BrightlyⓇ, the first worker-owned cleaning cooperative franchise in the United States, was launched in 2018 with enterprise incubation support from Center for Family Life in Sunset Park. Since then, CFL’s Cooperative Development Program (CDP) has supported Brightly’s expansion to five successful franchise outlets in New York City. We are thrilled that this month we were able to celebrate the launch of BrightlyⓇ South Philly, the sixth cooperative outlet in the BrightlyⓇ franchise and the first launched outside of New York! The Philadelphia expansion demonstrates the scalable impact of this powerful model that brings opportunity to domestic workers in the cleaning industry.
The cleaning franchise provides low-income immigrant workers with the opportunity to receive a fair and livable wage and to avoid becoming subject to the wage exploitation that so many domestic workers face when attempting to negotiate prices and terms of work without any support. BrightlyⓇ provides workers with higher wages, stability, leadership roles and places them in control of the management and strategic growth planning for their business.
We are so grateful for grants provided by the WES Mariam Assefa Fund and the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation which enabled us to expand this incredible model outside of NYC, providing this business opportunity to even more low-income communities across the U.S. We are also very thankful for the Robin Hood Foundation for their support of this ground breaking work and for joining us at this celebratory launch. In partnership with the not-for-profit organization The Welcoming Center, BrightlyⓇ South Philly launched on June 2nd. At the launch party, which followed a year of trainings and preparation, new members shared their excitement and hopes for this new venture. New York City-based worker-owners joined the celebration and shared their congratulations with BrightlyⓇ Philly members. New Philadelphia members expressed feeling supported by those at the launch knowing that they can rely on their BrightlyⓇ colleagues in New York and Center for Family Life to be their trusted partners as they grow their business.
Karina Mongue, CFL’s Coop Developer shared how the launch of BrightlyⓇ South Philly demonstrates the reach that the franchise can have and how the launch was a culmination of CFL’s work to pilot innovative growth strategies. She shared how exciting it was to be a part of the dynamic and evolving cooperative franchise movement and stated that the expansion to Philadelphia is “just the beginning.”
At CFL, our Cooperative Development Program works to promote the mission of economic and social justice in partnership with worker-owners from communities across the U.S. The expansion of BrightlyⓇ and the values it stands for mirror our mission, and we could not be prouder that our Cooperative Development Program continues to grow and positively impact the lives of people in New York and beyond!
