Center for Family Life (CFL) is a neighborhood-based family and social services organization with deep roots in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The work of Center for Family Life is grounded in the daily, lived experience of the Sunset Park community and guided by a vision of neighborhood families and social institutions evolving over time and contributing to each other’s ongoing development.

CFL’s Cooperative Development Program (CDP) is a nationally-recognized leader in development of worker-owned cooperative businesses in immigrant, low-income communities. Worker cooperatives are wholly worker-owned and democratically-run, which means that workers set their own fair wages, schedules, and business practices. Since 2006, we have provided tailored technical assistance and training to 21 cooperatives representing 540 worker-owners, and trained 30+ community-based organizations on cooperative development. Currently, we are focusing on developing and scaling the growth of cooperatives in the cleaning sector throughout New York City and beyond. This includes our support for Brightly, a new franchise of cleaning cooperatives that share branding and back office systems. We also support Up & Go, a cooperatively-owned app for consumers to book cleaning services from worker cooperatives. We believe that it is more important than ever to strengthen community self-determination, leadership, and advocacy. We invite you to be part of creating a new economic system that puts people and the planet before profit.

The Position: This is a full time position that requires you to speak Spanish fluently. You will join a group of bilingual, experienced and energetic cooperative & office developers to help us strengthen worker cooperatives and expand our scaling initiatives.

Core Responsibilities:
Cooperative Development (30%)
● Support the incubation of a new Brightly cooperative business using CFL’s cooperative development methodology (outreach, recruitment, initial cooperative training, launch) and
resources from the Brightly cooperative franchise

● Support groups of domestic workers to build strong governance and management systems for their cooperative businesses

● Engage technical partners such as lawyers and accountants in our cooperative business development efforts

● Offer individual supports to participating workers to stay engaged in the cooperative development process; make referrals to social services when appropriate

● Maintain relationships in our local worker cooperative ecosystem

● Help the team reflect on/improve our cooperative development guides and tools

 

Technical Assistance (30%)
● Provide ongoing business management technical assistance to cooperative businesses based on their stages of development & needs (business and group)

● Provide coaching to worker- owners to develop their business management and social leadership skills

● Conduct research for worker cooperatives, as needed, and/or in coordination with technical partners (market research, local programs or resources, legal and tax issues, etc.); make referrals when appropriate

● Develop & facilitate workshops to support worker-owners effectively manage & govern their businesses

● Support worker-owners engage with and move through conflict that might arise in the group

 

Scaling Projects (30%)
● Brightly franchise supports: tools & systems development, strengthening the Brightly Industry
Committee and/or the Brightly trainers program, OR

● Up & Go’s cooperative development supports

 

Program Admin (10%)

● Participate in weekly team meetings

● Track data and support team’s reporting efforts

● Support training outreach efforts and other projects as needed

 

Experience and Qualifications:
● Strong written and oral English and Spanish skills required.

● Strong facilitation skills, including workshop & meeting facilitation, and curriculum development.

● Superior organizational, business, problem-solving, and communication skills.

● Excitement about scaling cooperatively-owned businesses with community members and figuring out the best way to communicate complex ideas & tasks.

● Passion for learning while engaging in diverse and creative work. The range of responsibilities varies from conducting feasibility studies to preparing curriculum and agendas for meetings, figuring out legal incorporation and governance issues, individual
and group leadership development coaching, and building a movement toward a solidarity economy. The diversity of tasks can be demanding, but if you are up for the challenge we can promise it will never get boring.

● Demonstrated commitment to social justice and economic democracy. You have a deep understanding of systemic oppression and are committed to dismantling it. You are eager to learn more about and strengthen the cooperative economics/solidarity
economy movement locally and nationally, especially with immigrant communities.

● Ability to thrive in a highly-collaborative work environment.

● Communications and marketing skills and experience a plus.

● Experience with workforce or business development is a plus.

● Experience managing or organizing partner organizations in coalitions, multi-stakeholder
projects, or other complex collaborative initiatives is a plus.

● Experience working with cooperatives or other democratic organizations is a plus.

● B.A. in Business, Public Administration, Social Work, Community Development, or other related field; M.A. a plus.

● Minimum of 3 years of relevant professional experience.

You may be a strong candidate even if you don’t have all of the skills and characteristics described above. You might have important skills not listed here. If you are excited about this position and what you can bring to our work, we want to read your application!

Compensation and Benefits
This position is Full Time and we offer a competitive benefits package, including vacation, health care (medical, dental, vision), sick leave and access to a 403(B) plan. Salary range: $45,000 – $53,000
depending on experience.

Location
Our offices are located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. We are currently operating virtually but when safe, we
will return to work to our Sunset Park location.

How to Apply
Please send us your resume, cover letter and 3 references from current or former workplaces to coopdevelopment@sco.org. Subject line should include: “Your Name, Cooperative Developer.”
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, however, applicants are strongly encouraged to apply before March 15h, 2021.

 

The Center for Family Life, which is a program of SCO Family of Services, is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to build a Cooperative Development Team that reflects and shares community with the cooperatives we work with. Women, people of color, LGBTQI identified people, immigrants, and people with disabilities are strongly urged to apply.