“Worker cooperatives create local, living wage jobs, have better trained workers and provide a solid tax base for city/county governments, all of which help build a more stable local economy.”
– NOBAWC
“Over 50 new consumer co-ops have opened retail stores since our organization began providing grant support, training and other organizing resources. Since these coops continue to grow, we can estimate the economic impact at a minimum of 40,000 members, 300 FT jobs and $50 million in sales. Co-ops that have been able to obtain sufficient capital and have opened for business have generally flourished. Less than 10% of the co-ops that have opened in the last 6 years have failed, a far lower rate than other forms of small businesses.”
– FOOD COOP INITIATIVE
“Cooperatives maximize the amount of revenue that goes to worker compensation and incentivize workers to be more invested in the success of the company than other business models do. Coops also help to build a sense of community that is often absent from businesses that are structured differently.”
– DIRECT CARE ALLIANCE
“The cooperatively-owned manufactured home communities with which ROC USA works were not immune to these stresses of the recent economic downturn as far as job losses, but these communities proved resilient… the cooperative nature of these ownership entities buffered any individual losses particular homeowners experienced.”
– ROC USA
“Economic downturn affected all financial service businesses to include that of our member credit unions (cooperatives). However, as is readily evident today, credit unions in general weathered the economic storm in fine fashion and of late, have actually experienced a significant growth in membership”
– DEFENSE CREDIT UNION COUNCIL
“Our cooperative principals were paramount in building businesses that seek to serve our owners vs. pursue risky, highly speculative investments that as it turned out were part of the cause of the downturn”
– EAST RIVER ELECTRIC POWER COOPERATIVE
“As we’ve seen during the mortgage and credit crisis, credit unions – one of the more successful of the cooperative businesses – have for the most part provided greater value and greater security for their members (customers) than banks.”
– AMERICA’S CHARITIES
“Co-ops – whether worker-owned, consumer-owned or producer-owned – provide a critical mechanism for allowing broader participation of ordinary Americans to join together individually with small amounts of capital to collectively control large amounts of capital and participate as owners in the American economy.”
– DEMOCRACY COLLABORATIVE
“Credit unions are truly ‘main street’ financial institutions. They are not only in their communities, but ‘of’ their communities. Their boards are comprised of volunteers elected by and from the membership, they are locally based, and they have a history of community involvement… Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), both while chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and afterward, has said that if other financial institutions had behaved like credit unions, there would not have been a mortgage crisis.”
– CREDIT UNION NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CUNA)
“In a time where small business investment by lenders may be hard to come by, co-ops offer an opportunity for individuals to come together, pool financial and human capital resources to meet market needs that are otherwise being left unmet. In a time where unemployment is high, communities and local economies are self-stimulating by creating jobs within co-ops and creating services that are needed within the community. In a time where people feel out of control about their economic future, co-ops give control back to citizens to create their own economic future and invest in themselves and community.”
– ASSOCIATION OF COOPERATIVE EDUCATORS
