From Yes! Magazine: As Tom Adams, co-founder of Adams & Chittenden Scientific Glass, started planning his exit into retirement, he knew what he didn’t want to happen. Twenty-six years earlier, Adams was a production manager at a scientific glass blowing company in Berkeley, Calif., when the last of the company’s founders decided to sell the […]
Industry: Solar Location: California Number of employees: 30 Became employee owned: 2019 Assistance: Project Equity Learn more californiasolarco.com Yes – Converting Businesses to Cooperatives Just Got Easier (2019) Project Equity – California Solar: Lars’ Story Briar Patch – Cal Solar Employees Explore Becoming Worker-Owned Co-op Employee Owned Small Businesses in Solar Employee Owned Small Businesses […]
Industry: Research and Evaluation Location: California Number of employees: 17 Became employee owned: 2019 Assistance: Project Equity Learn more Rockman – Rockman et al Announces Transition to New Employee-Owned Structure (2019) Employee Owned Small Businesses in California Employee Owned Small Businesses Assisted by Project Equity
Industry: Manufacturing Location: Berkeley, California Number of employees: 7 Became employee owned: 2019 Assistance: Project Equity Financing: Shared Capital Cooperative Learn more http://www.adamschittenden.com/ Yes – Converting Businesses to Cooperatives Just Got Easier (2019) Project Equity – For the Love of Glass Project Equity – Mo’s Story Fifty by Fifty: Berkeley, CA: Early Investor in Employee Ownership […]
From the Mercury News: When Rendell “Ren” Boguiren got a job in college at a South Bay pizzeria, he wasn’t expecting it would become a career. Now, as a part-owner in the business, he can’t imagine leaving. It was a transition made possible because co-founders Kirk Vartan and his wife, Marguerite Lee, made a decision […]
In the first video (above), Jordan Klein, the City of Berkeley’s Economic Development Manager, describes the tremendous potential that employee ownership can offer cities and why Berkeley embraces it. In the second video (above), Jordan describes how Project Equity has helped advance the city’s goal to keep businesses rooted in the local economy. Get the […]
From Truthout: Five years later, Reyes is now A Yard & A Half’s board president. He still works on the field team doing landscaping and hardscaping work, but he now has a much broader range of responsibilities, which include facilitating meetings, developing agendas, and meeting with the executive committee once a month. A Yard & […]
From Fifty by Fifty: The Main Street Employee Ownership Act, passed in August 2018, relies heavily on the nation’s network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to educate and support business owners in transitioning their companies to employee ownership. But for the most part, SBDC business advisors aren’t familiar with employee ownership. To begin to fill […]
From the Huffington Post: In a 4,000-square-foot industrial space tucked away in a West Berkeley neighborhood, a team of glass blowers is hard at work. In one corner, a young man named Sam is repairing a piece of laboratory glassware used for cannabis distillation, the bright orange flames from his lathe dancing just inches from […]
From Whatcom Talk: Project Equity, a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to advancing community economic resiliency, released a report today examining the small business landscape in Washington, and the potential transfer or closure of many of these businesses as baby boomer owners retire over the next 15 years. This data, gathered in partnership with and commissioned by […]