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Our Member Councils and Peer Networks are shaping the future of the worker co-op movement in the U.S. through offers and needs markets, collective education & learning and political advocacy for a worker-centered economy.  Here are the highlights for this month from some of our Councils & Networks:

• Union Co-ops Council – Union co-ops were front and center at the first Building Worker Power conference hosted in Amherst this March, which featured powerful workshops, storytelling, projects, strategies, and visioning for where our shared labor movement is going. USFWC members organized the conference and led sessions, including the Wellspring Cooperative, Cooperation Jackson, Worx Printing, White Electric Coffee, Collective Copies, among many others.
  At the upcoming Union Co-ops Council meeting, we’ll hear from a collaboration of cooperative developers, labor advocates, researchers, and racial justice practitioners that just launched a new set of open-source online tools for anti-racist union co-op development, which centers the importance of our inner and collective work toward anti-oppression with specific activities and tools. Sign up here! (Public UCC meetings occur on the 2nd Fridays of even months at 1pm ET.)
• Policy & Advocacy Council – The Policy and Advocacy Council hosted a deep dive conversation on State Advocacy initiatives, with speakers from NY, MA, WA, PA, and CA. Next month, the council will dig into our advocacy toolkit – members can sign up here to attend.
• International Council – The International Council held its second official meeting of its Executive Committee and is looking forward to recruiting members at the Spring Membership Meeting. Register here for the meeting.
  During the second half of 2023, the council will be hosting a short webinar series about the international cooperative ecosystem. Be on the lookout for an invitation in future member emails!
• Racial & Economic Justice Council – Later this year, we will be re-launching the Racial & Economic Justice Council. This will be a space for members to come together and share issues they are working on and organize with each other – learn more at the USFWC Spring Member Meeting May 24th.
• Movimiento de Inmigrantes en las Cooperativas – We are re-launching MIC this year! If you are interested in joining Movimiento para Immigrantes Cooperativistas, a leadership and movement building space for Spanish speaking immigrant worker-owners, please email us at membership@usworker.coop and register here for the Spring Member Meeting on May 24th.

• Co-op Booksellers Peer Network – The co-op booksellers chat and learn from each other on the first Friday of each month at 4pm ET. Involved in a co-op bookstore or want to start one? Join us!
• Tech Worker Co-ops Peer Network – The Tech Peer Network is adopting an updated template agenda to focus some time every meeting on advocacy, emerging issues in the field, and supporting each other’s work. It’s a great time for new tech worker co-ops to join!
• Federation Partners Peer Network – At the Federation Partners next meeting on Thursday April 27th, the group will be focusing on cooperative ecosystem assessments, or the elements for thriving co-op development.
• Co-op Academies Peer Network – Stay tuned! The next co-op academies meeting will be on Monday May 22nd at 3:30pm ET.

Members, be sure to register for our USFWC Virtual Spring Member Meeting May 24th to hear more from your Member Councils and help shape their future work!

In this video, the USFWC’s 2022-2023 Worker Owner State Advocacy Fellows share on their research and projects for the year, in which worker-owners from across the U.S. surveyed fellow cooperators about challenges and needs of worker co-ops to share with their state legislators.

We also heard from USFWC Policy Director Mo Manklang and Government Relations Manager Aaliyah Nedd of the National Cooperative Business Association on recent policy wins and upcoming opportunities to support. Learn more about our Policy & Advocacy for worker co-op businesses here.

More from the US Federation of Worker Co-ops

• Register for our upcoming events
• Sign up for our monthly newsletter
• Sustain our work
• Find a worker co-op
• #ShopCoop
• Become a member 

The USFWC is proud to support #SBDCDay and the growing network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) who are providing important education and and technical assistance regarding worker cooperatives and Employee Stock Ownership Plans.

In 2018, the Main Street Employee Ownership Act directed the Small Business Development Centers across the country to provide training and education on employee ownership options. The USFWC continues to work with members to increase awareness of worker cooperatives within SBDCs.

“The work of champions such as Frank Cetera of the Onondaga Small Business Development Center in Syracuse, NY and Leyanis Diaz at the Temple SBDC in Philadelphia has helped to worker co-ops stay open, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. They provided crucial information and support in accessing resources in a time of great need for all businesses.” said Mo Manklang, Policy Director at the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. “In particular, Frank’s work in leading the charge of SBDC education and peer learning regarding worker ownership is critical to ensuring that our cooperative businesses have access to supports that are offered through SBDCs. The work of these on-the-ground consultants to help small businesses form, grow, and thrive is a hugely untapped resource for business owners across the country. As we fight for cooperatives to have access to the same SBA resources as all other small businesses, it is heartening to know and work with these experts to expand their knowledge of worker co-ops.”

