Updates from around the State: McKenzie Jones of The Worker Place

We invited updates from participants in last year’s Summit to share the latest news.  McKenzie Jones of The Worker Place offers this update: 

What are some cooperatives you work with that New Yorkers should know more about? 

Gimme! Coffee Cooperative of course – a beloved coffee shop with multiple sites around Ithaca, Gimme converted to worker ownership after 20 years with a sole owner. Part of their mission is to change hospitality for workers and they offer salaries, benefits, and predictable work hours. This is all in addition to their commitment to working with cooperative and sustainable growers. Plus they’re a union so how the co-op functions during bargaining is worth watching. 

Newly forming is Media Arts Collective and Resource Exchange that offers physical space for creative workers as members in addition to education and programming for the community. Things are just getting started but the founding members (of which I am one) are exploring a cooperative ownership model.  

Long standing NYC theater nonprofit IndieSpace is also exploring a cooperative model. They hold a lease for a rehearsal space and will also have access to a new theater under construction, they currently share theater space with other groups and want to formalize themselves as a cooperative to elevate their shared governance and finances.

Launch.coop, which has been in the works for a while but just recently incorporated, is going to make a lot of waves in the worker co-op community. Four founding member organizations are developing a platform for co-op startups and conversions to have a singular place for organizing their teams, developing their governance and financial documents, and preparing to work with legal and financial professionals. Other resources and connections will be available through the app and community. There will be piloting in MA but New Yorkers can expect access soon. Founding members include The Worker Place, Boston Center for Community Ownership, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (!), and TESA (Toolbox for Education and Social Action). Launch Cooperative was just awarded a $100,000 grant from One Project. 

What do you see happening in the economy that is moving people to explore cooperatives?

Instability and insecurity from the federal government rippling through every sector of the 99% is motivating people to want alternatives to capitalism and more control over their futures. It seems pretty simple that a time of great political and social divisiveness would tip people off to systems that have a track record of working better for working people. 

• Truthout – Pandemic Crash Shows Worker Co-ops Are More Resilient Than Traditional Business
• Co-operatives First – 4 reasons co-ops do better in a crisis
• NCBA CLUSA – Building stability, resilience and opportunity during the Year of Cooperatives
• Fortune – Cooperatives can make economies more resilient to crises like COVID-19 

What is a recent moment you’ve personally seen cooperation in action?

I got support from the cooperative law community to make my band Strange Heavy a cooperative LLC. There aren’t many models for cooperatives in the entertainment industry, some of us are putting a panel together about music cooperatives and moving the music industry away from exploitation toward solidarity at the Americana Music Association conference and festival in Nashville in September. A lot of cool collaboration is bringing the model of collective ownership to an industry that is loudly calling for more equitable pay and representation, among other things