West Coast Cooperative of Sex Industry Professionals

URL = http://www.wccsip.ca/

Description

"During the Developing Capacity for Change Project, Vancouver sex workers expressed their desire to explore cooperative business models as a way to generate alternative sources of income, increase health and safety, build community capacity and begin to take control of our collective destiny. This cooperative corporation will be a for profit endeavour with its membership guiding all decisions.

Vancouver sex workers from the downtown eastside community have been working hard to create a framework for this cooperative and have finalized governance policies, decision making procedures, terms of reference, membership criteria, code of conduct, and conflict management procedures that will reflect what they envision as a community. The cooperative cooperation was formally incorporated in February 2007 and is known as the West Coast Cooperative of Sex Industry Professionals.

The West Coast Cooperative of Sex Industry Professionals reflects the diversity of the sex working community — it includes women, men and trans-individuals as well as those from different ‘classes’ and varying capacities and abilities. More specifically, sex workers engaged are multi-literate and culturally diverse. First Nations, Asian, Caucasian, Black workers and those of mixed race are currently invested." (http://www.wccsip.ca/whoWeAre.html)