Tabita Green writes, forYes! Magazine, "What a Society Designed for Well-Being Looks Like." Green highlights the dozens of strategize to democratize wealth on the Community Wealth website:
"The worker cooperative is one of several ways to democratize wealth and create economic justice. The Democracy Collaborative lists dozens of strategies and models to bring wealth back to the people on the website community-wealth.org. The list includes municipal enterprise, community land trusts, reclaiming the commons, impact investing, and local food systems. All these pieces of the new economy puzzle play a role in contributing to economic justice, which is inextricably intertwined with mental and emotional well-being."
Fran Korten writes the article, inYes! Magazine, "The Woman Aiming to Get 50 Million Americans Into the Worker-Owner Economy." In this article, Korten interviews Marjorie Kelly of the Democracy Collaborative work in Fifty-by-Fifty:
For decades Marjorie Kelly has looked for ways that businesses can better contribute to the good of society. In 1987, after getting a master’s degree in journalism, she founded Business Ethics magazine to showcase socially responsible corporations. But after 20 years as president and publisher, she sold the magazine. She had come to an epiphany: Encouraging individual corporations to behave better was an insufficient route to improving society. Significant change would require a shift in the ownership structure of business. Kelly’s 2012 book, Owning Our Future,lays out ways to expand democratized ownership models, including employee ownership.
Established in 1976 by a dozen local artists, Handwork is a retail craft store owned and staffed by its member artisans. The cooperative now has 45 members engaged in a range of crafts including pottery, woodworking, glass, jewelry, fiber arts, wearable arts, leather, dried florals, paper, fine art, and photography. Committed to the community, Handwork donates five percent of its annual profits to nonprofit programs and awards an annual Handwork Art Grant to a community member interested in a career in the arts but who cannot afford classes, a residency, or related educational opportunities.
A six-acre worker-owned farm in San Diego County, Solidarity Farm strives to ensure quality, healthy food is affordable and accessible. The worker-owners sell their produce at its farm stand, through a weekly CSA, and at several retailers, prioritizing sales to other small, local businesses. Through its Solidarity Farm School, Solidarity Farm aims to expose home-schooled children to agro-ecology, the study of the interconnectedness between farming and the natural world.
Launched in 2009, FruitCraft Fermentery & Distillery is a worker-owned enterprise that produces and sells all-natural fruit wines and spirits. The business is especially unique in that all profits are either reinvested in the company or provided as start-up grants to entrepreneurs who agree to set up other worker-owned businesses that also funnel profits back into their company or seed similarly-structured new enterprises.
CFO, and Director of Employee-Ownership of the Democracy Collaborative, Jessica Rose writes in Times Union "Employee ownership can boost NY economy, families." Rose's op-ed highlights how empowee-ownership can boost upstate New York's economy:
"Companies owned by their employees are more widespread than you might think. Nationally, there are at least 7,000 of these firms in nearly every major industry, sector, and region of the U.S. In New York, many employee-owned businesses are recognized industry leaders and household brands, such as Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA) in the Bronx, and Chobani yogurt, in Norwich, which each employ more than 2,000 workers. Though structured differently, both offer employees an opportunity to share in the fruits of their labor which, in turn, makes workers invested in the company's success. It's not just fair, its smart: Extensive research shows that participatory employee ownership contributes to greater productivity and firm stability."
Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (TVCDC) is a Lakota led non-profit based in the Thunder Valley community of the Porcupine District on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which celebrated its 10year anniversary in 2017. For the last five years, TVCDC has participated in and co-created the Learning/Action Lab for Community Wealth Building, alongside The Democracy Collaborative, the Northwest Area Foundation and four other Native American community-based organizations, to develop and work through strategies that build and root wealth locally for the benefit of their community. Read more about Creating an Ecosystem of Opportunity on Pine Ridge...
Founded in 1993, Home Care Associates provides in-home medical and personal care to about 500 people living in the Philadelphia area. With a fourth of its 250 employees owning shares of the enterprise, HCA is one of the largest women-owned businesses in Philadelphia. Scoring in the top 10 percent of all B Corps for overall social and environmental impact, HCA has been recognized as “Best for Overall Impact,” and its training program has been nationally recognized for its success in recruiting and training qualified staff.
Anti-Oppression Resource Training Alliance (AORTA) is a worker-owned cooperative focused on strengthening movements for social justice and a solidarity economy. With 8 worker-owners, AORTA provides workshops, trainings, and consulting services to help cooperative, collective, and community-based projects become better aligned with their social justice vision and values. Services are priced on a sliding scale as an intentional way to distribute resources equitably between organizations and to support and strengthen groups doing strategic movement-building work.
This one-pager from the Democracy at Work Institute and the National Urban League provides a succinct summary of the benefits that employee ownership provides to employees, businesses, and local economies. Noting that the number of minority-owned businesses is increasing but that many of these businesses lack a succession plan, the info sheet highlights the opportunity to help these businesses convert to employee ownership to retain jobs and stabilize communities.
The city government of New York recently released the third annual assessment of New York City’s Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative, which works to incubate new worker-owned enterprises and provides assistance to convert existing businesses to worker ownership. In 2017, the initiative helped launch 36 new cooperatives and facilitated 185 new hires. The report also details the technical assistance provided to existing businesses and provides a business directory.
