National Urban League, Democracy at Work Institute and Citi Community Development
This new report from the National Urban League, the Democracy at Work Institute, and Citi Community Development discusses converting businesses to employee ownership as a critical strategy to sustain and scale black-owned or operated firms. Drawing from survey results and stakeholder convenings, the report highlights shared challenges and opportunities and found that an estimated 284,000 business owners of color are nearing retirement and that employee ownership conversion could help address challenges around access to capital and succession.
Published by Emerald Cities Collaborative, this case study is part of the ongoing series Anchors In Resilient Communities (ARC) which highlights lessons learned from anchor collaboratives working to advance climate resiliency. The Democracy Collaborative is a co-founder of ARC. This case study details work in Richmond and East Oakland, California to leverage local anchor procurement, investment, and hiring capacity to support inclusive and sustainable economic development. Participating institutions are working to launch MyCulitver, a cooperatively owned greenhouse and incubator facility.
The Democracy Collaborative's testimony to the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice on how to bring about a thoroughgoing democratisation of our political economy.
Published by the Democracy at Work Institute, this new report discusses the accomplishments of the first year of the Workers to Owners Collaborative, launched in 2016 to catalyze business conversions to cooperative ownership. Participating organizations collectively created 215 opportunities for new worker-owners and facilitated the transfer of over $8 million in business assets from retiring owners to employees.
Published by the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at UC Berkeley, this new report discusses the relationship between health outcomes and wealth disparities in Detroit, Michigan. The authors detail how a lack of access to safe housing and water poses the greatest health threats to residents, and call for solutions outside the realm of clinical care. While noting the necessity of Medicaid expansion, the report calls for investments in the social determinants of health—including affordable housing and expanded social services.
Written by Bill Emmons for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Housing Market Perspectives explores how HOE accounted for almost half of Black and Latino's families wealth:
Homeowners‘ equity (HOE)—the market value of residential real estate minus the value of homesecured debt—has long been the single largest component of wealth for black and Latino families.2 On average during the past quartercentury, HOE accounted for nearly half of black and Latino families‘ wealth, compared with roughly a third for Asian or other families and about a quarter for white families (Figure 1).3 During peaks in 1989 and around the financial crisis starting in 2007, HOE accounted for more than half of the wealth of the average black and Latino family
This report published by the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), a UK-based think tank focused on progressive economics, discusses the potential to leverage public spending to build community health. The authors detail how local anchor institutions in Manchester and Preston have already re-directed a significant portion of their procurement to local businesses. The report includes recommendations for scaling this approach across the UK, calling for revised legislation that integrates the economic, social, and environmental value of procurement into public purchasing guidelines.
