WAGES is a non-profit 501(c)3 economic development organization founded in l994. Our
mission is to help low-income women gain economic security through business cooperative
ownership. Our goals are to create livable wage jobs, ownership opportunities, improved
working conditions, and leadership opportunities for and with women with little formal
education or job experience. Our program focuses on education, management support, and
technical assistance to the cooperatives we help organize.
One of WAGES’ chief successes has been helping immigrant women form environmentally
sound housecleaning cooperatives. These businesses are carving out a unique and profitable
business niche in California’s Silicon Valley. The cooperatives are structured as limited-
liability companies, whose operating strategy supports democratic decision-making and
equitable wages and profit sharing by the women who clean. Women are earning $11-14 per
hour, while creating a healthier work environment for themselves by using least-toxic cleaning
products. They are also learning new professional and communication skills as they administer
their businesses.
WAGES brand of social entrepreneurship is breaking new ground in the areas of economic
development, democratic cooperatives, and environmentally sound businesses. In l997 the
Community Foundation Silicon Valley recognized our efforts with the Non-Profit Innovation
Award, and in l999 we were granted the Social Equity for Sustainability Business
Environmental Award from the Peninsula Conservation Center Foundation.
WAGES now is strategically mounting its efforts to start new and expand existing
environmentally sound cleaning cooperatives owned and operated by women throughout the
greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Our development approach is to:
1. Focus on a specific business niche;
2. Provide intensive, on-going education;
3. Support professional management of the cooperatives;
4. Stabilize and strengthen the business cooperatives through a federated association.
We hope that WAGES' experience can offer lessons to other organizations interested in
business cooperative development. This report will describe the context and conditions of
housecleaning work in the Silicon Valley, provide a history of WAGES’ program, and analyze
lessons learned through our work.