Presented at: GSEF2016 Montreal

Organisation: Madison Common Council (Government and public agency), South Central Federation of Labor (SCFL, SSE organization)

Date: September 8, 2016

Presenter: Ms. Rebecca Kemble (Alderperson), Ms. Charity Schmidt (Organizer)

Contacts: district18@cityofmadison.com, charity@scfl.org

Summary: 

In 2014, the City of Madison, Wisconsin approved $3 million of funding to be distributed over 5 years (subject to the annual authorization of capital expenditure) to support cooperative development, beginning in 2016. The City of Madison’s Economic, Planning and Development units, MadWorC (an umbrella cooperative supporting the worker cooperatives sector in Madison), the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, and other stakeholders are collaboratively developing plans. The program will likely provide technical assistance and lending programs for new and existing cooperative businesses, business analysis and support for cooperative start-ups, assistance with conversions to worker cooperatives, equitable employment for excluded populations, and fundraising and technical support for creative problem-solving.