(San Francisco, CA, Tuesday, January 11, 2022) After years of struggling with an unreliable job market, high housing costs and a lack of affordable childcare, many Californians face deep uncertainty in the wake of the pandemic.

Around the country, and across California, cooperatives continue to play a vital role in many sectors of the economy and serve as a resource for those struggling with this uncertainty.

A new report from Project Equity, and funded by the James Irvine Foundation, shows that worker cooperatives create high-quality jobs, products and services that are valued by the communities they serve.

California has the highest functional poverty rate in the nation, with one in three Californians living in or near poverty.

One-third of the California’s labor force consists of essential workers with low-paying jobs and this population is only expected to grow more prevalent over the next decade.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that worker ownership increases workers’ incomes and financial security, enhances productivity, and strengthens overall business stability.

The benefits of cooperatives are prompting decision makers across California to seriously consider this approach to economic security.

Project Equity is a national leader in the movement to harness employee ownership to maintain thriving local business communities, honor selling owners’ legacies, and address income and wealth inequality. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Project Equity works with partners around the country to raise awareness about employee ownership as an exit strategy for business owners, and as an important approach for increasing employee engagement, financial security, and wellbeing.