Catalyzing Worker Cooperative Ecosystem Development

Abstract

Worker ownership is a proven tool for business preservation and job quality improvement. Still, cities facing wide-scale business closures, job loss, and widening racial wealth gaps are underutilizing worker ownership. To expand access to the benefits of worker ownership, communities can employ an ecosystem approach to support cooperative growth and success. Examples from across the U.S. highlight the need to ensure cooperatives are positioned to address the pressing challenges facing local economies and their workers.

• Key Takeaways
  • Worker ownership is most impactful with an ecosystem of intentionally coordinated support.
  • Communities across the U.S. have used worker ownership as a business preservation and job quality improvement strategy, driving the growth of cooperatives by incorporating worker ownership into existing services and taking an ecosystem approach to maximize benefits for workers.
  • Building an ecosystem of worker cooperative development refers to the coordination of actors—individuals, organizations, and institutions—that support the success of worker ownership and its ability to scale.
  • Cities of various sizes are incorporating worker cooperative development as they center workers and residents in the equitable growth of their local economies.
  • Worker cooperative ecosystem development can take many different forms, and communities may often lack one or more essential building blocks. Still, a core set of characteristics shared across successful ecosystems exists.
  • Ecosystem development examples from New York and Chicago to San Francisco and San Jose can serve as a guide for communities to explore how they may approach catalyzing the growth of a robust ecosystem, and which actors are important to engage first.