Avake from MindHome covers nine resources for starting a worker-owned cooperative, including institute.coop, local development centers, the NYC Collective of Worker-Owned Cooperatives, impact funds like Shared Capital, and podcasts like All Things Co-op. She also recommends reaching out to existing cooperatives for mentorship and Richard Wolff's YouTube content.
Thinking about starting your own worker-owned cooperative and wondering where the best resources are and where you can find useful information? Well, this video is all about that. I went through the process myself building my own worker-owned cooperative, and I know it's challenging at times to find good information. So hopefully this video will help you out navigate the process and direct you to the right places. Hey guys, it's Avake from MindHome once again. I'm super excited to dive into my favorite resources for starting your own worker-owned co-op. So the first place to look almost always is Google. I know that sounds boring, but Google, YouTube have been super helpful in finding the information I'm looking for and have needed in the past. So, you know, what I usually do is think about a term or a sentence related to something I'm searching, whether it's How to make decisions as a worker on cooperative, where to find funding. Just searching the terms or things you're confused about in YouTube or Google is a great place to begin. Number 2 is institute.coop. Institute.coop is also known as Democracy at Work. They have a great source of— they are a great source of information with lots of different PDF documents, lots of materials from other cooperatives that they've accumulated onto one site. So going to their website, looking through their resources can be a very helpful place to begin your process of learning about worker-owned cooperatives. Number 3 is your local nonprofit cooperative technical support or development center. In many cities across the U.S. and abroad, there can be these technical support agencies that are here to help worker-owned cooperatives get off the ground. I'm based in New York City, so in New York there are organizations like the New York City Collective of Worker-Owned Cooperatives, or ICA Group also, that are here locally to help New York-based worker-owned cooperatives get off the ground. Also in the US nationally, there is the US Federation of Worker-Owned Cooperatives. So organizations like this exist across the US and abroad. Look them up in where you live and try to find the one that can potentially support you. Number 4 is impact funds. Impact funds are a little bit like typical investing funds, but they don't take an equity position. They give you money in debt form. There are funds like that across the US. Two of them that I can think of is Working World and Impact Fund. Or sorry, Shared Capital, Working World and Shared Capital, that they give funding to worker-owned cooperatives. They help them through the process of getting funding, and they can be a great source of information. By the way, don't worry, all these links and information will be in the description below. So if you're trying to keep track, don't worry, we got you. Number 5 is fellow worker-owned cooperatives and founders of worker co-ops. So one of the main principles of worker cooperatives is cooperation between co-ops. So it shouldn't be a major issue to reach out to a fellow worker-owned cooperative or a founder and ask for a little bit of time and their assistance in getting started. Number 6 is podcasts. If you're the type of person that enjoys consuming information via podcasts, there's the All Things Co-op and the Everything Co-op podcast. That has a lot of information on getting a cooperative off the ground. Number 7. Number 7 is a personal favorite of mine. It's with Professor Richard Wolff. Professor Richard Wolff packs a ton of information throughout YouTube and his own website and Patreon and other sources related to worker-owned cooperatives. So just start Googling him and worker-owned co-ops and you'll find a lot of great information. Number 8 is the Platform Cooperative Facebook group. If you're thinking about starting a digital cooperative corporation, the Platform Cooperative Facebook group is a great resource for information. Trevor Schultz, who is a professor at New School, is the moderator for that Facebook group, and he also runs a program at the New School that's related to developing worker-owned cooperatives. So between the Facebook group and New School University, They have a lot of great information and programs related to starting your own worker-owned co-op. Last but not least, number 9, this channel. We are working really hard to develop a lot of great content related to worker-owned cooperatives. We're even thinking about working on a podcast. Hopefully this video has been a great resource for you. If it has been, consider giving it a thumbs up. And as I mentioned, we're trying to be a channel focused mostly on worker-owned cooperatives, so please consider subscribing to the channel, sharing this video with a friend, and leave a comment below. If we missed anything, if there's a resource that perhaps we didn't capture, definitely leave a comment below. Love to hear where you're getting your information from. Thanks everyone, and have a great day. Got it? Maybe we can do it again? Oh, thanks, Rob. I'll do this again. How's my— I didn't even— I didn't notice my hair. Thinking about starting a worker-owned cooperative? Thinking about starting your own worker-owned cooperative? Well, this video is all about— well, this video is all about that. All the best resources.
