Everything Co-op With Vernon Oakes

January 22, 2026 - During the first segment Vernon interviews Stacey Sutton, PhD., Associate Professor of Urban Planning & Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago. Dr Sutton and Vernon will discuss how cooperatives and solidarity economies can transform cities and advance racial and economic justice. In the second segment Vernon will discuss the relationship between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s moral and economic philosophy, the African humanist principle of Ubuntu, and the role of cooperative economics in advancing what Dr. King described as the Beloved Community.  Stacey Sutton, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago, where she also directs the Solidarity Economy Research, Policy & Law Project and serves as Director of Applied Research and Strategic Partnerships for UIC’s Social Justice Initiative. Her work focuses on community economic development, economic democracy, worker-owned cooperatives, solidarity economies, and rac