Worker Cooperative Incubation

Description

Mira Luna:

"A more communal twist to entrepreneurial development is popping up across the country: worker cooperative incubation programs for low-income folks. Third Coast Workers for Cooperation, a new nonprofit in Austin, is helping start-ups through a through a mentoring and 16 week training program, the Cooperative Business Institute and Co-op for Community Development program. In their first year, it helped incubate a women's catering cooperative called Yo Mamas, a food cart coop in Houston, and the Workers Defense Project, a construction coop. Operating on a shoestring budget, TCWC uses volunteer but experienced worker-owners and professionals with technical skills to give these new coops a much needed boost.

Green Worker Cooperatives is another social justice organization “dedicated to incubating worker-owned and environmentally friendly cooperatives in the South Bronx.” Their website states, “Our approach is a response to high unemployment and decades of environmental racism. We don’t have the luxury to wait for new alternatives. That’s why we’re creating them.” Green Worker Cooperatives offers an aggressive 80 hour coop boot camp, which includes a combination of training, coaching, and technical support like legal incorporation, graphic design, and website development. IDEPSCA, an immigrant and worker rights organization in the Los Angeles area also incubates green worker cooperatives such as Magic Cleaners, a green home cleaning service, and Native Green, a sustainable landscaping service focused on native plants." (http://www.shareable.net/blog/an-economy-turned-upside-down)