The Promise of Worker Cooperatives to Build Economic Security for Immigrant Communities

Immigrant workers, are routinely excluded from good jobs with decent wages, benefits, and good working conditions. As outlined in AFN’s primer, Supporting the Economic Security of Undocumented Immigrants, a deep legacy of xenophobia and racism has led to harmful narratives, policies, and practices that deliberately and consistently exclude immigrants and people who are undocumented from realizing economic security. However, worker ownership and cooperatives have long been regarded as a viable economic development strategy, especially for excluded workers.

In response to the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on essential workers and Californians who are undocumented, California launched the Social Entrepreneurs for Economic Development (SEED) initiative to support the entrepreneurship of immigrants and to fund demonstration projects that advance worker ownership to create pathways out of poverty jobs and exploitative working conditions for excluded workers. As part of this effort, California awarded cooperative development experts and non-profit community-based organizations nearly $2 million in SEED funding to provide entrepreneurial training, technical assistance, and microgrants to people facing barriers to high-quality jobs due to their immigration status or limited English proficiency (LEP) and for worker leaders to transform four low-wage industries: homecare, childcare, carwash, and taxicab. The Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) and the UC Berkeley Center for Law and Work detail SEED’s promise in Seeding Equity: A New Community-Based Model of Public Investment in Worker Cooperatives for Excluded Workers.

In the face of state budget cuts, a coalition of cooperative development experts, community-based organizations, and worker leaders known as the California Worker Ownership Collaborative, have leveraged $2 million in philanthropic funding to sustain the vibrant ecosystem of worker-owned small businesses developed with SEED funding.

Join us for The Promise of Worker Cooperatives to Build Economic Security for Immigrant Communities on February 13 at 10am PT. This webinar will showcase the successes and lessons learned from the worker centers and cooperative development nonprofits that participated in California’s SEED program, and their continued collaboration to strengthen the co-op ecosystem.

Speakers

Moderator – Rebeca Rangel, Asset Funders Network
Christina Chung, UC-Berkeley, Center for Law and Work
Vanessa Bransburg, Democracy at Work Institute
Aquilina Soriano, Pilipino Workers Center
Yungsuhn Park, James Irvine Foundation

Accessibility Statement

Captioning will be provided. If you have any other accessibility requests or questions, please email Beth Yeap at beth@assetfunders.org. Requests for reasonable accommodations must be received by February 1, 2025, to ensure our ability to meet your request.