Learnings from the "Platform Cooperatives Now!" course at the New School
Hello! This project is a part of the New School Platform Cooperatives Now! summer course. This document, called a "Read Me" file, will provide more information about the project and ways that you can contribute to it.
While the world still grapples with the devastating health outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also taken a toll on the global economic landscape. As of May 2020, unemployment claims topped at over 38 millions in the United States, with that number only set to increase in the coming months as more companies lay off workers due to economic losses. While we grapple with this new reality, we're presented with the opportunity to critically examine economic opportunity and sustainability and imaginge a world where people create resilience through alternative labor structures. Once such structure, platform cooperatives, provide ways for individuals and/or groups to democratically organize themselves to provide services.
To that end, the purpose of this page is to provide space to explore platform cooperatives as a viable solution for economic sustainability and community resilience.
Due to the broad scope of the class, this project will focus specifically on the United States (where I'm based) but I encourage others to use this as a guide for other geographic regions. Also, if there's anyone out there who can translate this into other languages, that would be superful helpful.
If you want to report a problem or suggest an enhancement I'd love for you to open an issue or contact me on Twitter @necharism.
Without you, the people, none of this would not succeed. As long as we exist, there is hope.