New BALTA report: enabling policy for social co-ops

BCCA, BCCA — 5 Dec 2008

New BALTA report explores formation of social co-ops

BCCA is pleased to announce a new report by John Restakis, Enabling Policy for Health and Social Co-ops. The report examines obstacles and opportunities to the formation of social co-ops with respect to health care and access to training and the labour market by individuals on social assistance.

The report documents one piece of a larger project examining the specific role played by co-operatives in the design and delivery of social care. In recent years, there has been a major shift both in public policy and in public expectations concerning the roles and responsibilities of governments and the private sector with respect to the provision of social services.

The emergence of co-operative models for the delivery of social care has in large measure been a response to this change in government roles and public policy. In everything from health care to services for people with disabilities, co-ops have been created to respond to what many see as a failure of the public sector on the one hand, and a concern around the privatization of social care on the other. This project examined the emergence of social care co-ops, in a wide variety of forms, as a response to these issues.

The project objectives were to:

• examine the use of the co-op model in the design and delivery of social care both internationally and in Canada;
• determine the variety of co-operative models providing social care and the key sectors in which this care is being delivered;
• determine the number of co-ops providing social care in BC and Alberta;
• document the use of co-ops in the delivery of elder care as a key focus for the research;
• identify success factors in the use of co-ops for the delivery of social care, particularly with respect to public policy, tax policy, legislation, and the role of government;
• identify the particular strengths and weaknesses that the co-op form brings to the task of addressing social care issues;
• identify the specific challenges facing co-operatives models for the design and delivery of social care in BC and Alberta.

A 2007 report in the project series, entitled Co-operative Elder Care in Canada, is also available for download on our website. John Restakis is currently on sabbatical until July 2009 completing the final publication in the project trilogy: a book on co-operatives with a focus on social co-ops. The book is forthcoming from New Society Publishers.

The project was carried out under the auspices of BALTA, the B.C. and Alberta node of the Canadian Social Economy Research Hub (CSE Hub). It forms part of BALTA’s examination of the role of co-ops and the social economy in human services and housing.

For more information on BALTA, check out their website at: http://www.socialeconomy-bcalberta.ca/.

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Category: Community