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Cooperative Business Resolution passed by City Council
On Thursday March 23rd, Austin City Council passed a resolution directing the City Manager to come up with a broad range of policies to support Austin's cooperative economy. These policies include
- Access to Community Development Block Grant Funding, the Small Business Program's Development Family Loan Program, and other sources of funding;
- Providing educational resources through the Small Business Program;
- Reaching out to small business to educate them on cooperative conversions as a means of succession;
- Examine City of Austin purchasing policies to identify and remove barriers from cooperatives' participation
Over the next 120 days, the city manager will be working on these policies with input from the Economic Prosperity Commission, which passed a similar recommendation that also includes recommendations related to housing and consumer cooperatives. We hope that we can not only find ways to implement the above-listed policies, but convince the City that the Economic Prosperity Commission's recommendations should be included as well.
Thank you to all our supporters who came to the City Council and Economic Prosperity Commission meetings and wrote their council members. We can't do this without you: City decision-makers need to see that cooperatives are important to a broad range of citizens. If you would like to find out how you can support the passage of pro-coop policies please e-mail Ryan at RyanMNill@gmail.com, there will be plenty of opportunities in the months ahead. |
