Enhance the ability of worker cooperatives to emerge, grow and thrive by investing dollars directly into worker cooperative businesses and entities that support them.

• Create a Worker Cooperative Revolving Loan Program on the city level that can support worker cooperatives with local procurement and other general needs. The program should:
  • Offer subordinated debt and loan guarantees to enhance capital access for under-resourced cooperatives
  • Waive personal guaranties and other requirements that often prevent cooperatives from accessing financing conventional private or public business lending programs

• Create a Worker Cooperative Grant Program for worker cooperative start-up and operating businesses in vulnerable and most impacted communities, especially those hit hardest by COVID

• Establish a municipal public bank to support worker cooperatives and other community-led economic development initiatives in BIPOC communities. Through public banking, NYC can divest public money from Wall Street banks that harm NYC neighborhoods, and invest in small and worker-owned businesses, affordable housing, renewable energy, and other critical community needs.

Enhance the ability of worker cooperatives to emerge, grow and thrive by investing dollars directly into worker cooperative businesses and entities that support them.

• Create a Worker Cooperative Revolving Loan Program on the city level that can support worker cooperatives with local procurement and other general needs. The program should:
  • Offer subordinated debt and loan guarantees to enhance capital access for under-resourced cooperatives
  • Waive personal guaranties and other requirements that often prevent cooperatives from accessing financing conventional private or public business lending programs

• Create a Worker Cooperative Grant Program for worker cooperative start-up and operating businesses in vulnerable and most impacted communities, especially those hit hardest by COVID
• Establish a municipal public bank to support worker cooperatives and other community-led economic development initiatives in BIPOC communities. Through public banking, NYC can divest public money from Wall Street banks that harm NYC neighborhoods, and invest in small and worker-owned businesses, affordable housing, renewable energy, and other critical community needs.

Create community-controlled and permanently and deeply affordable retail, warehouse, office, and co-working spaces for worker cooperatives of all scales

• Support the creation of community owned and controlled cooperative hubs across the five boroughs that could anchor the existing local worker cooperatives while serving the community at large as centers of information and cooperative development for new entrepreneurs. These centers would provide services tailored to the needs of worker cooperatives, distinct from other city-supported small business solutions centers, and ideally organized through a commercial CLT model. We urge elected officials and candidates to explore opportunities in their district for land and potential commercial CLT space.
  
• Support the integration between Community-owned businesses and Community-controlled land as part of an effort to democratize economic development. As articulated by the NYC Community Land Initiative (NYCCLI):
  • Direct land, housing and subsidy to CLTs. Public land and subsidies must be reserved for CLTs and other forms of social housing that reach deep and permanent affordability, and provide for meaningful tenant and community control. Public land must be used for public good.
• Pass Opportunity to Purchase legislation at the City level, to provide a right of first refusal to tenants, CLTs, and affordable housing providers when landlords sell property.
• End the private warehousing of vacant properties and the private sale of tax liens — and channel properties to CLTs and nonprofit developers for long-term preservation.
• Support strong commercial rent stabilization legislation that includes mechanisms for enforcement and fair criteria for limits on rent increases across the city to counteract displacement and gentrification. Work with United for Small Business NYC (USBnyc) and other coalition partners for the inclusion of these demands within Intro 1796 and to hold a hearing as soon as possible to address the wave of speculation anticipated as a response to the pandemic
• Cancel commercial rents for small businesses and worker cooperatives during COVID