Greater Washington Center for Employee Ownership

The mission of the Greater Washington Center for Employee Ownership (GWCEO) is to promote and support employee ownership throughout the District of Columbia and surrounding counties in Maryland and Northern Virginia to preserve legacy businesses, increase job quality and build community wealth. GWCEO serves as the central hub for information, technical assistance, resources and access to capital to owners interested in selling their business to their employees; employee groups interested in purchasing a business; and entrepreneurs who wish to start up a company with shared ownership. About Wacif Established in 1987, the Washington Area Community Investment Fund’s (Wacif's) mission is to increase equity and economic opportunity in underserved communities in the Washington, D.C. area by investing knowledge, social, and financial capital in low-and-moderate-income entrepreneurs. Economic democracy has been a part of our DNA since the beginning: our very first loan was to the Pasadena Housing Cooperative. In 2018, with the support of Citi Community Development, Wacif launched the DC Employee Ownership Initiative which revived a long history of employee ownership as a strategy for asset building, job creation, legacy business preservation, and wealth building in the region. The Greater Washington Center for Employee Ownership is a continuation and deepening of Wacif’s commitment to community wealth building through worker ownership.