Paper

This manual by Minsun Ji of El Centro Humanitario and Tony Robinson of the University of Colorado, Denver,  intended for workers (especially immigrant workers) and their advocates, provides detailed information about how to create, finance, manage, and grow worker cooperatives.

In a policy memo from the Progressive Policy Institute, Ira Harkavy and Rita Axelroth Hodges of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania call on government to increase its support fo partnerships between communities and institutions of higher education. Given the immense resources available to colleges and universities, these anchor institutions have the potential to ground civic partnerships working to revitalize local communities. To do so, they must change their organizational structures and make civic engagement a core principle across all levels of the institution.  The federal government, by targeting existing resources, directing financial incentives and mobilizing the bully pulpit, can help catalyze this shift.

The Center for Economic Development (CFED) argues that the federal Head Start program, which offers early education services to nearly one million children and their low-income families, is a logical venue for connecting low-income families and participating teachers with a range of services that foster short term financial security and long-term economic prospects.  The Head Start Program works directly with 1,600 local agencies that provide education and social services, such as first-time homebuyer assistance programs and access to individual development accounts, to economically disadvantaged individuals and families.  Although 80 percent of Head Start’s funding comes from federal grants, in 2010, 16 states provided an additional $147 million in supplemental funding to allow an additional 17,000 more Head Start-eligible children and families to participate.