Can A New Worker-Owned Platform Create A More Equitable Sharing Economy?

The Coopify app lets you order things like house cleaning or babysitting right from your phone. But the people providing the services come from worker-owned co-ops–not big tech companies.

On the face of it, Herrera is a typical struggling immigrant, a 34-year-old nanny who emigrated from Mexico when she was very young, with few resources. But what could be a standard-issue sorry tale—a caregiver with a precarious job; a parent who must leave her own child to take care of other people’s—is actually cheerier. Herrera is part of a caregiving co-op 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.