Each Co-Executive Director has written an individual letter expressing their thoughts and perspectives on the leadership transition. We will be releasing a new letter every month as we move through the campaign. Read Lela Klein’s letter here.

After 8 years of co-leadership at Co-op Dayton, Lela Klein has announced her transition out of her Co-Executive role. She will continue to be available to the team for thought partnership, and will remain on the Gem City Market board for at least another year. Lela’s Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, amaha sellassie, will remain in the role of Co-Executive director and continue to movement build, provide political education, and act as a stabilizer for the organization as we transition into our new Tri-Leadership Model.

As the previous Program Manager for Co-op Dayton, Cherrelle Gardner has been running the cooperative development for the organization since her start at Co-op Dayton in 2020. She is now shifting into the role of Co-Executive Director where she will continue to oversee cooperative development, manage internal operations, and ground the organization in mission aligned practices through cultural shifting. KeAnna Daniels, an esteemed Dayton entrepreneur, has previously served on the Board of Co-op Dayton for seven of its eight years offering strategic insight. She is now shifting into the role of Co-Executive Director where she will be stewarding community and funder relationships, facilitating organizational transformation, and co-creating the just economy ecosystem.

Co-op Dayton celebrates Lela’s vibrant legacy of cooperative organizing and embraces amaha, Cherrelle, and KeAnna as Co-Executive Directors and stewards of Co-op Dayton’s bright future.

After 8 years of co-leadership, Lela is ready to start a new cycle, find a new place in the work, and hand off this incredible work to a new group of leaders who will carry it forward. Leadership transition is evidence of a resilient and just economic ecosystem, shifting leadership authority more often strengthens the economy because new leaders bring in new strengths, focus, and ideas to the work. Strong movements are sustained when they are engaging in a dynamic exchange of power, skill sharing, and role shifting. Through leadership transition, Co-op Dayton has the privilege to practice and model publicly the benefits of organizational adaptation.

The Tri-Leadership model leans into the essence of cooperation and diverges from traditional single leader hierarchies by decentralizing power, distributing labor, and modeling the concept of leaderful movements. Decentralized power is nothing new for Co-op Dayton whose 8 year expansion has been cultivated to date through the co-leadership model, with both amaha and Lela in co-executive director roles. Expanding co-leadership to include three co-executive directors (amaha sellassie, Cherrelle Gardner, and KeAnna Daniels) is emergent in that it further facilitates interdependence. Co-op Dayton is living into cooperation and is modeling what it can look like.

The cooperative movement was built upon and is still sustained by shared leadership models. Throughout her legacy as a cooperative organizer and facilitator, Ella Baker promoted “group-based leadership” as opposed to “leader-centered” movements. This model of organizing created opportunities for skill building and mentorship that developed collective strength and ultimately fortified the movement for Black economic justice. With a Tri-Leadership model, Co-op Dayton will expand its capacity to lead and ground deeper into our vision of building the movement locally for a just economy.

Just as important as the cooperative model is a solution to economic injustice, so is the importance of a leadership model that reflects the community most impacted by such. Our new Tri-Leadership model entrusts the brilliance of three deeply rooted Black Daytonians; Cherrelle Gardner, KeAnna Daniels, and amaha sellassie. Co-op Dayton’s emerging leadership seeks to foster self-determination and economic sovereignty by centering the community most vulnerable to economic disparity, Black residents.

“Centering Blackness may seem like a large and intimidating ask, but it is no larger than our bold ambitions to eliminate poverty.” - Sequoia Owen

In Dayton, Ohio, Black working class people have been multiply marginalized by the impact of economic apartheid. About 58,000 Daytonians are Black making up nearly half of the Dayton population. Black folks in Dayton face disproportionate and persistent gaps in wages, wealth, and economic opportunities. Included in these systemic barriers lies another layer for Black women who experience a substantially wider pay gap due to the compounded effect of racism and sexism. It is important that Black Daytonians see themselves and their own neighbors in positions of leadership where the mission is to build a movement that lifts the community out of the hardship of institutional discrimination.

The history of cooperatives is rooted in Black economic justice and has been practiced for centuries by Black folks who utilized the cooperative model to resist exploitation and build collective power since enslavement (1619). The communal practice of cooperation remains an ancestral lifeway for many and is at the heart of Co-op Dayton’s mission to educate and organize our community around the cooperative movement for a just economy. It is in the spirit of cooperation that Co-op Dayton’s Leadership Transition mirrors the Black, blue collar, and other disenfranchised communities historically and presently most impacted by economic injustice in Dayton, Ohio.

Beginning on May Day of 2024, the Co-op Dayton in Co-Evolution in Community campaign will support the executive leadership transition with an external communications and fundraising plan, an executive transition committee, facilitated relationship mapping, and leadership skill cultivation. There will be many opportunities for stakeholders to participate in the campaign through social engagement, in person events, celebration, and donation.

Lela Klein - As co-founder and Co-Executive Director Lela will be departing from her role and handing off her leadership duties related to external stakeholder engagement, donor relations, development oversight, and institutional sustainability on operations. She will continue to be available to the team for thought partnership, and will remain on the Gem City Market board for at least another year.

amaha sellassie - amaha sellassie will remain in the role of Co-Executive Director and continue to movement build, provide political education, and act as a stabilizer for the organization as we transition into our new Tri-Leadership Model.

Cherrelle Gardner - As the previous Program Manager for Co-op Dayton, Cherrelle Gardner has been running the cooperative development for the organization since her start at Co-op Dayton in 2020. She is now shifting into the role of Co-Executive Director where she will continue to oversee cooperative development, manage internal operations, and ground the organization in mission aligned practices through cultural shifting.

KeAnna Daniels - KeAnna Daniels, an esteemed Dayton entrepreneur, has previously served on the Board of Co-op Dayton for seven of its eight years offering strategic insight. She is now shifting into the role of Co-Executive Director where she will be stewarding community and funder relationships, facilitating organizational transformation, and co-creating the just economy ecosystem.

Community members and cooperative members can share messages of support and celebration for the outgoing, incoming, and remaining EDs. We also invite the community to engage with our social media platforms and attend in person events. As always, donation support goes a long way and is deeply appreciated!