New York City is currently home to approximately 40 worker cooperative businesses. We are proud that our worker-members are highly diverse in age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background—and inclusive of the LGBTQ community. That said, our members are predominantly Latinas of Caribbean, Mexican, or South American origin.
Our largest worker cooperative is Cooperative Home Care Associates, a nationally recognized, worker-owned home care agency in the Bronx. CHCA was founded in 1985 to provide quality home care to clients by providing quality jobs for direct-care workers. CHCA started with 12 home health aides. The cooperative now employs more than 2,500 staff. Together with PHI, a nonprofit founded by CHCA in 1992, CHCA maintains an employer-based workforce development program that provides free training for 600 low-income and unemployed women annually and serves as a significant driver of employment in the Bronx.
Si Se Puede! Women’s Cooperative was founded in Sunset Park, Brooklyn in August 2006 to bring together immigrant women to create a women-run, women-owned, eco-friendly housecleaning business. The worker cooperative is designed to create living wage jobs that will be performed in a safe and healthy environment, as well as to provide social supports and educational opportunities for their members.
Palante Technology Cooperative works to help non-profit, progressive organizations move forward with the aid of technology. They come to this work with technical expertise, a deep understanding of the particular needs of community organizations, and a long-standing commitment to working for social justice.