The CEJJES Institute, established in 2000, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the educational, social, and economic conditions of disenfranchised communities, particularly those of African descent and children. As part of its educational mission, the Institute is developing a graphic novel adaptation of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Thought and Practice alongside its author Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard. Collective Courage is a seminal work chronicling the history of African American cooperative business ownership and its place in the movements for Black civil rights and economic equality up to the early 2000s. The graphic novel adaptation, Collective Courage Remixed: Stories of Black Co-ops, walks readers through an economic and cultural paradigm shift. The creation of a graphic novel adaptation offers a timely opportunity to maximize and expand the growing interest in cooperative economics, particularly for those who learn visually and for young people.

In June 2024, Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard participated in AmbitioUS’ ReMEMBER: The FUTURE is at STAKE Southern Immersive Learning Journey, where she grounded our group in our economy’s fraught history and how these systemic inequalities persist today. AmbitioUS provided $10,000 as a one-year project grant to support the design and publication of this new graphic novel and an additional $4,000 investment for Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard’s participation in AmbitioUS’ ReMEMBER: The FUTURE is at STAKE Southern Immersive Learning Journey.