Personal assistance services (PAS) cooperatives: A service delivery model to benefit PAS consumers and workers

People who rely on personal assistance services (PAS) to live independently report barriers such as difficulties getting enough hours of service, finding and training reliable PAS workers, finding backup when a regular PAS worker is not available, and obtaining PAS for work when a job is part of independent living. PAS workers typically earn low wages, receive few if any benefits, have little or no opportunity for skills enhancement or advancement, experience high job turnover, and, without proper training, may be subject to on-the-job injuries. PAS cooperatives, which began in the 1980s, provide a model for PAS service delivery that has the potential to benefit both PAS consumers and PAS workers. A cooperative is an “organization that is owned and controlled by the people who use its products, supplies and/or services” (International Cooperative Alliance, 2006). Cooperatives have both a social and an economic mandate, existing to improve the lives of member-owners as well as compete cost-effectively in the marketplace. This session will present the results of in-depth interviews with representatives of consumer-run and worker-run cooperatives, as well as those in which both consumers and workers are member-owners. The presentation will focus primarily on examples of successful PAS cooperatives and funding mechanisms, and will include discussion of lessons learned from cooperatives that were not successful. Public policy recommendations related to PAS cooperatives will also be presented.