CPI Background

The Community Production Initiative is a campaign to turn Jackson, Mississippi into an innovative hub of sustainable manufacturing and fabrication that will help build and expand “community wealth”[1] in the city. The first phase of this initiative is the development of a Center for Community Production. The Center will be anchored by a Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab), and serve as a Fab Academy training center, a multi-stakeholder cooperative, a coding and digital programming innovation hub, a maker space[2] and the city’s first hub of community production.

In the effort to build this innovative hub and advance our mission of creating a democratic economy, Cooperation Jackson is conducting a fundraising drive to build the Center for Community Production, which will further the cause of building a dynamic, innovative, technology embracing local economy that will enhance our Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI)[3].  The Sustainable Communities Initiative is an effort to create a Just Transition[4] for Jackson from extractive energy and industries, and to build a model sustainable community in West Jackson anchored by a Community Land Trust (CLT) that will be home to a “live-work” Eco-Village and an integrated network of green cooperative enterprises.

The Sustainable Communities Initiative Overview