Massachusetts Legislature Restores Funding to Office of Employee Involvement and Ownership

Thanks to the efforts of Paul Mark and Julian Cyr, both representatives in the Massachusetts legislature, the budget passed by the legislature now includes funding for the Massachusetts Office of Employee Ownership and Involvement. The office, which had been in operation for almost 20 years, was "zero-funded" during the recession. Representative Mark believes that employee ownership will help keep jobs and capital in Massachusetts: "Instead of selling [a business] out to a big corporation and having them move it away and get rid of the jobs, the employees are interested in buying it. This office helps get them the financial skills they need to take over the business, the legal information they need, it helps them with capital if there are any loans that they need, and it helps them set up a new business model," Mark said. [Note: the governor has not signed the legislation. The original version of this article failed to note that the budget will not go into effect unless and until the governor approves the budget.]