Mike Strode is a writer, urban cyclist, facilitator, and solidarity economy organizer with the Kola Nut Collaborative residing in southeast Chicago. The Kola Nut Collaborative is Chicago’s only time-based service and skills exchange (otherwise known as a timebank) providing an open platform for mutual aid, community organizing, and network weaving. The Collaborative recently launched an initiative to develop a network of Chicago-based facilitators trained in the Offers and Needs Market.

Mike enters facilitation through the pathway and for the purpose of organizing towards a solidarity economy. When holding space for groups within the Collaborative or elsewhere, his North Star is skill sharing, the free exchange of resources, and deepening the possibilities of a more just future through cooperation.

He is a Program Manager at Open Collective Foundation and serves on the boards of the New Economy Coalition, US Solidarity Economy Network, South Deering Manor Community Association, and Dill Pickle Food Co-op.