Develop This!: The Gloriously Imperfect World of Co-op Conversions 

This session will serve as a primer for converting existing businesses from traditional hierarchical workplaces to worker owned cooperatives. We will be referring to the case study of the Lusty Lady Theater in San Francisco, which completed such a conversion in Spring 2003 and celebrates its 5 year anniversary this year. Points of discussion include: - Applying basic steps of cooperative development to conversions - Tax benefits and other incentives for sellers - (Identifying) and solving problems unique to conversions - Assessing specific needs and connecting folks to resources - Deciding the feasibility of a workplace conversion - Making the best choices you can working with what you've got. The presenters will prepare handouts on the above, as well as answer questions on these topics and the case study/model.

Miss Muffy serves as lead madam in the messy universe of the Lusty Lady San Francisco, a unionized worker cooperatized peepshow in lovely cali-forn-i-ay, where she has worked for the past six years. Muffy is interested in Radical Effectiveness, laying all the cards on the table, and moving past the dysfunctional in our workplaces and organizations. She is pleased as punch to be back in the south, spreading the good word of worker cooperatives. Leslie Leyba is a worker-owner at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco, and is a Staff Member at the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. An original member of the Looking Glass Cooperative who purchased the Lusty Lady Theater, she has been involved in the cooperative movement for five years.