There's a New Co-op in Town

The Dorchester Food Co-op (DFC) opened its doors in November, offering fresh produce, groceries, bulk bins, prepared foods, and baked goods that you can enjoy with a cup of freshly brewed fair-trade coffee.

The Co-op is located on the first floor of a new residential building at 195 Bowdoin Street in Dorchester. Mayor Michelle Wu visited the store on Sunday, December 24, as part of a tour of businesses in the Bowdoin-Geneva area, a neighborhood that has long been underserved when it comes to healthy and affordable food options.

The store is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. Off-street parking is available.

Not only is DFC a consumer co-op with more than 1,900 member-owners, but also a worker co-op, with employees making business decisions democratically. More than 10 years of organizing work went into bringing the organization to life.

We encourage everyone to check out DFC the next time you are in the area, and to shop there as much as possible. Become a member for $100 (one-time payment) and receive discounts. You don’t need to be a member to shop.

2022 Annual Meeting to Be Held In Person, October 18

The Greater Boston Chamber of Co-ops and US Federation of Worker Co-ops will hold a joint meeting on Tuesday, October 18, 6:00-7:30 p.m. The gathering will serve as the Chamber’s annual meeting. Anyone who is part of a cooperative (worker, consumer, housing, or other), or interested in co-ops, is welcome to attend.

For the first time since the pandemic, the gathering will be in person, at the Fields Corner Business Lab, 1452 Dorchester Avenue, 2nd Floor. Refreshments will be provided starting at 5:00 p.m.. Mask wearing is strongly encouraged during the business portion of the meeting starting at 6:00 p.m.

Attendees will hear about developments in the cooperative economy, legislative updates, and opportunities to get involved. It will also be a chance to learn about other co-ops and network with co-op members and friends.

 

State House rally builds support for worker-owned businesses in Massachusetts

GBCC members were among the dozens of workers, legislators, labor justice advocates, and co-op supporters who gathered at the Massachusetts State House on March 30 to encourage legislators to create more opportunities for working people to own their workplaces. The event was organized by the statewide Coalition for Worker Ownership and Power (COWOP).

Speakers at the event included GBCC President Jon Seward, Eulalio Guevarra of the Boston Center for Community Ownership, and Marcos Beleche of the Dorchester Food Co-op.

Two key bills, plus two budget amendments, are now before the legislature. If approved, they would provide access to capital and technical assistance to worker-owned businesses as well as greater governance power for workers in conventional corporations.

Amid historic economic and labor upheaval, worker-owned cooperatives offer a way forward with dignified, prosperous, and democratic jobs. The conventional corporate structure keeps decision-making far from those who do the work. Worker ownership brings greater profits, participation, and democracy to our workplaces.

Following the presentation, attendees made office visits to legislators to provide information about four legislative priorities:

1. H511 / S261, An Act Enabling the Massachusetts Center for Employee Ownership. This bill formalizes the role of MassCEO and establishes it as a state community economic development priority.

2. S1223, An Act Ensuring Fair Worker Representation on Corporate Boards of Directors. Large companies (more than $100 million in annual revenue) would be required to ensure that at least 40% of directors are elected by the employees.

3. A budget item offered by Sen. Julian Cyr in the FY23 budget, of $500,000 for technical assistance for worker cooperatives. This funding would help local entrepreneurs, especially people of color, establish new worker co-ops, and would facilitate conversions of existing traditional businesses to worker ownership.

4. A planned budget item in Round 2 of ARPA funding, $4 million for grants and loan guarantees to worker cooperatives. This funding would provide a major boost to the worker co-op ecosystem and would especially benefit new worker-owned co-ops.

In addition to the speakers, rally participants included Maggie Cohn of the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast, Stacey Cordiero of the Boston Center for Community Ownership, and Deb Beatty Mel of Boston Building Resources.

GBCC President Jon Seward

Eulalio Guevarra of the Boston Center for Community Ownership

Marcos Beleche of the Dorchester Food Co-op

Sen. Lydia Edwards

Reading List for a More Cooperative 2021

Expand your knowledge of cooperatives and the solidarity economy in 2021 by diving into one or more of the books on this reading list developed by Rozzie Bound, a new member of the Chamber of Co-ops and startup cooperative bookstore.

View the bookshelf

We will be organizing a co-op book club this winter, reading together Collective Courage by Jessica Gordon Nembhard, who chronicles African American cooperative business ownership and its place in the movements for Black civil rights and economic equality. Contact us if you would like to join. We will determine a mutually convenient time to meet.

