City-Based Cooperative Policies

Example

New York City

Cat Johnson:

"In some municipalities, including New York City, local governments are partnering with worker cooperatives to fulfill government contracts. This means that government dollars, rather than going to top-heavy businesses that sacrifice employee well-being and fair compensation in pursuit of larger profit margins, are going to businesses that prioritize long-term employment, fair wages, and democratic workplaces.

In New York City, the department of Small Business Services (SBS) has committed to working with NYC NOWC and is tailoring information, handouts and staff training to include worker cooperatives. Brochures introducing worker cooperatives, with the SBS logo are being distributed at business centers around the city, SBS business courses now include information about worker cooperatives, and a class on starting and running a worker cooperative is being added to existing SBS curriculum.

NYC NOWC is also working with the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) which opens the possibility of doing a comprehensive analysis of worker cooperatives within the city leveraging EDC data sets and staff resources." (http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-nyc-is-partnering-with-coops-to-support-democratic-businesses?)

Discussion

Cat Johnson:

"When I ask Michael for advice on engaging government officials in supporting and utilizing worker cooperatives he says that NYC NOWC is still figuring some things out but he offers the following steps to get things rolling.

• Think boldly but proceed cautiously. Don’t be afraid to pronounce big visions and big asks, but do so cautiously and in dialogue with other people.

• Talk to other people. Speak with and partner with other national groups about how you're going to do that local ask.
• Dialogue over the best ways to proceed and understand that nothing is the first of anything. “Everyone’s very happy to share what their ideas are,” Michael says. For starters, contact NYC NOWC or call the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives.

• Increase public awareness and provide information. Start with schools, colleges, universities, and local business centers. Resources can include informational paperwork, community classes, educational courses and more.

• Think strategically about where development efforts might create the most job growth and might create the most democratic jobs. Look at the numbers, take a look at the procurement reports. What type of spending does your town do, what sorts of data does the city publicly release, what sort of data is it willing to release to a local coalition.

• Spend time with the data. Think very carefully about where, in that maze of contracts and spending that’s being done, the lowest barriers to entry are. Where’s the greatest possibility, short-term, for democratic job creation? Now you have the interest of the city, you have that crucial data, you have professional business people looking at the data, and you’re able to identify some key industries that have low barriers to entry. This is a great opportunity for democratic job creation.

• Do further feasibility steps. Is the city paying for this, or are you paying for it yourselves? Now you’re in a position to go back to the city and say, “We have this list of five or so businesses. We have all these contracts that we want to get to, but we’re going to start with these five.”

• Negotiate. This is when you get into the nitty gritty negotiations, which Michael says can be difficult, where you’re saying, “These are this businesses we’ve identified, we’ve done the feasibility studies, these will work as businesses. Now we need to get something in writing from the city that we can use to get financing for these businesses.”

• Try to get the biggest bang for your buck. You don’t necessarily need to raise a lot of money initially. Try to get the most jobs for the least amount of money.

Get a go-ahead from the city. Get confirmation that if you open up a democratic business that will cover the city’s needs, the city will contract with you. Here, the city may be able to get you some capital as well in the form of grants and loans.

• Get agreements to use existing worker coops upfront. If, in the course of the analysis, you identify contracts that existing businesses can jump onto, get them onto the contracts. If you’ve identified an industry or contract that doesn’t exist, then build a worker cooperative to meet the need.

• Hire key personnel. Once the city is on-board, you’re ready to hire key personnel and get the business operational to the point where you can do the actual hiring."

(http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-nyc-is-partnering-with-coops-to-support-democratic-businesses?)