Coop Developers

Introductory basics on forming a worker cooperative with immigrants. Goes over legal formations and basic theory behind organizing as a cooperative.

This study highlights economic development cooperatives in California in an attempt to analyze the factors most influential in creating and sustaining ventures that are both economically viable and member-governed. It documents the goals of the founders and the members of California cooperatives in the service sector, and determines the extent to whcih the goals have been realized.

This brief article disccuses the role of cooperatives in fueling economic recovery and the importance of public policy in cultivating factors of success.

This white paper addresses the issue of fairness in funding for cooperative development in the United States and advocates for federally funded cooperative development assistance that is on par with that ofered for non-cooperative business development. It also emphasizes the disparity between rural and urban cooperative access to funding and proposes an increase in availabiity of funding for urban cooperatives without hindering rural cooperative development.

This proposal examines the problem of economic disparity facing the United States, and presents an option for reform based on employee ownership and incentive-based compensation. It also proposes a change in tax policy accordingly and examines the impact of the proposal on a few Fortune 500 firms.

The employee-owned sector – where companies are wholly or substantially owned by their staff – is estimated to be worth £25 billion annually, equivalent to 2% of UK GDP. Employee-owned businesses (EOBs) operate in a wide range of sectors, from retail, manufacturing and engineering to financial services. Employee-owned organisations also operate in the public sector, delivering services such as health and community care.

PACE of Philadelphia has used an extremely "targeted" strategy for developing worker-owned enterprises in the food business. Our results include a food-brokerage company, a lobster plant and distribution warehouse and a network of supermarkets (the O&O Store) in the Philadelphia area. The O&O stores are formally linked through a second-degree co-operative which sets standards for use of the trademark and tradename, establishes requirements for technical assistance, facilitates deals for goods and services for all stores and serves as a locus for discussion of common problems.

Many cooperative studies scholars and co-op practitioners believe that successful cooperative businesses create wealth and help their members accumulate wealth and/or assets. Individual asset building or wealth accumulation is assumed to be an outcome from cooperative ownership, in addition to individual and community benefits such as job creation, education and training, income generation, affordable quality products, social capital development, and economic stability.

By emphasizing wealth creation, communities can not only cultivate streams of income, but also build wealth. Through collectively owned and democratically governed assets, communities can build wealth. Economic development policy and practice should emphasize wealth creation. Employee ownership, through worker cooperatives is one way to build wealth. But worker cooperatives are rare in the United States; this is because there is not a supportive cooperative ecosystem.

This PowerPoint outlines the recommendations for item #107, which is the full masters thesis on building cooperative infrastructure in New York City based on Quebec's ecosystem