Project Officer

Part-Time Project Officer for L.A. Co-op Lab

The L.A. Co-op Lab seeks an energetic, entrepreneurial, and creative individual to round out our team with business and/or financial skills and experience. If hired, you will work to strategically advance the scale and scope of worker cooperatives in Los Angeles through coaching, education, and non-extractive lending.

Overview:

The purpose of the L.A. Coop Lab is to reduce inequality and the harmful consequences of rapid gentrification and displacement in L.A. communities by supporting the development of worker cooperatives –– businesses that are democratically owned and controlled by the people that work there.  We accomplish our purpose through: cooperative business development coaching tailored to the knowledge and needs of workers, an articulated worker co-op curriculum that fills a gap in L.A.’s co-op development landscape, networking events that strengthen L.A.’s co-op ecosystem, and financing viable cooperative businesses in LA.

L.A. Co-op Lab is known for our excellent worker cooperative education and training program that has been deployed in south and east L.A., at Trade Tech College, at UCLA, and which has reached hundreds of people in L.A. and beyond. We anticipate that our soon-to-be launched online program will quickly expand our reach. 

We also hold regular office hours where individuals and teams can get key questions answered and even receive ongoing coaching and technical assistance.

We are less known for our fair and non-extractive financing program which is a primary aspect of the L.A. Co-op Lab difference -- our willingness and ability to invest in democratic economic power in communities. We invest in groups of people and communities who desire a more democratically owned and governed workplace, particularly those who have been undervalued and pushed to the margins of the economy due to questions of race, origin, economic status, and gender. 

In 2021 we look forward to making 3-5 loans to worker-co-ops and as a way to intervene in key business sectors to worker and community advantage.

It is to this purpose that this Project Officer job is addressed.

Responsibilities:

The Project Officer will provide coordination, education, and loan officer/technical assistance services for the L.A. Co-op Lab in order to support the development and sustainability of work-owned cooperative businesses in Los Angeles in accordance with principles of economic and environmental justice.

In 2021, there are four broad goals:

1. Finance: Make at least 3 loans to emerging worker co-ops by the end of 2021, and manage our existing loan to ensure the health and sustainability of that cooperative
2. Education: Evaluate, adapt, and re-deploy L.A. Co-op Lab’s educational program.
3. Organizational Development: Support and develop the administration and infrastructure of the L.A. Co-op Lab organization
4. Community: Maintain communications and produce occasional education and networking events for the growing community of worker cooperatives and allies in Los Angeles.

Specific tasks associated with the above four goals include:

1. Entrepreneurship and business development 
2. Provide co-op development technical assistance to projects that meet the values test of our financial cooperative Seed Commons. These may include business model, break-even analysis; assumptions analysis; etc.
3. Finance: 
4. Work with cooperatives to develop loan applications, as appropriate.
5. Follow-up loans with monitoring according to an agreed upon plan and performance standards and help cooperatives figure out why goals were not met, why they were exceeded, and strategies to pivot for maximum sustainability. 
6. Education: building from a foundation of LA Coop Lab materials and experience, adapt, improve, and deploy an educational program for aspiring and existing worker cooperatives.
7. Organizational Development: Maintain LA Co-op Lab’s digital materials, assist with logistics of educational and other events and help create the best possible roles for the LA Coop Lab Advisory Committee.
8. Community: Maintain and produce mailing lists, outreach communications, and help manage the LA Co-op Lab’s network with a goal of maintaining, expanding, and enhancing our relationships.

Qualifications:

Our ideal candidate would have some combination of the following qualifications:

• Entrepreneurial attitude with ability to work well with co-op teams to achieve their goals. 
• Experienced in coalition work and coordinating/drawing on the resources of people from multiple organizations
• Experienced in writing business plans, including work on financial documents (e.g., projections, budgets, capital plans), and analyzing business opportunities
• Knowledgeable about the economic justice landscape of Los Angeles
• Connected to cooperatives and the cooperative movement
• A clear, and coherent communicator in both written and oral forms
• Personally well-organized and able to create and maintain appropriate online and physical files and communications systems
• Strong embodiment and orientation towards cooperation
• Spanish fluency desirable

Term: Part-time (20-30 hours per week) 12-month contract employment, some benefits, a possibility of a longer-term employment opportunity

Accountability: L.A. Co-op Lab works as a collective, and the new hire will be integrated into that process.  Onboarding and support will be provided by Adriana Swain as well as other collective members, as appropriate.

Location: Los Angeles

To Apply:  Submit cover letter, resume and reference to this form by February 28, 2021.