiction and social theory for collective liberation. His accomplishments include helping get the Main Street Employee-Ownership Act passed by Congress; winning a Social Innovation Award for Public Policy; serving as a mayoral appointee and co-chair of the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council; working as an advisor to the Movement for Black Lives; and being elected to the board of the international worker co-op association, CICOPA.
Vision: Expansion of democracy requires multi-racial solidarity and more collective ownership. Political education, systemic thinking, and anti-oppression principles ground this world-building vision. By organizing cooperative structures, workers and communities gain capacity to tackle a range of global problems through economic democracy.