New York State’s Co-op Movement Comes Together
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On October 3, more than 100 co-op members, developers, technical assistance providers, and enthusiasts from across New York State joined me in coming together in Albany for the New York Cooperative Summit.
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New York is home to, by some counts, more worker cooperatives than any other state in the nation, as well as a vibrant community of credit unions, food co-ops, housing co-ops, and more. However, given the state’s large size and the cultural chasm that can sometimes exist between upstate and downstate communities, cooperators in different regions can often feel isolated from one another. Hence, this year’s summit theme of, “Cultivating a Statewide Movement for Economic Democracy.” 

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Given ICA’s deep belief in the importance of robust local and regional cooperative ecosystems and the fact that several of our staff members are based in NY State, we decided to invest in the success of this gathering as active participants in the planning committee, sponsors of the event, and content providers. 

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Building the Northeast Transition Initiative

ICA Group is a core partner in the Northeast Transition Initiative, a regional collaborative of groups working to grow the supportive ecosystem for employee ownership transitions across New England and New York State. ICA’s Executive Director, Dave Hammer, co-hosted a workshop with our partners at the Cooperative Development Institute focused on providing a basic background on employee-ownership conversions and giving an overview of NETI’s regional strategy and its robust fellowship program. The workshop featured presentations from three NETI fellows, small business-facing economic development professionals who have received training from the program in how to introduce small business owners to the concept of employee ownership transitions and connect them to key resources.

Highlighting Home Care

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Transforming the home care sector through worker-ownership is a key strategic and programmatic priority of ICA Group. ICA’s Home Care Program Director, Fay Strongin, co-hosted a workshop on cooperatives in the care economy with Mariana Ortega, Director of IT and Operations for Cooperative Home Care Associates, the largest worker co-op in the US. Fay shared some of ICA’s research on the cooperative advantage in home care and development of home care cooperatives nationally, as well as our work building Elevate, a secondary cooperative to support home care co-ops, all in conversation with Mariana, who was able to tie this larger analysis to the on-the-ground experience of CHCA in the Bronx.

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Cooperative Leadership To Meet The Moment

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While the summit provided ample opportunities for participants to dig deep on issues like conversions and home care co-ops, it also made space for bigger picture conversations about the role of the cooperative movement in this unique and challenging political moment. To that end, I, ICA’s Senior Strategist for Worker Ownership, facilitated the conference's keynote panel on “Cooperative Leadership to Meet The Moment.” This was structured as a conversation between Melissa Marquez, the recently retired long-time CEO of Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union in Rochester, and India Walton, the former Democratic nominee for Mayor of Buffalo, who is also a founding board member of Cooperation Buffalo and a worker-owner with Rose Jade Consulting Co-op.

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Building The Movement
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‍ICA Group staff were thrilled to have the opportunity to support this important event and deepen relationships with cooperative leaders across New York State. We are deeply committed to building a powerful and cohesive co-op movement in New York and look forward to collaborating with our partners to support an even bigger and better summit next year. We hope to see you there!

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