The Employee Ownership Expansion Network and the Sand Mountain Cooperative Education Center announced today the creation of the Alabama Center for Employee Ownership (ALCEO). ALCEO is a new initiative aimed to scale employee ownership in the Alabana – it is the 22nd state center in the EOX network.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama, May 13, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Alabama Center for Employee Ownership (ALCEO), a new initiative aimed to scale employee ownership in the state, was recently launched by two nonprofit organizations with similar missions to do outreach and education around wealth and income inequality issues – the Sand Mountain Cooperative Education Center and the Employee Ownership Expansion Network.
This announcement comes on the heels of an employee ownership celebration put on by the two organizations in Huntsville, which has one of the nation's highest per-capita concentrations of employee-owned companies. In Birmingham, this announcement set the stage for further future collaboration with the city of Birmingham, who has been supportive of the ALCEO initiative and sees it as a resource for our small business owners.
"Employee Ownership is a high-leverage, bipartisan solution to an age-old problem - how to create a high-growth and inclusive local economy," said Kevin Burns, a founding board member of ALCEO. "The research is clear that employee ownership creates competitive companies, builds generational wealth for workers, helps close the racial and gender wealth gaps, and helps create a sense of dignity, purpose, and belonging at work."
"So few business owners know that employee ownership models can help them either grow their business or exit without selling to an out-of-state owner or competitor," said Daniel Waid Marshall, a Birmingham resident, worker-owner, and board member of ALCEO. "These same business owners have no idea that there are tax advantages and impact-investor funds that can help them finance the conversion to employee ownership."
By serving as the hub for resources on all forms of employee ownership, the ALCEO will ensure that the people of Alabama – from workers and owners to policymakers and philanthropists – understand employee ownership in its many dimensions as an option for business growth and transitions.
For more information on the Alabama Center for Employee Ownership please contact [email protected].
About Sand Mountain Cooperative Education Center
The Sand Mountain Cooperative Education Center, founded in 2018, has a mission to expand and strengthen worker-ownership and cooperative institutions, and runs programs that teach ownership skills and habits to students and employees throughout the state. Sand Mountain Cooperative Education Center believes that: 1) Everyone deserves access to the dignity of ownership, 2) Wealth should flow back to the communities that produce it, and 3) Ownership is more than a right – it's a skillset. To learn more about Sand Mountain Cooperative Education Center, visit https://www.coopeducation.org/
About the Alabama Center for Employee Ownership
The Alabama Center for Employee Ownership (ALCEO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2024 that serves as the central hub for information and resources around employee ownership in Alabama. ALCEO is on a mission to turn the state of Alabama into a place where every working person can also be an employee-owner by educating business owners and their advisors (lawyers, bankers, accountants, wealth advisors) on the benefits of employee ownership via Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), worker cooperatives, and Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs). ALCEO provides resources, case studies, and articles, and a list of service providers who can assist with employee ownership transitions. ALCEO is part of the Employee Ownership Expansion Network – a network of 22 state centers. To learn more about ALCEO visit: https://www.alceo.org/
About the Employee Ownership Expansion Network
The Employee Ownership Expansion Network is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded on July 4th, 2018 in Philadelphia, PA and headquartered in Arlington, VA. Its mission is to significantly expand employee ownership in the United States by establishing and supporting a network of independent, nonprofit State Centers for Employee Ownership. To date, EOX has provided funding and technical assistance to support the opening of 13 State Centers. EOX's goal is to create one million new employee owners by 2025. To learn more, visit www.eoxnetwork.org.
Media Contact
Steve Storkan, Employee Ownership Expansion Network, 1 651-319-1874, [email protected], www.eoxnetwork.org
SOURCE Employee Ownership Expansion Network
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