Resources for Co-ops during the COVID crisis

We’re collecting a list of resources available to cooperatives in response to the COVID crisis. If you are aware of additional resources that should be included, please email us.

Loans/Funding

For individuals:

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (Massachusetts)

One Fair Wage Emergency Fund for service workers

Restaurant Strong Fund for restaurant workers

For businesses:

Cooperative Fund of New England’s Emergency Loan Program

Cooperative Development Foundation Disaster Recovery Fund

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

EIDL - Economic Injury Disaster Loans (no longer accepting COVID-related applications)

Technical Assistance

LEAF’s Elevate Small Business program: Help to estimate the impact on your cash flows, manage financial obligations, and estimate the impact of emergency debt financing

Where to Get Tested

Boston Public Health Commission Testing Sites Map

Forum on Employee Ownership, April 2

Co-op supporters are encouraged to gather at the State House at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 2, for a panel discussion on employee ownership. Senate President Karen Spilka will be on hand, as well Sen. Julian Cyr, the sponsor of legislation to promote employee ownership (S.1630). Brunch will be provided by GBCC member Olio Culinary Collective. The forum will be held in the Senate Reading Room on the third floor.

If you plan to attend, you may also want to contact your state senator and/or representative to let them know that you’ll be there, and to encourage them to come as well. If you’re not sure who your state legislators are, you can look them up online.

Download this flier for more information. Please spread the word.

Facebook event

Business Finance Basics Training | Taller: Las Finanzas de Negocios 101

Sábado el 13 abril, 2019

9:30 a.m.: La inscripción; café y refrigerios
10am-1pm: Taller: las finanzas de negocios 101

Iglesia de St. Paul, Lower Sproat Room
138 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111

Es importante, como miembro de una cooperativa, monitorear el estado de las finanzas de su cooperativa. En este taller, aprenderá cómo interpretar los informes financieros de las empresas Y entender mejor cómo monitorear el estado de las finanzas de su empresa. También obtendrá cierta exposición a las herramientas de contabilidad de gestión, incluidos los cheques y saldos para prevenir o detectar errores / accidentes / fraude, la contabilidad de la equidad de los propietarios de los trabajadores en las cuentas de capital, el presupuesto como herramienta de planificación, la gestión de efectivo y la creación / uso de un Informe rápido o tablero de negocios.

Usamos una escala móvil para los costos de inscripción. Favor de pagar lo más que pueda.

• Miembros del GBCC: $10-$25 cada persona

• Trés o más personas de la misma cooperativa que es miembro: $5-$20 cada persona

• Únase a la Asociación de Cooperativas del Área de Boston como miembro individual y inscríbase: $30-$45 cada persona

• Inscríbase solo para el taller: $20-$35 cada persona

Aunque este taller está dirigida a los miembros de las cooperativas, todos pueden inscribirse. Gente involucrada en grupos luchando para la justicia social más generalmente y particularmente gente trabajando en la solidaridad económica se beneficiarán de este taller.

Saturday, April 13, 2019

9:30am: Registration opens; coffee and refreshments
10am-1pm: Business Finance Basics Training

Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Lower Sproat Room
138 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111

Keeping an eye on the financial health of your co-op is an important part of your role as a member. This training will teach you to read basic financial statements of any business and to understand key performance and business health indicators. You will also gain some exposure to management accounting tools, including checks and balances to prevent or detect errors/accidents/fraud, accounting for worker-owners’ equity in capital accounts, budgeting as a planning tool, cash management, and creating/using a flash report or business dashboard.

Registration fees are on a sliding scale. Please pay what you can afford.

• Members of GBCC: $10-$25 per person

• Three or more people from the same member co-op: $5-$20 per person

• Join the Chamber as an individual member and register: $30-$45 per person

• Register as a non-member: $20-$35 per person

While this workshop is geared toward members and staff of worker, housing, and consumer cooperatives, anyone is welcome to register. Those involved in social justice groups more generally and particularly those working in the Solidarity Economy/New Economy movement would benefit from this training.

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Getting there

• By MBTA: Near the Red, Orange, Green, and Silver Lines.

• By car: Parking (paid) is available in the garage across the street.

 

Recognition for Book on Tech Platform Co-ops

Congratulations to Micky Metts of GBCC member Agaric. Micky contributed a chapter to Ours to Hack and to Own, a book on platform co-ops that was selected by Wired as one of the Top 10 Tech Books of 2017.

The book calls for more collective ownership of web platforms so their revenue can be shared and decisions about data made by those who generated it. Micky’s chapter is “Meet Your Friendly Neighborhood Tech Co-op.”