As small business owners navigate an ever-changing landscape, Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) continue to support and elevate their clients through innovative at-cost training programs and free advising strategies. Nearly 1,000 SBDCs can be found across the United States and its territories, serving clients virtually and from their centers in host institutions like universities and chambers – this network can be a vital avenue for growing the worker co-op movement.

According to the most recent Chrisman Survey, which collected data from SBDC clients in 2020-2021, America’s SBDCs provide measurable economic results. Nationwide SBDCs helped generate; 85,094 jobs, $10.1 billion in sales growth; $7.7 billion in capital investments; and started 14,487 new businesses, proving that SBDCs are leaders in job creation and economic development.

“Through adversity, we strengthen and grow, and nothing could be truer for the SBDC network and its thousands of clients this past year,” said Charles “Tee” Rowe, President & CEO of
America’s SBDC. “This SBDC Day, we are celebrating the SBDC network’s reimagined approach to doing business and its direct positive impact on Main Streets all across America.”

• To learn more about SBDC Day and its SBDC Ambassadors, visit http://www.americassbdc.org/SBDCDay.
• To join the conversation online, follow the hashtag #SBDCDAY.
• Find Your Nearest SBDC

The USFWC invites its members and community to provide comment on two important funding opportunities through the federal government: The Tech Hubs Program and the Recompetes Pilot Program.

Tech Hubs Program

Last year, cooperatives were named as an important part of the federal government’s Regional Technology and Innovation Hub (Tech Hubs) program, authorized through the Chips and Science Act (P.L. 117-167). The wheels for this program are now in motion, and the Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced a Request for Information to inform the planning and design of the Tech Hubs program.

The Tech Hubs program is an economic development initiative to drive technology- and innovation-centric growth that creates good jobs for American workers. Cooperative development centers and associations, and CDFIs  are named as eligible partners to drive regional strategies to support this growth. The Tech Hubs program is an opportunity to develop and expand cooperatives, leveraging federal dollars specifically for technology and innovation cooperatives. 

Grants or cooperative agreements will be awarded to regional hubs for the implementation of innovation strategies under four different categories: workforce development, business and entrepreneur development, technology development and maturation, and infrastructure-related activities. 

Read more about the Chips and Science Act here

Recompetes program

The Distressed Area Recompete Pilot Program, also authorized through the Chips and Science Act, is an economic development initiative that will provide grant funding to distressed communities across the country to create, and connect workers to, good jobs and support long-term comprehensive economic development by helping to reduce the high, prime-age (25 to 54 years of age) employment gap.

Congress appropriated EDA $200 million for the program, allowing the EDA to target persistently economically distressed areas to support long-term, comprehensive and sustainable economic development and job creation/placement and award grants to support development or implementation of a Recompete Plan.

The EDA is requesting feedback on how to structure a program that most effectively builds capacity, creates jobs and addresses challenges in communities grappling with persistent economic distress and high prime-age unemployment;

• identifying metrics to assess the success of the Recompete Pilot Program;
• designing a competitive, inclusive and accessible grant funding selection process; and
• identifying best practices and evidence-based research that could inform how to most effectively support persistently economically distressed areas.

Here’s how you can get involved:

• Send a comment letter expressing your support for the cooperative community as a prominent part of the Tech Hubs Strategy. You can either send your own comments or look out for the USFWC’s template letter, which will be shared on Monday 3/13 (this page will be updated). Feedback for this RFI is due by 5 pm ET on March 16 and can be submitted via email to Eric Smith, Director, Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, at techhubs@eda.gov.
• Send a comment letter expressing your support for the cooperative community as a prominent part of the Recompetes Pilot Program. You can either send your own comments or look out for the USFWC’s template letter, which will be shared on Monday 3/13 (this page will be updated). Responses are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on March 27, 2023, submitted via email to Recompete@eda.gov. 
• Let us know that you submitted a letter for either or both requests. Email us at policy@usworker.coop

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Our Member Councils and Peer Networks are shaping the future of the worker co-op movement in the U.S. through offers and needs markets, collective education & learning and political advocacy for a worker-centered economy.  Here are the highlights for this month from some of our Councils & Networks:

