Coopify

= "app (that) lets you order things like house cleaning or babysitting right from your phone ; the services come from worker-owned co-ops". [1]

URL = (not launched yet)

Co-produced by the "Cooperative Development Program at the Center for Family Life (CFL) and the Robin Hood Foundation. The Coopify app was designed by researchers from Cornell Tech.

Description

ALISSA QUART:

"Steven Lee, managing director of income security at the Robin Hood Foundation, explains that Coopify was conceived to give domestic workers access to more clients, as well as more of a purchase in the sharing economy.

When the platform launches, most likely next summer or fall, it will let users select the service they need—housecleaning or childcare or pet care. The developers are deciding whether users will then be assigned a particular co-op, since the platform will support several different co-ops working in the same field, or will have the ability to choose one themselves. Sean Ansanelli, the app’s 29-year-old developer, has been retooling the design and messaging: he and other designers wanted the app to be simple enough that workers could use it easily and quickly, so they’ve been holding focus groups in which co-op members are taught about the app and how to get paid through it. The app will include options for both online payments and cash. "The project stemmed from a general sense that co-ops needed to exist on a technical level as well, if they are going to be competitors with Uber or Handy or anything like that," says Ansanelli. Ultimately, the workers will be able to manage their schedules, find other workers to cover for them if they can’t make a gig, and see clients’ ratings." (http://www.fastcoexist.com/3058922/can-a-new-worker-owned-platform-create-a-more-equitable-sharing-economy/11)

Examples

• in "Sunset Park, Brooklyn, called the Beyond Care Cooperative, which the members run themselves. Beyond Care is composed of about 45 workers who are also "owners," as well as several hundred active clients, ranging from the politically sympathetic to those who simply need a good nanny. Members advertise their services together and pay co-op dues. Beyond Care is supported by the Cooperative Development Program at the Center for Family Life (CFL), which also develops cooperatives like Si Se Puede! Women’s Cleaning Cooperative, a co-op that has become a local symbol of worker empowerment."