The Ujima Cooperative, Inc was formed out of the desire to support the work of grassroots and community-led initiatives in overlooked and underestimated communities, specifically those of the African diaspora. The founders, Clory and Mouhamadou (Clo & Mo), are spouses who shared a passion for serving their community. Mouhamadou created ProjecTama which “cultivate[s] students' sense of pride through keen reading and critical thinking skills.” Clory created The Brownsville Project which “abolishes systemic oppression by helping communities confront and heal from suppressed history.” After working on their separate projects for a little over a year, Clo & Mo realized that they could apply more focus to their respective missions by alleviating the operational work that comes with running a non-profit.

Clo & Mo sought to combine operational expenses and logistics under a single entity. Creating shared cost and infrastructure freed up capacity to apply even more focus on the community organizing work that is so critical to each project's mission. Ujima Cooperative, Inc was purposely formed as a 501(c)(3) for the purpose of providing fiscal sponsorship to grassroots and community led initiatives. We realize that community organizers need to be able to focus on what they do best, serving the community. Fiscal sponsorship provides access to more grant funding and supports streamlined operational management. To date, Ujima Cooperative, Inc lends fiscal sponsorship to Project Tama and The Brownsville Project in an incubator approach to building the framework and model of a fiscal sponsorship program designed for the community organizer. We look forward to serving other initiatives in the future.