Institute For The Future

Loconomics Strikes Partnership with California Community College

Winner of IFTF’s Positive Platforms Design Jam is being used in California Community Colleges courses designed to prepare students for workforce of the future.

One of four teams selected for a fellowship through the Institute for the Future’s “Positive Platforms Design Jam” launched a new partnership this month with California Community Colleges, the nation’s largest higher education system, to help prepare students for the workforce of the future.

San Francisco-based Loconomics Cooperative, a shared-ownership platform that pairs clients with service professionals like dog walkers and house painters, will be used by students as part of the California Community Colleges’ “Self-Employment Pathways in the Gig Economy” program. Designed to introduce cooperative platform ownership as an alternative to traditional gig economy platforms, the pilot project will help students at 24 community college campuses learn how to find work opportunities, track earnings and eventually become independent small business owners.

The initiative is part of the college’s Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy framework that invests in California’s economic growth and global competitiveness through industry-specific partnerships, education, training and services that contribute to a highly skilled and productive workforce.

“I see it being a long-term strategy by California Community Colleges to explore how to prepare students for the gig economy. The world of work is changing rapidly and being able to function in the gig economy is going to be a must for workers in the near future,” Loconomics co-founder Joshua Danielson said. “This venture is in-line with the mission of Loconomics to utilize technology, shared ownership and community to strengthen local economies.”

Loconomics equips worker-owners with tools and marketing and provides clients with an app to discover and schedule services with them. The cooperative receives revenue from member owners who pay a monthly fee of $20-$40 depending on the features they access. The organization is held accountable to members, and when there are profits leftover, they’re distributed back to the workers as dividends.

The partnership was launched shortly after Danielson and colleagues Denise Cheng and Matt Schaefer were awarded an IFTF fellowship in February 2017 for a project called “Recruiting Worker-Owners to Loconomics Co-operative, an Existing Positive Platform.” Their proposal focused on researching the psychology behind worker skepticism of co-ops and testing a new marketing campaign to recruit people to co-ops.

“It’s exciting to see one of IFTF’s fellowship recipients succeed in creating a platform that promotes sustainable livelihoods for workers in the gig economy,” said Marina Gorbis, IFTF’s executive director. “It is especially rewarding for IFTF that Loconomics has now established a partnership with the California Community Colleges system to prepare a future generation of gig workers for success.”     

The fellowship, which included a $9,000 stipend, grew out of IFTF’s “Positive Platforms Design Jam,” held in late 2016 at its Palo Alto headquarters and at IFTF affiliates around the world. The Design Jam stemmed from IFTF’s Workable Futures Initiative, which was established as a call-to-action for policymakers, platform developers and civic and labor leaders to ensure the growing on-demand economy protects workers while being profitable. 

“What the Jam really did was confirm the need for our cooperative model and connect us with like-minded individuals who believed in that,” Danielson said.

About Loconomics

Converted to a cooperative in 2014, Loconomics has reverse engineered the business models of existing gig platforms, creating a just and sustainable model that gives full ownership and control to workers in various professions ranging from home and child care to small business services. They’re based in San Francisco, California and part of a growing movement of platform cooperatives. Visit loconomics.com for more info.

About California Community Colleges

The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation. It is composed of 72 districts and 114 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year. Community colleges supply workforce training, basic skills courses in English and math, and prepare students for transfer to four-year colleges and universities. The Chancellor’s Office provides leadership, advocacy and support under the direction of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.

The Small Business Sector is an initiative of the California Community Colleges’ Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy framework which invests in California’s economic growth and global competitiveness through industry-specific partnerships, education, training and services that contribute to a highly skilled and productive workforce. Visit doingwhatmatters.cccco.edu to learn more.

About Institute for the Future

Institute for the Future (IFTF) is an independent, nonprofit strategic research group with almost 50 years of forecasting experience. The core of our work is identifying emerging discontinuities that will transform global society and the global marketplace. We provide organizations with insights into business strategy, design process, innovation, and social dilemmas. Our research spans a broad territory of deeply transformative trends, from health and health care to technology, the workplace, and human identity. IFTF is based in Palo Alto, California. For more, visit iftf.org.