News

November, 2012– The National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) was among the seven winners of the 2012 International Year of Cooperatives Film Festival. The animated short, What’s to Love About Food Co-ops? was based upon the research report the ICA Group prepared for NCGA earlier in the year.

For more videos from NCGA, visit their You Tube Channel

The Green House Project, using research conducted by The ICA Group released the following video:

The Green House Business Case Video from The Green House Project on Vimeo.

September, 2011 — The ICA Group, along with staff from the Green House Project and Chi Partners, was awarded the GE Award for Best Research Paper, for the article “Financial Implications of The Green House Model,” published in the journal Seniors Housing & Care Journal, published by the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry.

The Green House Model is an innovative model of nursing home, where residents live in houses made up of 10 to 12 residents. Not only does the model improve the care residents receive, it greatly enhances the quality of work life for direct care workers. For a copy of the report, click here: Financial Implications of THE GREEN HOUSE® Model

Driver Owned Cooperative Gives Cabbies A Stake In Success

Alexandria VA, February, 2007– Culminating five years of groundwork, Alexandria Union Cab opened for business on February 1, 2007.  With ICA’s assistance, 140 immigrant drivers have formed a cooperatively owned taxi company to serve Alexandria and regional airports.

An organizing campaign led by these drivers and the Alexandria Tenants’ and Workers’ Support Committee convinced the Alexandria City Council to amend regulations that had effectively bound drivers to their employers and constrained competition in the market.

The amended regulations enable new companies to be formed and free drivers to affiliate with the company of their choice. “Customers can finally get great service!  Alexandria’s taxi monopoly has been broken,” explains Syed Hussain, Alexandria Union Cab’s President. “We’re proud owners of our own company and will provide outstanding service.”

The business is cooperatively owned and democratically controlled by each of its member- shareholders.  With 140 member drivers, Alexandria Union Cab has become the city’s second largest taxi company overnight.

While the company and its distinctive charcoal gray color scheme are new, the drivers and dispatchers bring years of experience to the enterprise. “Every driver is literally invested in the success of Alexandria Union Cab,” explains Abbassali Abousaidi, a member of the company’s oversight committee.  ”It’s good news for taxi passengers and the drivers.”

Alternative Staffing Alliance Launched

Boston MA, January, 2007 — The ICA Group is pleased to announce the launch of the Alternative Staffing Alliance, a national association dedicated to supporting the efforts of groups nationwide who use a fee-based staffing services model to help individuals with barriers to employment find and retain work. With funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Alliance is poised to serve as a dynamic network for social-purpose staffing practitioners and others interested in this growing sector.

The Alliance will be a source of practical tools and resources, along with peer learning opportunities, to strengthen the field of practice and promote the alternative staffing model.  It will also serve as the voice of the sector, communicating practitioners’ distinctive worker-focused approach and the market-based advantages of this transitional jobs strategy.  For more information about the Alliance please visit www.altstaffing.org

FirstSource Staffing Selected For National Alternative Staffing Demonstration Project

Brooklyn NY, December 19, 2005 — FirstSource Staffing has been selected to participate in an Alternative Staffing Demonstration Project sponsored by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.  The purpose of the project is to measure outcomes of alternative staffing programs for low-income job seekers and their employers.

As part of the Project, FirstSource is receiving a $125,000 grant which will enable FirstSource to expand its capacity to provide pre and post placement employment supports to low-income workers.  FirstSource is one of four social-purpose staffing companies nationwide to to participate in the Project.

“This grant is an important milestone for FirstSource,” said FirstSource President Benjamin Thomases.  ”After years of growth, it’s both recognition of everything we’ve accomplished thus far and an opportunity to accelerate our expansion and development.”

FirstSource was chosen to participate in this important project because of its past performance and its growth potential.  We are confident that they will continue to expand services for both employers and job seekers,” said Neal Hegarty, the Mott program officer overseeing the Foundation’s support of the Project.

