Industry: Construction, Architecture and Design Location: Easthampton, Massachusetts Number of employees: 7 Became employee owned: 2019 Financing: Shared Capital Cooperative Learn more oxbowdesignbuild.com VAWC – Oxbow Design Build Cooperative (2019) Hasler – Worker, Consumer, Producer….Owner (2018) Employee Owned Small Businesses in Construction Employee Owned Small Businesses in Architecture and Design Employee Owned Small Businesses in Massachusetts Employee Owned […]
Industry: Music Location: Northampton, Massachusetts Number of employees: 8 Became employee owned: 2019 From the company Downtown Sounds Workers Co-op (video) (2019) Downtown Sounds – Invest In Our Community: Invest In Downtown Sounds Workers Co-op! Learn more WRSI – Meet The New Bosses Around Downtown Sounds (audio) (2019) Daily Hampshire Gazette – Changing its tune: Downtown Sounds […]
From Truthout: It’s been more than 10 years since the financial crisis of 2008, and working people are still being hammered by its effects — stagnating wages, a widening gap between the rich and the poor, and a rise in the sharing economy to meet basic needs. At the same time, one legacy of the […]
From Fast Company: Massachusetts wants to nudge these business owners toward another option: selling their companies to their employees. The state hired two nonprofits with expertise in shifting to employee ownership models–Working World and ICA Group–to revive its Office for Employee Involvement and Ownership (EIO), which was initially established in the late 1980s but faded […]
From Nonprofit Quarterly: Vartikar says that most small businesses choose one of three options when their owner retires: 1) sell to a competitor or institutional buyer, 2) pass the company on to their children, or 3) shut down entirely. Vartikar estimates that two-thirds of businesses end up closing down. Now, however, state and business officials […]
From the Boston Business Journal: In an era of a widening wealth inequality, the time has come for the advancement of employee ownership models. That’s why I am thrilled that the EIO will soon be back in business. Over the last two years, thanks to the leadership and vision of Senate President Karen Spilka, who has worked […]
From the Boston Globe: he news: The Massachusetts Office of Business Development last month hired two consultants, ICA Group and Working Wealth, to revive the Massachusetts Office for Employee Involvement and Ownership. ICA and Working Wealth will be paid $150,000 to travel the state and preach the gospel of employee ownership — at events and in meetings with potential candidates […]
From the Daily Hampshire Gazette: Downtown Sounds, a city fixture for more than 40 years, is preparing to become a worker-owned cooperative, as the only owner the business has ever known, Joe Blumenthal, readies for retirement. “It’s really an institution in the community,” Blumenthal said this week. Blumenthal, 70, opened the store in 1976, with […]
From Fifty by Fifty: Since 2012, CFNE has financed 15 co-op conversions including providing nine loans for business acquisitions and twelve working capital lines of credit to recently converted businesses. Some of our borrowers include: A Yard & A Half Landscaping Co-op, a largely immigrant co-op serving residences throughout the greater Boston area; Island Employee […]
Industry: Food and Beverage Location: Boston, Massachusetts Number of employees: 30 Became employee owned: 2018 Financing: Local Enterprise Assistance Fund From the company http://www.democracybrewing.com/ Learn more Politico – How Boston Is Becoming the City Where Workers Rule (2020) Forbes – When Banks Say No, Where Do You Go? Ask Boston’s Democracy Brewing (2019) Harvard Law […]
