How a majority BIPOC worker co-op is disrupting the field of therapy

The Alliance is a worker cooperative—a business owned by its workers with democratic decision-making processes. Though cooperatives can be hierarchical, the Alliance specifically operates as a non-hierarchical collective. Worker-owners at the Alliance say the co-op model offers autonomy and sustainability to continue doing work they spent years training to do, while offering better, equitable care for the clients they serve.

“It’s empowering,” said Sánchez, who works part-time at the co-op while continuing a full-time job at a nonprofit. The co-op, which extends authority to workers regarding hourly pay, sick time, and the cost of their services, is a game changer. Basic things like having access to the organization’s bank account “shatters everything you’ve ever grown up with or seen.”

“You just feel,” she said, “like you’re trusted.” 

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