Municipal Policies for Community Wealth Building Municipal Policies for Community Wealth Building Bill de Blasio Mayor Lorelei Salas Commissioner © 2020. New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. All rights reserved. 1 Acknowledgments The Department acknowledges Sofía Arana Landín the authors of this report: Professor, University of the Basque Country Spain Sam Wylde, Policy Analyst, Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE); Zayne Abdessalam, Tom Webb Director of Policy and Research, OFE. Professor, Saint Mary’s University Canada The Department also acknowledges the following staff members for their contributions: Valerie Piper Consultant Debra Halpin, Assistant Commissioner formerly Vice President for Special Projects for Creative Services; Amelia Josephson, The Democracy Collaborative Policy Analyst, OFE; Abigail Lootens, Washington, D.C. Associate Commissioner of Communications and Marketing; Nicole Perry, Deputy Additional thanks to Christine Curella and Commissioner, OFE; Lorelei Salas, Sam Jung, our interagency partners at the Commissioner. Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises and the Office of the Sincere thanks to the following officials and Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives. experts who generously made themselves available for interviews for this report: Special thanks to Joe Rinehart and Jakob Winkler for their contributions to this report, as well as Fred Freundlich Evan Casper-Futterman of Bronx Cooperative Professor, Mondragon University Development Initiative, Deyanira Del Río and Spain Mike Sandmel of New Economy Project, and Katherine Mella of MIT Community Innovators Graeme Nuttall OBE Lab for their thoughts and comments. Partner, Tax and Structuring Fieldfisher, United Kingdom Designed by Agenda: www.agendanyc.com James Wright Policy Officer, Co-operatives UK United Kingdom Laurence Kwark Secretary General Global Social Economy Forum Seoul, South Korea 2 Acronyms BCDI DAWI NRP SBS Bronx Cooperative Democracy at Neighborhood Small Business Development Initiative Work Institute Revitalization Services Program BDC DCA SNAP Baltimore Department of NYCCLI Supplemental Nutrition Development Consumer Affairs NYC Community Assistance Program Corporation Land Initiative DCWP WCBDI BFPI Department of NYC NOWC Worker Cooperative Baltimore Food Consumer and NYC Network of Business Development Policy Initiative Worker Protection Worker Cooperatives Initiative CDS ESOP OCWB Community Employee Stock Office of Community Dental Services Ownership Plan Wealth Building CEANYC EU OEOC Cooperative European Union Ohio Employee Economics Alliance Ownership Center of New York City GDP Gross Domestic OFE CLT Product Office of Financial Community Empowerment Land Trust HDFC Housing Development PSM Fund Corporation Public Service Mutual HPD Housing Preservation and Development 3 Table of Contents 4 18 34 42 56 Message Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3: Chapter 4: from Deputy Mayor Building a Basis Inclusive Inclusive Inclusive J. Phillip Thompson for Inclusive Ownership as Ownership as Ownership in the Ownership Economic Public Service Neighborhood 6 Development and Public Message 22 Investment 60 from Commissioner Policy Profile #1: 38 Policy Profile #14: Lorelei Salas Legal Definition of Policy Profile #7: 46 Minneapolis Cooperatives in Italy Ownership Succession Policy Profile #9: Neighborhood 8 Planning at the Ohio Support for Public Revitalization Introduction 24 Employee Ownership Service Mutuals Program Policy Profile #2: Center in the U.K. 10 Mandatory 62 How Inclusive Reinvestment 40 48 Policy Profile #15: Ownership Furthers Commitments Policy Profile #8: Policy Profile #10: Baltimore Food the Public Good and Cooperative Comprehensive Barcelona Cooperative Policy Initiative Federations Social Economy Housing 12 Support Plan in Seoul Support for 26 50 Policy Profile #11: Inclusive Ownership Policy Profile #3: Champlain in New York City— Tax Benefits for 65 Housing Trust Conclusion Past Efforts and Cooperatives in Italy Future Prospects 28 52 66 Policy Profile #12: Works Cited 15 Policy Profile #4: Public Procurement A Framework for Regulating in Preston, U.K. Successful Inclusive and Promoting Ownership Policies the Social Economy and Cooperatives in 54 Policy Profile #13: the Basque Country Bank of North Dakota 30 Policy Profile #5: Cooperative Business Development and Innovation Center in the Basque Country 32 Policy Profile #6: Mayoral Offices of Community Wealth Building 4 Message from Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson This important report is being published during ■ For workers, inclusive ownership creates an unprecedented time. COVID-19 has beset opportunities for asset building and wealth New York City, transforming life as we knew