Bridge to Commons is a nonprofit workforce pipeline that prepares young adults and adults in career transition for participation in community wealth building — through education, skill development, and civic engagement programming anchored in Atlanta, Georgia.
Cooperative developers build enterprises. Capital providers fund them. Direct service organizations sustain communities day to day. But none of these can scale without a prepared workforce — people who understand democratic governance, local finance, and collective ownership before they walk through the door.
Bridge to Commons fills that gap. We are upstream preparation infrastructure: a digital-first education and skills pipeline that feeds cooperative development organizations, CDFIs, and anchor institutions across Atlanta.
Cooperative ownership, worker governance, and collective decision-making as economic practice.
CDFIs, community investment vehicles, and how capital stays in the neighborhoods that generate it.
Asset building, financial literacy, and long-term economic stability for workers and families.
How hospitals, universities, and civic organizations drive local economic power through intentional procurement.
Every cohort ends with a warm introduction to a downstream ecosystem partner. The handoff is the product.
Young Adults
Ages 18–30 entering the workforceCareer Transitions
Adults pivoting into cooperative workCommunity Leaders
Organizers and civic practitionersAtlanta Metro
Place-based, digitally accessibleBridge to Commons is part of the Livin'in ecosystem — a civic infrastructure platform designing how social systems see, move, and account for the people they serve. We are the nonprofit arm: the place where preparation meets participation.
Twenty years of product leadership, a computer science degree, and a practice that spans classical piano, theatre, and systems design. Shawna builds infrastructure where preparation meets participation — because communities shouldn't have to be ready before anyone builds the bridge.