This Way Out: 

A Guide To Starting A Worker Cooperative (Explained By Those Who Have Done It)

The Impact of this DVD tool

A nuts 'n' bolts how-to DVD on starting a worker cooperative has been needed and talked about in the workers cooperative community for years.  I have already received inquiries from cities as diverse as Richmond, CA, San Diego, Chicago and New York.  Mark Day, my fellow filmmaker-activist, has generously promised language translation services so that I can include Spanish language option on the DVD. I am also grateful for invaluable support & consulting advice from the Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives, US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, California Center for Cooperative Development as well as individual coop members.  But I need YOU to help me to help others.   America needs jobs now!

This DVD will include creating business plans, types of cooperative structures, creating by-laws, the type of legal and financial terminology that people can expect to encounter, how to prepare to meet with financiers, various funding options, day to day business issues, organizing a structure to deal with conflicts, as well as profiles of diverse cooperatives.  The information will be presented in an upbeat way by cooperative members themselves, as well as attorneys and financial institution experts savvy about cooperatives.

As  the filmmaker (and cooperative member) behind "This Way Out."  I am lucky and grateful to be living in a housing cooperative in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is not only home to a fabulous and diverse array of worker and housing cooperatives, but also very rich with cooperative history.  During the Great Depression, grassroots associations such as the UXA ("Unemployed Exchange Association") and Berkeley Self Sufficiency Association pulled people together and not only employed themselves, but did so with medical coverage and benefits!   With an alarming number of people unemployed, underemployed, or employed in jobs with which they feel dissatisfied, workers cooperatives are a concept that is both time-proven and timely -- and yet many still do not know much about them, let alone how to start one successfully.  

The biggest expense is for a camera upgrade ($3000.) The goal is to press 1000 DVD's ($1400) with the rest going to cover production costs.  Target completion is for summer of 2011, but I really need to hit the goal amount.  Getting the camera is the most immediate hold-up.

Please Help Spread The Word!

I will be posting updates on the project as well as some video as I go.  I do need everyone's help in spreading the word.  Do you network with others in your profession? Old schoolmates?  Former cell mates?  Need excuses to pester your ex's?  Please help spread the word about "THIS WAY OUT."  And, thank you!