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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Catherine Mersak, Worker Owner at Samankaya Yoga Back Care and Scoliosis Collective
2:52:26
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Catherine Mersak, a worker owner at Samankaya Yoga Back Care and Scoliosis Collective, testifies in support of the Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative (WCBDI) and commercial rent stabilization. She urges the council to increase WCBDI funding to $5,090,000 and highlights the resilience of worker cooperatives, especially during the pandemic.
- Samankaya Yoga is a 10-year-old worker-owned cooperative in Chelsea, specializing in therapeutic yoga for back care.
- The cooperative structure helped the studio survive the pandemic by allowing worker-owners to collaboratively decide on pivoting strategies.
- Mersak emphasizes the importance of WCBDI support and coop-specific grants in maintaining their business.
Catherine Mersak
2:52:26
Hello.
2:52:27
Thank you for the opportunity to testify online today.
2:52:30
My name is Catherine Mersak, and I'm a worker owner at Samankaya Yoga Back Care and Scoliosis Collective.
2:52:35
We're a member of the New York City Network of Worker Co ops, NCNOC, and a partner organization in the WCBDI that you've heard my colleague speak about.
2:52:44
Your support of our community of democratically run businesses helps to create and protect small businesses run by women, immigrant workers, and communities of color across the five boroughs and in a wide array of industries.
2:52:56
I'm testifying today to urge you to continue to support the great work of WCBDI, enhancing their funding to 5,090,000.00 and to also support commercial rent stabilization.
2:53:06
These measures help create stability and resilience in our local economy and protect near cities workers and small businesses from displacement.
2:53:14
My co op, Sammkaya, is a wonderful little studio in Chelsea specializing in therapeutic yoga for back care with with classes online and in studio.
2:53:23
I'm very proud to say my 19 other worker owners and I just celebrated ten years of democratically running the studio together in the same space the whole time.
2:53:31
To make yoga accessible to all bodies abilities, we use specialized rope walls and equipment, which incurred hefty startup costs that we are still paying back.
2:53:42
Our co op business structure made us unique among yoga studios in New York and is one of the reasons we were more resilient through the pandemic than many of the other yoga and wellness spaces we sadly lost.
2:53:54
Even though the pandemic forced us to close our physical space temporarily, we banded together to decide as a team how we would pivot, divide the labor.
2:54:02
We worked together to keep the studio afloat while also making sure the teachers who most needed to work could keep teaching online classes and make ends meet.
2:54:11
And that's one example of how coops are are so resilient when faced with adversity.
2:54:18
We were grateful to have access to technical support from WCVI partners and and a couple grants specific to coops.
2:54:26
One example is Niqnox cooperatives
Barry Pinckney
2:54:28
time is expired.
Catherine Mersak
2:54:29
Refund.
2:54:30
Okay.
2:54:30
There's more information in my written testimony.
2:54:33
Thank you for hearing my testimony, and please continue supporting WCVI.
2:54:39
Thank you.