• Union Co-ops Council – At the February meeting, the UCC shared updates, announcements, ideas, and heard a presentation from Sam Marvin and Dennis Olson from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union on their support for developing unionized worker co-op cannabis dispensaries in Rhode Island.
• Policy & Advocacy Council – March 1st we hosted our first Policy Pulse of the year where USFWC Worker Owner State Advocacy Fellows shared about the projects they have been working on to visibilize current challenges worker cooperatives are facing and articulate needs from the field to lawmakers in their home states. We were also joined by Aaliyah Nedd, government relations manager at NCBA CLUSA who shared the recent legislative wins, active bills and upcoming opportunities to support federal and state investment in the worker co-op sector; watch the recording here!
• International Council – The IC’s executive committee is planning a series of webinars for cooperators who want to learn more about international movements and organizations. This council will be recruiting members to help guide the direction of this council at the Spring USFWC Member Meeting, May 24th.
• Racial & Economic Justice Council – Later this year, we will be re-launching the Racial & Economic Justice Council. This will be a space for members to come together and share issues they are working on and organize with each other – learn more at the USFWC Spring Member Meeting May 24th.
• Movimiento de Inmigrantes en las Cooperativas – We are re-launching the MIC! Movimiento para Immigrantes Cooperativistas has been a dormant space and we are actively working to re-engage members and identify pressing issues to organize around. We will be holding a breakout discussion about this at the Spring Member Meeting on May 24th.

• Co-op Booksellers Peer Network – At the co-op booksellers monthly meeting, they discussed some of the challenges of their tight margin industry and relying on unpaid labor to keep the co-ops operational.
• Tech Worker Co-ops Peer Network – The Tech Worker Co-op Peer Network has gained some new and returning attendees as we start up again after a break in 2022. The group has been engaging with the international tech co-op community through a new international federation for tech worker co-ops called Patio, and sharing resources for connecting with clients.
• Federation Partners Peer Network – At the quarterly meeting, the Federation Partners discussed the upcoming State of the Sector worker co-op census and plans for data sharing with the USFWC.
• Co-op Academies Peer Network – For their second USFWC meeting, the co-op academies did a resource exchange and discussed strategies for pre- and post-academy engagement for participants.

Members, be sure to register for our USFWC Virtual Spring Member Meeting May 24th to hear more from your Member Councils and help shape their future work!

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The USFWC Co-op Clinic invites you to attend our half-day Virtual Summit: a space for deepening education and growing capacity for worker-owners, cooperatives, and support organizations.

This is an opportunity to connect with other cooperatives across the country this spring, and meet the Co-op clinic team and the greater USFWC community. The summit will be hosted via Zoom and all sessions will be accessible in English and Spanish. Session recordings with closed captions will be provided to registered participants.

Skill up! Co-op Clinic Virtual Summit
Thursday, May 11th, 2023 from 1:00 – 4:30 pm ET

Come grow your knowledge and skills in one of three 2-hour, 2-part workshop tracks. Workshop tracks include:

Intro to Financial Literacy
A dive into tools and best practices for making your cooperative financially sustainable.
Working through Conflict
A session focusing on conflict: why it happens, and best practices for working through it in your cooperative.
Providing Workers Benefits
A discussion of strategies and considerations for providing worker benefits for cooperatives. In addition, an opportunity to learn more about the USFWC worker benefits program!

Join Us
If you’re new to cooperativism, recently joined your cooperative, or looking to deepen your skills in finance, conflict mediation, or providing worker benefits to your cooperative, this summit is for you!

How to Register
Registration coming soon.

Is there a cost to attend this event?
We want this to be accessible to all, and we also hope to make this a sustainable event. The suggested donation is $25.00 – $35.00 per person. Your donation will go towards covering interpretation, facilitation, and coordination costs. We invite you to give what you are able to support and enjoy this event!

Haga clic aquí para leer esta entrada en español 

Our Member Councils and Peer Networks are shaping the future of the worker co-op movement in the U.S. through offers and needs markets, collective education & learning and political advocacy for a worker-centered economy.  Here are the highlights for this month from some of our Councils & Networks:

New year, new me…eting times! See below for the schedule of recurring Member Council and Peer Network meetings. 

