WDCO-AC - Workplace Democracy and Community Ownership

The Advanced Certificate in Workplace Democracy and Community Ownership provides students with the skills required to build more effective democratic workplaces and equitable communities. The curriculum of the Advanced Certificate draws on a variety of academic disciplines: history, management, political science, etc. to provide students with the theoretical and practical skills necessary for effective participation in worker and community initiatives where there is shared ownership and control; from worker-owned co-ops and community land trusts to public banking and limited equity housing co-ops. The program, offered in a hybrid modality, allows students to explore the details of how distributed management and ownership may function to apply solutions to all kinds of work and community organizations.  Using New York City and its environs as a classroom, students will not only learn about the history of worker-owned enterprises and various community ownership models, but they will engage with local initiatives and practitioners to develop leadership and facilitation skills to the necessary change to create equity in the workplace and in communities.  At the center of the advanced certificate is the articulation of the worker voice, growth of worker economic base, and building worker power. In the end, the program prepares students to create, promote, and support jobs, while collaborating with workers to define a truly democratic and community-minded economy.  

Career & Academic Advancement 

Graduates will be prepared for careers in cooperative, worker, and community development, as the personnel who are able to make sound decisions, problem solve as well as possess leadership attributes with multiple skills and application capabilities. The specific objectives are as follows.