Building Wealth Together: Impact Silver Spring’s Journey with Worker Cooperatives Continues with Conversions

For over a decade, IMPACT Silver Spring has been at the forefront of promoting worker-owned businesses as a pathway to economic empowerment and wealth-building in our community. Through initiatives like the Worker Cooperative JUMPSTART and the Local Economy Activator, IMPACT has brought together grassroots entrepreneurs, local buyers, and micro-enterprise resource providers to foster a thriving local economy rooted in collective ownership and mutual support. IMPACT helped launch both the Green Clean Cooperative, a worker-owned residential and commercial cleaning service, and the Montgomery Community Investment Cooperative (MCIC), an immigrant-led cooperative providing the capital and support needed to create and grow small businesses in Montgomery County. While Green Clean, like many small enterprises, did not survive the pandemic, MCIC is still going strong.

Additionally, in 2018, Impact convened more than 100 community members for a forum featuring Marjorie Kelly, a cofounder of Fifty by Fifty, a network initiative to catalyze 50 million employee owners by 2050. And, the next year, we convened a listening session with the County Executive, County Council Vice President, and a District 20 Delegate, giving members of budding worker cooperatives a platform to share the unique challenges they face in an environment where such enterprises are rare. This session highlighted the potential of worker cooperatives as a vital solution for wealth building and economic development, especially for immigrant and low-income communities.

These early efforts not only raised awareness about the potential of worker cooperatives but also provided essential skills and connections needed to help these emerging businesses flourish. While during the pandemic and its aftermath, IMPACT was heavily focused on COVID emergency response, we are now turning back to our worker cooperative initiative with an expanded focus to include conversions, where businesses with a traditional structure transition to employee ownership. We are excited to be partnering with Project Equity, a national leader in the movement to expand employee ownership, as we do this work. This new area of focus aligns with our commitment to fostering inclusive economic practices that empower all members of our community to build wealth and thrive.

According to Project Equity research, 56% of businesses in Montgomery County are owned by individuals at or near retirement age. This so-called Silver Tsunami represents 11,144 local businesses, accounting for $31 billion dollars in revenue and 141,000 local jobs.

Without an exit plan, these local businesses and jobs are at risk. Additionally, the pandemic has made recruitment and retention of employees more challenging for business owners, slowing their recovery and growth.

Transitioning these businesses to employee ownership would keep these businesses going while also creating pathways to quality jobs and wealth building for workers. Employee ownership is a proven business structure in which a broad base of employees own the business where they work. Employee-owners build assets through profit sharing, retirement savings, and/or shared business ownership. Studies have shown that employee-owners have higher median wages than their peers, were five or more times less likely to be laid off during the Great Recession, and that employee-owners of color have substantially more wealth than their peers nationwide.

Here are some of the businesses in Montgomery County that are already worker-owned: Resolve Financial Cooperative, Swamp Rose Co-op, Anytime Taxi, and Moyers Lawn Service and Landscaping.

As we continue to champion worker cooperatives and employee ownership, stay tuned for the exciting developments and initiatives IMPACT Silver Spring has in store for our community.