• The Policy and Advocacy Council is switching to one 90 minute meeting per month, at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 12pm MT / 11am PT on the first Thursday of the month. 
• The Union Co-ops Council will continue meeting at 1pm ET / 12pm CT / 11am MT / 10am PT on the 2nd Friday on even months. At the February call, we’ll hear from Glitter Bean Cafe, a queer-centric unionized worker co-op in Halifax that arose as an alternative to working in an unfair work environment under private ownership.

• Federation Partners will be meeting quarterly on the last Thursday of January*, April, July, and October at 3:30pm ET / 2:30pm CT / 1:30pm MT / 12:30pm PT. (*The January meeting will be on Thursday, February 2nd.)
• The new Co-op Academies peer network will also be meeting quarterly on the last Monday of February, May, August, and November at 3:30pm ET / 2:30pm CT / 1:30pm MT / 12:30pm PT. 
• Cooperative Booksellers will now be meeting on the first Fridays of each month at 4pm ET / 3pm CT / 2pm MT / 1pm PT. 
• Tech Worker Co-ops will continue meeting on the second Wednesdays of each month at 4pm ET / 3pm CT / 2pm MT / 1pm PT. 

Stay tuned for announcements about getting involved with our other Member Councils and Peer Networks as they re-launch and come online! 

The USFWC applauds Congress and President Biden on passing the Worker Ownership and Readiness and Knowledge Act, co-sponsored by Senator Sanders (D-VT) and Senator Moran (R-KS).

The legislation appropriates $50 million over five years to create the Employee Ownership Initiative within the Department of Labor to promote employee ownership, by supporting new and existing state employee ownership programs, including:

• Federal grants toward state employee ownership programs that provide education and outreach about the possibilities and benefits of employee ownership and business succession planning.
• Funding projects to gather data and and information about state employee ownership programs
• Acting as a clearinghouse on best practices within employee ownership and disseminating that information

The Employee Ownership Initiative is the first federal worker ownership grant program from the Department of Labor.

Important notes about the Employee Ownership Initiative:

• Will require the Secretary to consult with the Department of Treasury.
• Must be established within 180 days of the enactment of the omnibus bill.
• Includes education and outreach regarding financial education, employee teams, open-book management, and seeking greater employee input.
• Includes technical assistance for conversions, including feasibility studies.
• Training entities to apply for funding for the above uses.
• Provides for the development and fostering of networks of employee-owned companies.
• Begins in fiscal year 2025, with grant caps per recipient starting at $300,000 in 2025 up to $439,200 in 2029, and an appropriation of $4 million in 2025 to $16 million in 2029.
• Requires recipients to submit an annual report describing grant uses.
• Requires that the Secretary submit a report to congress on progress related to employee ownership, including costs and benefits of the program.
• Includes funding starting in 2024 to administer the program.

“This is one of the most consequential pieces of legislation supporting ESOPs in decades,” said Jim Bonham, President and CEO of The ESOP Association. “…We very much look forward to a strong working partnership with DOL and Treasury to develop these new regulations once the bill becomes law.”

“The provisions included in the omnibus are the clearest signal yet that Congress is committed to strengthening employee ownership in America, and doing so in a cooperative, bipartisan way,” Bonham said. “With this legislation, The ESOP Association has achieved a major portion of our longstanding policy agenda in Washington. While there is still much work to be done to secure the future of employee ownership, the wins in this bill are crucial to our efforts. We sincerely thank all our champions in Congress who support ESOPs and employee ownership, and who worked so diligently to help millions of American employee owners.”

“The WORK Act provisions speak loudly – Now it’s clear how Congress is invested in growing worker ownership in the US.” said Esteban Kelly, Executive Director of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. “Strong bipartisan support of this legislation shows that our country’s leadership recognizes worker cooperatives and ESOPs as an important tool to build wealth and skills for entrepreneurs. It also ensures more longevity for businesses that are rooted in and reso our communities. We are excited to work with the Department of Labor to implement the WORK Act and we thank our champions Sen. Sanders and Sen. Moran who drove this win home for North American business owners.”

The Employee Ownership Initiative will create major opportunities for state-driven worker ownership education, outreach, and support. The USFWC will keep our community up-to-date on developments and opportunities to advocate.

Read more on the ESOP Association website 

Coverage of the omnibus bill on Roll Call

WORK Act excerpt of full bill text

Keep up with the USFWC’s advocacy work – sign up for email newsletters here

Become a member today and join the USFWC’s Policy and Advocacy member council

Questions? Email us at policy@usworker.coop.