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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Evan Casper-Futterman, Director of Planning and Education at Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition
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Evan Casper-Futterman testified in support of the Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative (WCBDI), requesting a budget of $5,097,082 for the next year. He emphasized the importance of worker-owned businesses in promoting economic democracy and worker protection.
- Highlighted the alignment of worker-owned businesses with DCWP's mission of consumer and worker protection
- Cited studies showing benefits of worker ownership, including increased job security, higher wages, and greater productivity
- Argued that supporting worker ownership reduces enforcement costs for the city by encouraging high-road business practices
Evan Casper-Futterman
3:01:39
Hi.
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Good afternoon.
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My name is Evan Casper Putterman.
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I'm the director of planning and education at the Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition, which is a 50 year old community led organization organizing people across generations for racial justice and economic democracy.
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Alongside my colleagues from the WCBDI, I'm asking New York City Council to support our budget ask of $5,097,082 in next year's budget.
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I'm speaking today not only as a practitioner, but also as a researcher and a professor who's taught for eight years on topics of cooperative development.
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New York City Council made history by passing the nation's first worker cooperative business development initiative.
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Across this country, the work has continued to grow and adapt, all based on the courage and vision of champions in the New York City Council.
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Although the initiative works most closely with SBS, we're grateful for the support of w DCWP over the past decade, which has supported our work, particularly through the creation of a report on strategies for building community wealth in New York City through the office of financial empowerment back in 2019 and 2020.
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If you haven't read it, it's a really good report.
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Check it out.
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Declaration for of and support for worker owned businesses is strongly aligned to the mission of consumer worker protections over which this committee has jurisdiction.
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In addition to building wealth and skills of ownership, worker owned businesses of all sizes have been shown in numerous studies to have increased job security, lower turnover, higher wages, more assets and wealth than their non peer nonowning peers across age, gender, and race, and greater productivity and job satisfaction.
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Worker ownership supports the mission of consumer and worker protection by reinforcing and encouraging high road business practices, which reduces the cost of enforcement to taxpayers and reduces the demands of staff of DCWP and other city enforcement agencies who have to pursue bad corporate actors who abuse workers.
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This is particularly true as well because of the kinds of workers and industries that WCBDI has engaged with, primarily low wage, high turnover industries where workers are commonly exploited and in which businesses are commonly cited for violations and illegal practices.
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Every dollar spent on worker ownership, every worker owner created, every new worker owned business in our city needs a better life for workers, fewer bad actors in our neighborhood commercial corridors, and better value for
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the Time expired.
Evan Casper-Futterman
3:03:43
Thank opportunity to testify today, and we hope you consider our budget priorities coming negotiation process.