From the Worker Cooperative Resource Guide for Skills and Services New York City, Summer 2017:
New York City is seeing a surge of interest in cooperative businesses. It is no wonder. The call for justice will always increase as people experience the rise of injustice. Businesses that are good for the workers and good for communities are able to answer this fundamental clamor for equality.
The New York City Council has made a significant investment into cooperative businesses over the last three years. During this time a network has matured that offers an array of strategies and services, from education and training programs to the technical assistance of other cooperators, cooperative business developers, lenders and lawyers. Business owners, entrepreneurs, urban planners, unionists, community activists, job seekers each can find support for expanding their missions through the cooperative business skills that can be accessed through these pages.
This catalogue represents many of the resources in our city-wide collaboration, facilitated by the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives, (NYCNOWC) and the Murphy Institute for Labor and Urban Studies at the City University of New York, (CUNY). It is offered as a navigational tool for anyone interested in accessing the knowledge and supports our community can provide. Leveraging the occurrence of the Eastern Conference of Workplace Democracy in New York City this June, 2017, we are publishing this catalogue as a beta version, to help advance our collaboration and curation of training and support services. Through this, we aim to strengthen our ecosystem for cooperative businesses as democratic and liberating places of work.
Throughout this catalogue you will see the names of all the organizations and cooperative businesses who offer many different services for training and technical assistance. Where their service is mentioned, you will see their name. All contact information can be found in the directory at the back of this booklet. Feel free to contact any of them for services, training or support that they can provide. Some have grant funding to support your learning, Others may be able to deliver service to your organization for a fee. NYCNOWC can help you explore your options, designing the right program or collection of courses for you and your constituency.
