Today: Philadelphia Considers Promoting Local Employee Ownership

Philadelphia City Council's Committee on Commerce & Economic Development held hearings on April 2 to hear testimony about employee ownership. The city of Philadelphia has a dozen employee-owned companies, such as McKean Defense, Urban Engineers, and Crown Cork & Seal. According to Kevin McPhillips, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership, the goal is to have the city actively support the creation of new employee-owned companies by using the city's outreach, its departments, its partners, and by helping identify businesses that are good candidates for employee ownership. The committee's discussion, anchored by two panels of people involved in employee-owned companies, was active and productive.