The Fund for Jobs Worth Owning changes workers' lives by building institutions
that center worker voice, grow worker wealth, and build worker power.
What is a Job Worth Owning?
We offer training, coaching, and technical assistance to all our clients. We promise to meet you where you are, with no pressure.
How do bad jobs create and exacerbate inequality?
Compensation
Wages for child care workers have only increased $0.82 since 2012
Home care wages rose only $0.19 from 2009 to 2019
Equity
62% of workers are people of color, over 90% are women
Black childcare workers make $0.78 less per hour than white child care workers
Stability
44% of home care workers live in low-income households
53% of care workers are enrolled in safety net programs
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and global movements for racial justice, the staff of White Electric Coffee demanded change and justice in their workplace. Part of their proposal was to convert the 20-year-old coffee shop in Providence, Rhode Island into a worker-owned cooperative. The prior owners agreed. In September of 2020 the shop also became unionized under CUPS, the Collaborative Union of Providence Service Workers, being the first coffee shop in the state of Rhode Island to do so.
Learn more about how ownership has transformed jobs at White Electric Coffee
Within months of opening our doors, the Fund for Jobs Worth Owning received an emergency call to refinance a line of credit for Cooperative Care, a 35-member worker-owned home care cooperative in rural Wisconsin that has been successfully operating for almost 20 years. A local bank under new management had unexpectedly canceled the loan that had been in place for a decade.
Learn more about how the Fund responded with an investment to support the future of caregivingThe Fund for Jobs Worth Owning strives to make investments that combat racial inequality and the wealth gap. We are committed to being an anti-racist organization.
The Fund for Jobs Worth Owning was created by the ICA Group, the oldest national organization dedicated to the development of worker cooperatives. Since 1977, ICA has launched dozens of worker-owned cooperatives and social enterprises, helped more than 40 companies convert to worker ownership, and created and preserved over 10,000 jobs.
The Fund for Jobs Worth Owning is the leading expert in providing financing strategies for worker-centered business.
We'd love to hear from you. Contact us to see how we can help reach your goals.
The Fund for Jobs Worth Owning | (617) 383-8192
35 Main St., Northampton, MA 01062
© 2025 FJWO. All rights reserved.
In accordance with federal laws and U.S. Department of the Treasury policy, this organization is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. To file a complaint of discrimination, write to: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Director, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20220; call (202) 622-1160; or send an e-mail to: crcomplaints@treasury.gov
