North River Boats ESOP Conversion Aided by Mission-Oriented Lender The following article is based on Allison Sackett’s original blog posted at Beneficial State Foundation. Banking is often synonymous with extracting wealth from communities; but not all banks use this model. On the West Coast, Beneficial State Bank, founded by Kat Taylor and her husband, Tom Steyer, is committed […]
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Getting Serious About Scaling Up Worker Cooperatives
New Report Analyzes Market for Co-op Conversions by Alison Powers In September, Capital Impact Partners and the ICA Group, with support from Citi Community Development, released a groundbreaking report, “Co-op Conversions at Scale: A Market Assessment for Expanding Worker Co-op Conversions in Key Regions & Sectors.” The report points to an enormous opportunity to convert […]
Continue ReadingYes! Magazine: A Boost for the Worker-Owned Economy
By Fran Korten Business owners looking to sell their companies to their employees just got a helping hand from the federal government. It’s the first such measure that’s passed Congress in more than 20 years. Tucked into the omnibus National Defense Authorization Act signed by President Trump in August 2018 was language directing the U.S. […]
Continue ReadingNew Employee Ownership Mandate for Small Business Development Centers
SUNY Center preparing to support employee ownership transitionsF The nation’s roughly 1,000 Small Business Development Centershave a new mandate. The newly passed Main Street Employee Ownership Act (MSEOA) directs these technical assistance centers, which are hosted by universities and state economic development agencies all across the country, to reach out to small business owners to educate them about […]
Continue ReadingNews Roundup: Bipartisan Legislation to Boost Employee Ownership
New Small Business Administration Mandate Garners Media Attention by Erin Kesler Signed into law last month, the John McCain National Defense Authorization Act contained a provision to expand employee ownership to more Americans. Drawn from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) Main Street Employee Ownership Act, and informed by the hard work of employee ownership advocates including Fifty by Fifty, […]
Continue ReadingWorker Cooperatives: State of the Sector
National survey shows small but steady growth of U.S. worker cooperatives by Karen Kahn A new report from the Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) and the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives estimates that 357 worker cooperatives operated in the United States in 2016. These businesses employed 6,833 people and generated $428 million in gross revenues in 2016.[i] As the numbers suggest, […]
Continue ReadingPowerful New Approaches to Scaling Employee Ownership
New Economy Coalition Conference Embraces Employee Ownership by Sarah Stranahan The importance of taking employee ownership to scale was front and center at the June CommonBound conference in St. Louis, Missouri. More than 700 people attended this biannual event of the New Economy Coalition, including activists, thinkers and leaders from across the world, working for a more […]
Continue ReadingAspen Institute Touts Employee Ownership as Solution to Economic Insecurity
by Karen Kahn Employee ownership is getting increased attention from the Aspen Institute, a Washington-based nonpartisan think tank seeking to build leadership and find solutions to the many challenges that face our nation. On May 10, as part of the Working in America series, the Employment Opportunities Program and Financial Security Program sponsored “Having a Stake,” […]
Continue ReadingNumber of Employees Set to Triple at Evergreen Cooperative Laundry
New Contract to Operate Cleveland Clinic Laundry Drives Expansion by Jessica Rose On May 10, I stood with city dignitaries, hospital executives, and over 100 shop-floor employees to witness an historic ribbon-cutting ceremony, as Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperative Laundry (ECL) announced it was taking over operation of the Cleveland Clinic’s massive industrial laundry facility. The mood […]
Continue ReadingColorado — “The Delaware of Cooperative Law”
Benefits to Incorporating a Worker Cooperative in Colorado by Jason Wiener and Linda Phillips Perhaps you are starting a cooperative business or maybe you are transitioning an existing business to a worker-owned cooperative. Though the process is only a little more complicated than a standard incorporation, a separate set of legal statutes apply. Called “cooperative law,” […]
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