WAGES frequently offers our expertise to other organizations seeking to adapt our cooperative development model to create cooperative businesses in low-income communities. Our technical assistance program has assisted multiple cooperative start-up projects to launch in communites from North Carolina to Los Angeles, and we have regularly provided advising and information to dozens of other groups around the country.
Building on this experience (and to meet increasing interest in cooperative models as an economic development and community empowerment solution), WAGES is now publishing a series of web based tools to provide concrete materials and lessons from our successes to assist other groups considering cooperative development projects.
This toolkit is intended to help you, as either a current or potential cooperative developer, to understand the key elements of our co-op model and acquire knowledge and strategies to increase the success of your co-op development project. Visit this page regularly or join our mailing list to be notified as new publications, webinar recordings, and templates to support co-op development efforts are released.
WAGES is offering a beta version of our self-assessment tool, 'Are you ready for a worker co-op?' This tool is an online survey designed to help co-op developers determine their readiness to develop and launch a worker co-op. The self-assessment is a learning opportunity to help increase your co-op development knowledge and identify your strengths and weaknesses. Your help and input will also help WAGES to build up its technical assistance program to serve the co-op field.
COST: Free
Foundations of WAGES Cooperatives is a comprehensive document that details how we build worker-owned co-ops for low-income individuals. This downloadable PDF includes information on co-op legal and organizational frameworks, training programs, and the co-op incubation process. For more information, please see the intro and table of contents. To obtain the full document, please click "Add to Cart" below. This document is offered on a sliding scale, with a suggested cost of $20. Please pay what you think it is worth.
COST: After adding this item to your cart, you will be prompted to enter the amount of your choice. Foundations of WAGES Cooperatives is offered on a sliding scale with a suggested cost of US $20.
Watch this webinar recording to learn what it takes for nonprofit community-based organizations to develop a worker-owned cooperative successfully. Webinar participants will learn more about WAGES' model of co-op development in low-income, immigrant communities, and best practices in grassroots economic development.
Participants will learn the challenges and opportunities of cooperative development in low-income communities. This webinar was hosted by the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), and delivered on January 23, 2013. For more information, see the NCBA's archives.
COST: Free
For those ready to launch a new co-op development project or looking to increase the impact of a current project, WAGES will offer an intensive, on-site training in the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 2013. To receive news on the 2013 WAGES Co-op Development Intensive, we encourage you to join our mailing list.