Worker-Owners Cheer Creation of $1.2 Million Co-op Development Fund in NYC

[marmar]

(In These Times) In a victory for new economy advocates, the New York City Council passed a budget last week that will create a $1.2 million fund for the growth of worker-owned cooperative businesses. The investment is the largest a municipal government in the U.S. has ever made in the sector, breaking new ground for the cooperative development movement.

Melissa Hoover, executive director of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives and the Democracy at Work Institute, hails the New York City Council’s move as “historic.” “We have seen bits and pieces here and there, but New York City is the first place to make an investment at that level,” she says.

New York’s cooperative development fund was the brainchild of a coalition of community groups—including the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives, the Democracy at Work Institute, Make the Road New York and others—that came together to stage a series of public forums and advocacy days to secure widespread support for the initiative on the City Council. Over the next year, the fund will provide financial and technical assistance in the planned launch of 28 new cooperatives and the continued growth of 20 existing cooperatives, supporting the creation of 234 jobs in total.

While this may just be a drop in the bucket when it comes to the city’s $75 billion total budget, cooperative advocates are hoping New York’s example can help turn the tide in favor of alternative strategies for urban development. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/16901/new_york_co_ops

[xchrom]

1. du rec.

[RoccoR5955]

2. We need co-ops, not traditional businesses in the US.

Why is it that in the largest democracy in the world, the de facto blueprint for a business is a dictatorship, where one person, or a cadre of chosen elites get all the say in the business.
It's high time that we had more cooperatively owned businesses, where workers get a say in every aspect of the business, and share in the profits.
Co-ops are much more democratic than any other form of business model. Why aren't there more of them here in the US?

[marmar]

3. DINO

Democracy in Name Only