worker-co-op-toolkit

Consumer and Worker Protection


Leveraging Financial Empowerment to Support Employee-Owned Businesses


Lessons and Tools for Cooperative Developers

DCA’s Office of Financial Empowerment and Make the Road New York, with support from Citi Community Development, partnered with The ICA Group and Dr. Joyce Moy of the City University of New York to explore how employee ownership models can best support worker-owners to improve their financial health and build assets. The report and tools featured on this page are meant to support cooperative developers, employee-owners, and managers in employee-owned businesses in implementing financial empowerment programs inside their workplaces. The information can also help cooperative business stakeholders think about how better to use their businesses as a tool for the financial health of their employee-owners.

Leveraging Financial Empowerment to Support Employee-Owned Businesses: Lessons for Cooperative Developers

This report documents what we learned from dozens of worker-owner members, cooperative business development professionals, and financial empowerment practitioners, and provides some actionable next steps to further improve financial health for worker-owners. Download report

Field Guide to Financial Empowerment Programs and NYC Service Providers

This field guide outlines a variety of financial empowerment services and products available to employee-owned businesses. This guide helps New York City businesses, employers, and cooperative developers add new programs and referral streams into their existing Human Resources practices to further support employees. Download guide

Participatory Management Resource Directory

This collection of resources provides a framework for understanding participatory management and helps cooperative developers and managers maximize the “cooperative advantage” for their business. Download directory

Participatory Management Budgeting Workshop

This workshop is designed for cooperative developers and managers to work with employees to better understand the business’s budget. The goal is to have members provide feedback on how to improve the business and to build an understanding of how key business concepts relate to day-to-day management and success. Download workshop overview

Individual Financial Health Assessment for Worker-Owners

When a client meets with a financial counselor for the first time, the initial session is dedicated to understanding the client’s full financial picture, determining personal goals, and identifying the financial service support that is needed and the milestones that will help the client achieve positive financial outcomes. The Financial Health Assessment walks the counselor and client through a series of questions to determine these needs and next steps. Download assessment template

Worker-Owner Financial Health Survey

Developers of employee-owned businesses and Human Resources managers can administer this survey to a large sample of their company’s employees to assess the overall financial health of worker cooperative members and to engage the members in a conversation about their financial health needs. Download survey [English / Español (Spanish)]

Financial Education Curriculum for Worker Cooperative Members

This curriculum was created to meet the financial education needs of worker cooperative members as individuals and entrepreneurs. It focuses on topics from personal finance to business financial management. The five two-hour-long workshop topics are:

Topic 1: Basic Money Management & Budgeting
Download slides as PDF [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download slides as PPTX [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download handout - Case Study [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download handout - Goal Setting [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download handout - Worker-Owners Support Need [English / Español (Spanish)]

Topic 2: Banking & Basic Financial Transactions
Download slides as PDF [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download slides as PPTX [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download handout - Case Study [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download handout - Case Study – Answer Key [English / Español (Spanish)]

Topic 3: Credit
Download slides as PDF [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download slides as PPTX [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download handout - Police Report [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download handout - Sample letter from the US Federal Trade Commission [English / Español (Spanish)]

Topic 4: Creating a Profitable Business
Download slides as PDF [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download slides as PPTX [English / Español (Spanish)]

Topic 5: Basic Financial Statements
Download slides as PDF [English / Español (Spanish)]
Download slides as PPTX [English / Español (Spanish)]

© June 2017. New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. All rights reserved.