The Community and Worker Ownership Project (CWOP) supports efforts percolating around the nation and New York City focused on worker-owned cooperatives, economic democracy, and community planning. In this age of burgeoning inequality and pervasive challenges to political and workplace democracy, this project supports projects in worker participation and control, as well as grassroots leadership in community development in collaboration with a broad array of organizational stakeholders, including unions, worker centers, community-based organizations, businesses and worker cooperatives.
CWOP pursues these aims through:
- Training and workshops that bring non-credit courses and workshops to CUNY sites for existing and potential cooperative worker/owners.
- Degree Programs, see our Graduate Level certificate in Workplace Democracy & Community Ownership. With four courses, this certificate can be taken at SLU as part of masters study in Urban or Labor Studies OR on its own for professional development.
- Partnerships with Unions and Coops, Business conversions and Start-Ups to support coop businesses collaboration with organized labor, worker centers, community-based organizations and industry sectors.
- Public programming for discussion of challenges of and possibilities for expanding worker ownership, workplace democracy and grassroots voice in community development.
- Research to evaluate economic and social justice impact of cooperative ownership and democratic engagement.
