Publications - Research

Publications - Research

The 2016 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector is now available

The Democracy and Work Institute and the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives are pleased to release this State of the Sector report, covering research on worker-owned enterprises through 2016. Four years into surveying worker cooperatives on a national scale, we are able to track over time how worker cooperatives are a stable, growing solution for communities of color, offering equitable wages and a pay ratios that prioritize the reduction of internal inequality. Download the report here more

Becoming Employee Owned: A Small Business Toolkit for Transitioning to Employee Ownership

Author(s) : Democracy at Work Institute
Year :

Transitioning your small business to employee ownership can have positive impacts on employee engagement, productivity, and retention; anchor a lasting legacy for your efforts building the business; and offer a financially rewarding exit path that can be supported by experienced professional assistance.

Legacy Business: Our opportunity to build wealth, economy, and culture

Author(s) : Democracy at Work Institute
Year :

Together with Citi Community Development, Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) is collaborating with National Urban League and key local leaders to enable more people to share in business assets in their communities– not through creating new businesses, but through leveraging and preserving assets already invested in communities, specifically by promoting shared ownership of existing businesses.

NEW REPORT | Legacy Business: Our opportunity to build wealth, economy, and culture

The Inclusive Enterprise: Giving Employees the Keys to the Business Entrepreneurship can be a powerful force for prosperity. Business ownership gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to earn more money and create jobs. But this pathway to self-made success is mostly an option for the wealthy and for white households with access to capital and connections. Latino or African American households are historically less likely to start a business than white households, contributing to a persistent racial wealth gap. The business asset gap has notable impacts for women—in fact, women of all ethnic backgrounds and races: women business owners have household incomes… more

Download the report: Raising Our Future Together: How Cooperatives Can Create Better, More Affordable Child Care in NYC

The development of worker cooperative child care providers, from centers to in-home providers to nannies, should be included as part of a long-term strategy to address affordable childcare in New York City. This report, co-authored by DAWI and FPWA, spells out key recommendations that the Mayor’s office and City Council could implement to increase access to child care while increasing the quality of child care jobs. Quality child care is increasingly out of reach for most New Yorkers, with commercial rents rising, government support stagnating, and high child care worker turnover. Young families struggle to afford raising children in the… more

Raising Our Future Together: How Cooperatives Can Create Better, More Affordable Child Care in NYC

Author(s) : Anh-Thu Nguyen, Tim Palmer, Osman Ahmed
Year :

The development of worker cooperative child care providers, from centers to in-home providers to nannies, should be included as part of a long-term strategy to address affordable childcare in New York City. This report, co-authored by DAWI and FPWA, spells out key recommendations that the Mayor’s office and City Council could implement to increase access to child care while increasing the quality of child care jobs.

Now available: 2017 Workers to Owners Impact Report

The Workers to Owners 2017 Annual Impact Report, produced by the Democracy at Work Institute, covers context and data from the collective effort of a team of business, cooperative, community development, finance, and nonprofit sectors to promote cooperative employee ownership. The report includes the context for the collaboration, data points tracking the worker cooperative sector over the last three years, and analysis of the group's progress. “The collaborative came together in 2016 to respond to a moment of generational opportunity. In the next 15 years, hundreds of thousands of businesses employing millions of people will be sold, consolidated or closed… more

2017 Workers to Owners Annual Impact Report

Author(s) : Democracy at Work Institute
Year :

The Workers to Owners 2017 Annual Impact Report, produced by the Democracy at Work Institute, introduces the Workers to Owners Collaborative catalyzing a wave of business conversions to employee ownership at a moment of generational opportunity.  Led by a core practitioners group and convening the business, cooperative, community development, finance, and nonprofit sectors, the Collaborative advances worker cooperative conversions as a strategy for good jobs and equitable economic development.