On April 23, worker cooperative leaders from around the country will convene in Denver for Worker Cooperatives in Focus, a day of events co-hosted by the Democracy at Work Institute and the National Center for Employee Ownership. This exciting event will address a range of cooperative development topics centered on bringing the worker cooperative movement to scale, including cooperative ownership transitions, capital access, and the intersection of worker cooperatives and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).

On March 18, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio continued his public support of worker cooperatives as a tool to address economic inequality, signing into law the first ever piece of city legislation to require a city's economic development arm to track municipal support of worker cooperatives. This bill is another highlight in a campaign by the New York City Worker Cooperative Coalition to increase city support for worker ownership. It follows a $1.2 million dollar investment last summer to fund the development of worker cooperatives, the largest to date by a city government.

Worker cooperatives have increasingly drawn attention from the media, policy makers and academics in recent years. Individual cooperatives across the country have been highlighted, and substantive studies have been conducted of the worker cooperative experience in other countries, including Spain, Italy, France, Canada and Argentina. But what do we know about worker cooperatives in the US as a whole?

This resource is intended to give small business support organizations a background on how the worker cooperative model can help entrepreneurs reach their dreams.

This research paper summarizes an examination of the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) dataset for North Carolina and Iowa to gauge the potential for conversions of existing businesses to worker cooperatives. The data demonstrate that the potential is quite large, and that even if only a fraction of these successfully converted to worker ownership and continued to operate at their last year levels, there would be meaningful economic impacts. 
Full Publication.

Becoming Employee-Owned is a guide for business owners interested in employee ownership. It provides an overview of the three primary transition approaches for employee ownership: worker cooperatives, ESOPs, and management buy-outs. Regardless of what stage the business is in--from expansion to succession planning-- this resource can help business owners understand their options for becoming an employee-owned company. 
Full Publication.

The Democracy at Work Institute has created a new fellowship program to support the current and next generation of mid-career worker cooperative development leaders and their organizations to engage with the question of scale. The Institute’s Fellowship Program creates the space and time for cooperative developers to step back and think about their work from this vantage point.

A diverse coalition achieves unprecedented support for the worker cooperative movement from the New York City Council

On Thursday, June 26th the New York City Council will vote to approve the city's annual budget, which contains a $1.2 million initiative to fund the development of worker cooperatives. 

Here's one way to celebrate turning 10 ... Get some coverage in the NY Times Magazine! USFWC and DAWI Executive Director, Melissa Hoover, and USFWC member, The Working World, are interviewed in this well-received article, "Who Needs a Boss?".

Interested in the potential for the conversion of conventionally owned businesses into worker cooperatives? The Democracy Collaborative has published an interview with Democracy At Work Institute Executive Director Melissa Hoover on the potential of cooperative conversions, their challenges and the Institute's support for them.  Check out the whole interview here.