Colin Powell School
Exploring the Other Side of Economics: How Lesly Calle Discovered the Solidarity Economy as a Path to Reduce Social Inequality
Senior Lesly Calle started at CCNY as a Chemistry major. As Calle’s awareness of social inequality grew, she switched her major to economics and international studies. She has dedicated herself to studying economic democracy, worker ownership, and community wealth-building as methods of eradicating inequality by deeply transforming our social and economic institutions. This led her to become both a Climate Policy Fellow and Racial Justice Fellow in the Colin Powell School. She encourages students to apply for a fellowship or other opportunity even if it seems impossible. Doing so “may just be your opportunity to kickstart your journey into something you are deeply passionate about,” she says.
Please tell us about your background and how your story influences your current path.
I was born and raised in New York City but my family is originally from Ecuador. My parents decided to immigrate to the United States to provide for their family and with the hope of finding better opportunities for me that were not available to them in Ecuador. Immigration, as a result, plays a major role in my identity. As a child of immigrants, I feel a deep sense of gratitude for the families that laid the foundation for the generations to come. The decision my parents made allowed me to pursue higher education and to have greater agency over my career exploration throughout college. I carry their legacy and hope to represent their strength in character to take on new challenges.
What brought you to City College?
CCNY and the Macaulay Honors college opened doors for me to pursue a college education at a time when the financial constraints of doing so seemed too difficult to overcome. I came to CCNY in pursuit of an education opportunity, and to the many people who helped make that a reality for me I am deeply grateful. The support system I have received from the City College of New York, the Macaulay Honors College, and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership have been instrumental in my career exploration and my subsequent immersion into economic and social justice.
What drove you to choose your path as a social justice leader?
Early in my undergraduate experience, I decided to pursue economics as my major of study. What many do not know about me is that my original plan was to head into the STEM field as a Chemistry major. After my first semester at CCNY, however, exposure to the interdisciplinary nature of my curriculum in the social sciences helped me explore the many ways in which inequality is present in our society. This experience influenced my decision to pursue economics as a way to learn about the drivers of social inequality.
Very soon I realized that much of what I was learning focused on economic theories through the perspective of a capitalist framework. My first semester at CCNY helped me build this foundational understanding of economics, but it was not until late in my undergraduate career that I was introduced to the potential of economics in advancing our democracy. I stepped outside of my major and immersed myself into the subject of international studies to explore alternative forms of economic thinking and through this search, one of my professors introduced me to the concept of solidarity economy.
How have CCNY and the Colin Powell School helped you on your career path?
I am a senior Macaulay Honors student at the City College of New York pursuing a double major in Economics and International Studies. I extended my graduation to pursue a graduate-level certificate at the School of Labor and Urban Studies. The certificate is titled Workplace Democracy and Community Ownership and consists of 4 graduate-level courses that explore the topics of democratic management, cooperative ownership, and economic democracy.
I take with me many memories of my time at the City College of New York and one of those is being a part of the inaugural class of Climate Policy Fellows at Colin Powell School. At a time of deep awakening to social, economic, racial, and environmental justice, being a part of this fellowship gave me insight into the power we all have to come together to work towards change in our society. As a fellow, I was able to connect with passionate, visionary, and hard-working peers that inspire me through their work and commitment. Through this experience, I had the unexpected opportunity to intern at The World Resources Institute on energy justice and carbon pricing research.
Being a part of the network of the Colin Powell School led me to an internship in communications and research for the Community and Worker Ownership Project at the School of Labor and Urban Studies. As an intern, I enrolled in a class on Economic Democracy where I learned about cooperative economics and participatory democracy. In this regard, the Colin Powell School offered me a chance to dive deep into the groundbreaking work that faculty and students are advancing at the School of Labor and Urban Studies. This was yet another pivotal moment in my education that allowed me to become immersed in a curriculum focused on labor justice, economic democracy, the solidarity economy, and worker cooperatives. I was learning about the other side of the spectrum in the field of economics that helped connect my interest in social, economic, and environmental justice work.
Do you have any advice you could give to current or future students?
I encourage students reading this to take a chance and apply to a program, fellowship, or volunteer opportunity that you might not otherwise consider possible for yourself. That may just be your opportunity to kickstart your journey into something you are deeply passionate about. Take the opportunities that come your way and in gratitude share what you learn with those coming behind you. I encourage you to take on opportunities even if they seem difficult because it is from those experiences that you might learn about your potential and drive. Acceptance into the Climate Policy Fellowship encouraged me to apply to other fellowships that have played important roles in shaping my career interests and one example is the Racial Justice Fellows program. This fellowship allowed me to land an opportunity with The Drivers Cooperative, a new rideshare alternative in the city of New York owned and democratically run by drivers. My time with The Drivers Cooperative has given me the first hand experience to learn about the operations of a worker cooperative and its connection within the solidarity economy to advance workplace democracy for drivers.