it, generation, especially among New Yorkers and presenting challenges with no parallel in with low and moderate incomes and recent history. communities of color. ■ For businesses, inclusive ownership promotes As we work tirelessly on response and recovery, greater worker decision making and it is paramount that we recognize that the democracy, which leads to greater economic devastation of this virus has not fallen equally resilience, productivity gains, innovation, across our city. Black and Latinx New Yorkers and growth with social impact. have suffered disproportionately. We know this ■ For communities, inclusive ownership acts from the numbers: higher rates of infection; as a vehicle for communities to take greater higher rates of death; higher risk of income and control over the most important aspects of job loss relative to other New Yorkers. their economic lives and to rectify enduring economic disparities. The loss and pain in these communities have exposed anew the deep and persistent racial I commend the DCWP Office of Financial inequities in our city and country. And while we Empowerment (OFE) for the work that resulted in express our deepest gratitude for our frontline Municipal Policies for Community Wealth Building. workers—our health care workers, our caregivers, The domestic and international strategies outlined our grocery store workers, our delivery workers— in this report offer insights for the City’s vision we must acknowledge that many of these of economic inclusion, in particular the critical essential workers are people of color who labor role that municipal policies, public finance, and for low wages with relatively few protections. business assistance programs can play in affording communities the ability to shape their lives We can do better. and the economy. They are important guideposts for the months and years of recovery ahead. Even before the pandemic, the City of New York was working toward a future where all New Local and state governments can go a long way Yorkers have access to economic opportunity. in embedding democracy and civic participation To this end, the de Blasio Administration has into the very fabric of the public sphere. The supported minority- and women-owned business result will likely be a stronger economy and enterprises; expanded worker protections, public savings. We look forward to working with including launching the Office of Labor Policy & business, worker, and community organizations Standards in the recently renamed Department to leverage these insights and build an inclusive of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP); economy in New York City. and deepened our focus on innovative strategies that promote inclusion and enable workers and communities to capture their fair share of the economic prosperity they help to create. Inclusively owned businesses and other inclusive ownership models are one powerful and promising J. Phillip Thompson strategy to meet the moment: Deputy Mayor 5 6 Message from Commissioner Lorelei Salas We were set to publish Municipal Policies for Now, we believe Municipal Policies can help guide Community Wealth Building when the COVID-19 a response and recovery that will generate shared, pandemic hit. Although the important work stable, equitable prosperity for all New Yorkers. outlined in this report remains relevant, Although the profiles predate the pandemic, the much about work and life in New York City strategies to root wealth in resilient community has been upended. institutions are well-suited to the challenges that our current moment of economic uncertainty My original message had begun with the presents. Shared enterprises—such as worker- statement: New York City is a thriving metropolis owned businesses and public banks—have often because of the strength of its communities. served as anchors of stability in past times of Every day, I am reminded that New Yorkers’ economic peril. In fact, according to a May 15 resolve and spirit of cooperation are undiminished. article in The Washington Post, the Bank of North Examples abound of New Yorkers who have come Dakota, a public bank profiled in this report, was together to serve their communities—delivering providing crucial support to workers and small groceries to neighbors, supporting one another businesses during the present economic shock. through mutual aid societies, performing essential work as health care, grocery, and delivery workers, Municipal Policies surveys strategies that 15 cities to name a few. and regions in the U.S. and around the world are undertaking to strengthen the economic and The resolve of the Department of Consumer and financial health of their communities. Drawing from Worker Protection (DCWP) is undiminished, as a diversity of policies and programs—from Seoul, well. As the Agency with