Founded in 1998, FirstSource Staffing is New York City’s only social purpose staffing company providing temporary placement, direct placement, and convertible temp-to-permanent arrangements.  FirstSource Staffing provides companies with a socially responsible alternative to typical employment agencies while providing FirstSource associates with a ladder of opportunities that challenge them to improve their skills and advance their careers.

FirstSource was developed by The ICA Group in partnership with the Fifth Avenue Committee, a community-based, non-profit in Brooklyn.

ICA and Jobs For The Future Collaborate on Low Skill Employment Research

Boston MA, September, 2005 — Stable jobs that pay a family sustaining wage and do not require a college degree are increasingly hard to find.  Low-income workers, and organizations seeking to assist them, need help identifying appropriate occupations that are expanding and accessible.

ICA executive director Newell Lessell recently co-authored a guide with Jobs For The Future entitled The Right Jobs: Identifying Career Advancement Opportunities for Low-Skilled Workers a landmark new report that pinpoints 16 specific occupations that have the promise to lift thousands of Americans out of poverty into the middle class.

The Right Jobs is designed as a guide for workforce development practitioners and presents a systematic approach to evaluating occupations in terms of earnings, advancement potential, and accessibility.  Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Right Jobs applies a series of screens that yields a list of 16 occupations that collectively are projected to offer more than 700,000 new job opportunities per year.  These positions are realistic goals for people who have yet to earn a college degree and offer decent pay and opportunity for advancement.

Win Win Cleaning Selected as Finalist in National Business Planning Competition

655 Nonprofit Organizations Enter Competition; 20 Selected to Final Round

New Haven CT/ Boston MA, February 19, 2003 — The Yale School of Management – Goldman Sachs Foundation Partnership on Nonprofit Ventures has selected 20 social-purpose business initiatives to proceed to the final round of the National Business Plan Competition for Nonprofit Organizations. Win-Win Cleaning, a company that the ICA Group jointly created with The Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (Viet-AID), is one of the organizations chosen!

Win-Win is a business cooperative providing sales and advisory support to small office cleaning companies owned by low-income Vietnamese immigrants in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. The cooperative started operations in July 2002 and has already secured  nearly $100,000 in annual contracts for participating entrepreneurs.

ICA and Viet-AID developed the venture to create jobs and business ownership opportunities for neighborhood residents.  ICA conducted the initial feasibility study, developed the business plan, raised startup capital, and is providing ongoing technical assistance to the enterprise.

All of the Competition finalists are in the planning stage, or early stages of operating income- generating business ventures. The finalists will present their business plans to a panel of expert judges at the first Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony to be held on May 1-2, 2003, in New York City.

The judging panel will select four grand-prize winners, each of whom will receive $100,000. In addition to cash awards, the winners will receive hundreds of hours of technical business planning consultations to assist their organizations in implementing their ventures. For information about the Conference, www.ventures.yale.edu/aboutconference.asp

Yale SOM Professor Sharon M. Oster, a leading authority on competitive strategy and nonprofit management and co-faculty director of The Partnership, explained, “We are enormously enthusiastic about the quality of these business proposals. Our evaluation team, comprised of Yale SOM alumni, Goldman Sachs employees, McKinsey & Company consultants, and other experts in the field had a most rewarding, yet challenging task.

Stanley J. Garstka, Deputy Dean of Yale’s business school and co-faculty director of The Partnership added, “We are most excited for the next iteration of the Competition. The judges will have their hands full in deciding between these excellent plans.”
http://www.winwincleaning.com/winwin/pr03.htm

ICA Releases Case Study of Social Purpose Staffing Initiative

ICA’s newest case study, Getting To Work: ICA’s Social Purpose Staffing Companies, is now available on-line for download in PDF format.  This study, authored by Susan Eisenberg, profiles the unique history and character of each of the staffing companies developed to date and captures the key points common to their experience and success.  45 pages (2003) $5.00 (Click here for PDF file)