Cooperative Cannabis Company
Chicago Cannabis Company
Chicago Cannabis Company was started on Chicago’s south side in 2018 as a worker-owned cooperative by our founding members. Since our founding, our goal has been to produce high-quality, crafted cannabis products as well as strive to establish our company as a source of credible cannabis education.
The founders of the Chicago Cannabis Company have chosen to form a worker cooperative because they believe that worker cooperatives contribute to a more just society and to more just and healthy workplaces. Additionally, we feel that our cooperative structure gives us strength as a company. With multiple owners investing their time, talents, and resources to the company, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. The cooperative structure also lends itself to greater accountability, transparency, and workplace satisfaction. These benefits have been demonstrated empirically as co-ops have been shown to have better survival rates than other forms of business ownership.
Building Equity Through Worker-Ownership
Within our mission is a desire to provide economic opportunities for disadvantaged communities, and Chicago’s neighborhoods that have been negatively impacted by “the war on drugs”. Cooperative ownership is a powerful way to extend the benefits of business ownership to all the workers that are sharing in the risk and reward of this enterprise.
Introduction to Cooperative Principles
Can the cooperative model be applied to the cannabis industry? We think so. Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. Cooperative businesses exist to meet their members' needs; they are user-owned, user-controlled, and user-benefiting. As a worker-owned cooperative, all workers who are accepted into Chicago Cannabis Company are considered candidates to become owners of the company after a vetting period.
Cooperatives are unfamiliar to many people despite the fact that they have been around for centuries. As a worker cooperative, ownership of the company is shared by the workers, and decisions are made democratically according to the terms of the company’s operating agreement.
If you have skills or resources that could help us grow the company, and you are interested in joining us, fill out our form by following the link below and we will follow up with you should our company expand.