Final Week To Register for Coop Academy

We’re still taking registrations for this Fall’s Coop Academy.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur with a great idea or part of a team of workers preparing to take over an existing business, you’ll find the help you’ve been looking for at the Coop Academy, your one-stop shop for starting a workercoperative. Only the Coop Academy provides over 100 hours of training and development in sales, marketing, finances, communication, conflict management, democratic decision-making, cooperative business structures, greening your operations, and social responsibility. Not to mention weekly one-on-one coaching with experienced cooperators and entrepreneurs, legal support with incorporating you co-op and logo & web design services. Space is limited so sign up now.

“Ideas for co-ops may flourish, but few people understand exactly how to make theirs real. The Coop Academy is providing answers.” Yes! Magazine, Spring 2013

Ready to register? Apply now.

Co-ops on the Rise in Chicago

From window makers to high school students, something’s bubbling in Chicago.

New Era Windows Opens for Business

Workers at the New Era Windows Cooperative are celebrating the grand opening of their new unionized worker co-op. Almost a year to the day after their window factory closed, a group of former workers have launched their own window business without bosses. In 2008, some of the workers were involved in a famous six-day sit-in after Republic Windows and Doors gave workers just three days’ notice before closing the factory. The sit-in drew national attention and union workers reached a settlement where they each received $6,000 each. About 65 workers occupied the factory after their jobs came under threat again in 2012. With the help of the Working World, they successfully raised the money needed to buy the factory equipment and produce their own windows as a democratically-run and worker-owned cooperative under the name New Era Windows. Congratulations to the workers at New Era and the team at the Working World.

Chicago HS Students Start a Manufacturing Co-op

Four African-American high school students at the Austin Polytechnical Academy (APA) in Chicago are applying their computer-aided manufacturing skills to a new worker-run business. The cooperative, called MECH Creations, will manufacture trumpet mouthpieces at APA, 231 N. Pine Avenue, Chicago, IL. With assistance from the Center for Workplace Democracy (CDW) and Manufacturing Renaissance (formerly Center for Community and Labor Research), the students, now business owners, have secured a patented design, created a business plan, acquired materials, and are ready to begin production this May.

“We’re starting MECH Creations to bring new business to our community,” says Jennifer Curtis, a 18-year-old student at APA. “We are four young women who will work for ourselves and our neighborhood to show that anything is possible for young people.”

Coop Academy Spotlight: "Digital Sisterhood" by POP

The 12 young women who make up the founding members of POP meet weekly to plan their growth as a worker-owned online ‘zine written by, and for, young women of color. They’re out to create what co-founder Sharon De La Cruz calls “digital sisterhood.” With a print edition of member-written articles and limited distribution in the Bronx already in hand, POP enrolled in this Spring’s Coop Academy in order to take it to the next level. As technology has evolved, so has the “digital everything”, and the women of POP want to take advantage of it to touch others on a wider scale, spreading their truths about what it is to be a young, urban, woman of color who wants to be sustainable and change the world, one word at a time.

We asked each member, “What does POP mean to you?” Hear what they shared…in their own words. 

"Best in the Nation" Community Benefits Agreement Signed in the Bronx

After 17 years of battling with the City of New York over the fate of the Kingsbridge Armory, and defeating a City deal to redevelop the former military installation with low-wage jobs, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition has finally signed an unprecedented community benefits agreement with Kingsbridge National Ice Center Partners (KNIC) to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory into an ice skating complex committed to serving Bronx residents. Green Worker Cooperatives and our own rainwater harvesting and landscaping co-op, Concrete Green Cooperative (Coop Academy, Spring 2012) are proud to be among the 25 Bronx-based organizations that also signed onto the historic agreement.

The Community Benefits Agreement represents a multi-million dollar benefit package for the local community and is being hailed by the coalition as the best community benefits agreement in the US. For the first time in the history of New York City, a developer has agreed to “wall-to-wall” living wage jobs for local workers, over 50,000 square feet of community space, targeted local hiring, opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses, free ice time for Title 1 schools, at least 51% of procurement from the Bronx, sustainable green development and operation, a business incubator, scholarships for Bronx residents to study renewable energy and green building design; an after-school sports program for local youth; a guarantee of healthy food for sale, and even a ban on plastic bottles.

Green Worker's New Additions:

We are excited to announce two new additions to the Green Worker Cooperatives team:

Rafiah Vitalis: Volunteer/Administrative Coordinator

Rafiah is a “Bronxite”, with deep Caribbean roots and Yoruba ties. She has a long history of work in the non-profit sector and is profoundly committed to the areas of community development, sustainable solutions and social initiatives. This dedication has led her to a number of community leadership roles, volunteer opportunities and research endeavors. With the belief that we stand on the shoulders of giants, she too wants to make an impact that results in implementing long lasting change. Rafiah is thrilled about lending her expertise and assistance to the Green Worker team and references the quote by Ghandi which states “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Omar & Janvieve’s Baby Girl: Anayansi Ife

Our own working family couple, GWC’s Communications Coordinator, Janvieve Williams-Comrie and founder and Coordinator, Omar Freilla, are basking in the joy of having just given birth to their second child, Anayansi Ife Freilla-Williams. Anayansi was born at home with the support of an amazing team of midwives and doulas, the natural strength of her mother, and the love of her family & community. Mama and Papa are both doing well, a bit sleepy, but happy to report that Anayansi is happy and healthy and fully enjoying the tender caresses of her big brother Gibran.