Resources

* Resources local to St. Louis.

Legal, Accounting, and Technical Assistance Services

• *Entrepreneurship Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis: Law students provide pro-bono legal support for cooperatives and local businesses each semester. Contact: Jonathan Smith, Executive Director - jwsmith@wustl.edu

• *Entrepreneurship and Community Development at St. Louis University: Clinic provides transactional representation to entrepreneurs, nonprofits, community groups, and small businesses. Contact: Dana Malkus - dana.malkus@slu.edu

• US Federation of Worker Co-ops Clinic: Network of providers of technical assistance services for co-ops. The US Federation of Worker Cooperatives also provides a vast library of written resources for cooperatives.

• PathLight Law: Provides legal services to co-operatives. Able to offer 1 free consultation. Contact: Sarah Kaplan - sarah@pathlightlaw.com

Co-op Structures + Decision-Making

• Becoming Employee Owned Small Business Toolkit: an online toolkit created by Democracy at Work Institute that provides resources specifically for small businesses interest in converting to a cooperative structure.

• Resources for Worker Self-Directed Nonprofits: a resource page developed by the Sustainable Economies Law Center that provides legal and structural guidance for worker self-directed nonprofits.

• Sociocracy for All: a non-profit that provides training and resources on sociocracy, a circle based organizational structure and meeting format.

• Sociocracy 3.0: a website that provides resources and training on Sociocracy 3.0, which applies sociocratic organizational principles to agile or lean thinking.

• A consensus handbook: Co­operative decision­making for activists, co­ops and communities, Seeds for Change, 2013. PDF. ISBN: 978­0­9575871­0­6

• Democratic Governance: The Design of Governance Systems for Worker Cooperatives, The ICA Group, 2015. PDF.

• thedecider.app: a website that compares and explains different decision-making models that can help you decide when a certain model is right for a certain type of decision.

Education + History of Co-Ops

• Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice, Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, 2014. Book. ISBN: 9780271062174

• Cooperation For Liberation Study & Working Group Forum Toolkit: a toolkit by the Coop 4 Lib study group of the Kola Nut Collaborative that details learnings and explorations of the Black cooperative tradition, 5 December 2018

Conflict Resolution

• In It Together: A Framework for Conflict Transformation In Movement-Building Groups, Interrupting Criminalization & Dragonfly Partners, nd. PDF and Webpage.

• Turning Towards Each Other Workbook, Jovida Ross and Weyam Ghadbian, 2020. PDF.

• Conflict and Accountability in Worker Co-ops, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, n.d. PDF.

• Communication and Conflict Resource Packet, AORTA, 2017. PDF

• Conflict Resolution Center - St. Louis: a St. Louis organization that offers safe, private meetings led by neutral facilitators who help individuals or groups in conflict have a dialogue on the situations they face.

Funding and Business Training

• *WEPOWER Capital: Flexible capital for Black and Latinx owned businesses in the St. Louis region

• *WEPOWER Accelerator: 10-week entrepreneurship development program for Black and Latinx businesses

• *UMSL Anchor Accelerator: 10-week entrepreneurship development program for underrepresented entrepreneurs with a $50,000 capital injection

• *ArchGrants: Annual competition to win $75,000 in equity free funding plus services

• Start.coop: An organization that provides a range of training resources for cooperative businesses, including a free online course, an accelerator, and various workshops.

• Shared Capital Cooperative: A lending and investment fund for co-ops of all types and sizes throughout the United States

• *Balsa Grant: Start up grants for small businesses in the St. Louis region to win $1000 and 10 week training program

• A Bookkeeping Cooperative: a cooperative that provides bookkeeping services, financial systems consulting, and financial education for solidarity economy organizations.

Networks

• Solidarity Economy St. Louis: a network of groups and individuals striving to build and grow a “solidarity economy" in St. Louis.

• US Federation of Worker Co-Ops: a national grassroots membership organization for worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces.

• Democracy at Work Institute: an affiliate of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives that ensures that worker cooperative development in economically and socially marginalized communities is adequately supported, effective, and strategically directed.

• Sustainable Economies Law Center: a national non-profit that provides legal education, research, advice, and advocacy for just and resilient economies.

• New Economy Coalition: a national organization that support a just transition from an extractive to a regenerative economy by building the scale and power of the solidarity economy movement in Black, Indigenous, and working class communities in every region of the United States.