We are pioneers in educating cooperative startups and are the oldest people of color-led worker cooperative development organization in the U.S. Our signature five-month bilingual cooperative business boot camp, the Co-op Academy, takes place in the South Bronx and is the first business accelerator for worker cooperative startups in the U.S., having been proven and tested through 19 cohorts, producing over 40 active worker cooperatives. Our bottom-up approach empowers cooperative members and centers people of color.
By donating, you play a vital role in supporting this work, in creating businesses that not only create jobs but that are role models for their industries. Earlier this month, we held our 2nd annual Social Justice Holiday Market, featuring over 35 vendors, mostly all women of color, committed to social justice in our communities. It was a beautiful display of the love and commitment that lives within our community that is hungry for support and recognition.
And right now we have five incredibly committed startup worker co-ops that have just completed our Co-op Academy. They are:
- Rebellious Root, a consulting co-op focused on strategic planning services for social justice organizations and support and training for organizations and agencies working with young people.
- Solar Uptown Now Services, providing installation and maintenance of solar panels.
- Laticosina, a restaurant providing a wide selection of foods from throughout Latin America.
- Lofty Heights Wellness Studio, a yoga studio and holistic health center for the northeast Bronx.
- Apoteca, an apothecary and cafe offering cannabis and other herbal remedies.
DONATE TODAY
You may or may not be aware of it, but for the past 5 years Green Worker Cooperatives has been mostly funded through city contracts. While the money has been critical to our growth, these contracts typically take a year to get approved. And the actual money takes even longer to show up resulting in occasions where we’ve got a long list of folks to pay and longer delays in the money to pay them with. We’ve gotten much better at managing those moments but they’re still stressful. We are grateful that we had enough individual donations come in recently in celebration of our 15 year anniversary that we were able to fill in some of the gap this time around. Your individual donations actually do make a big difference.
Our work is not possible without you! Take a moment to donate today to keep this work going.