Description:
The position requires serving as community outreach and cooperative development coordinator for the Worker Owned Rockaways Cooperatives development program (WORCs). WORCs is a cooperative business incubator that helps residents of the Rockaways develop and finance worker-owned business.
Begun in the spring of 2013, WORCs is an initiative to rebuild after Sandy in a way that addresses both the storm’s impact and the long-term systemic issues in the neighborhood. The program’s goal is to equip Far Rockaway residents with the skills and financing to launch small, worker-owned businesses that fill a need in their community. More than 40 residents have already joined the 12 week training program–people who now work for others as babysitters, house cleaners, exterminators and upholsterers but dream of being their own bosses and keeping wealth inside their neighborhood.
About Us:
The Working World is a non-profit offering a new way for people to take control of their economic lives and change the heart of the working equation. We turn the financial system on its head and offer socially conscious investment to businesses owned and operated democratically by workers. It’s an idealistic vision, but it’s not just an idea — we’ve been doing it for ten years in Argentina, Nicaragua, and now, the United States. We have lent over $4 million to more than 200 worker cooperatives, and over 98% of these investments have paid themselves off, resulting in growing businesses and new jobs. Our aim is to help bring workers into positions of power in the system of production, finance projects that empower people rather than drowning them in debt, and challenge a global economy that puts profit before people.
Responsibilities
- Recruit new participants during open enrollment
- Identify businesses with potential for conversion to worker ownership in the Rockaways
- Provide technical assistance to cooperative businesses in topics including business and financial planning, marketing, and governance
- Plan and lead regular (ie. weekly) meetings with cooperative businesses within the program
- Use internal software to track and report on businesses’ progress
- Assist in the planning of monthly assemblies
- Assist in meeting with funders
Qualifications
- Resident of the Rockaway Peninsula
- Strong social skills
- Strong logistical and coordinating skills
- Computer literacy: Basic Excel knowledge, basic web-based platform understanding
- Ability to be self-motivated and work autonomously
- Small business experience, preferred
- Bilingual [Spanish & English], preferred
To Apply
Respond with a cover letter and resume to jobs@theworkingworld.org. Please write “Rockaway Project Coordinator” in the subject line.
Application Deadline
November 3, 2015
Compensation
$20/hr
