It started with a simple phone call in 2021. Arapahoe resident Jane Maynard contacted Cindy Houlden, a specialist at the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center (NCDC), with a question about homecare cooperative job opportunities in Nebraska. She was looking for employment.
At the time, NCDC was not aware of any home care cooperatives in Nebraska. As an organization dedicated to empowering people with resources to start cooperatives in their communities, Houlden started making calls.
First to Deborah Craig with the Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC) in Washington. NWCDC had assisted with the formation of the home care cooperative where Maynard had been a worker-owner. This conversation led to the development of the Nebraska Homecare Worker Cooperative Project.
A worker cooperative is a business that is owned and controlled by its workers. The two central characteristics of worker cooperatives are that workers own the business and participate in its financial success, and they have a one-worker-one-vote representation to vote for the board of directors. In addition, worker-owners often manage the day-to-day operations through various management structures.
The Nebraska Homecare Worker Cooperative Project began with a series of webinars answering questions from interested homecare workers and service providers in Arapahoe.
Worker cooperatives, which traditionally have higher pay, higher employee retention and higher levels of worker satisfaction, can provide an alternative employment to homecare workers who want to have a say in how their homecare business is run. In a homecare cooperative, caregivers are the owners of the business and make decisions through a democratic process.
The project culminated in a seven-week Homecare Worker Cooperative Academy in the summer of 2022.
At the same time, the Arapahoe Good Samaritan Society care facility closed, leaving the community of 1,002 without an assisted living facility or nursing home. With 25.8% of residents over 65, Arapahoe community leaders began looking for resources to allow residents to remain in their homes and provide employment for displaced center employees.
Through the academy, NCDC and homecare workers serving the Arapahoe area connected, beginning the exploration of the Republican River Valley Homecare Cooperative (RRVHC).
RRVHC incorporated in April 2025 with four worker-owners and is now ready to introduce themselves to potential worker-owners and clients in the Arapahoe area.
“Republican River Valley Homecare Cooperative looks forward to providing non-medical in-home care to the residents of Arapahoe & the surrounding area,” said Cathy Bowers, one of the co-op’s founders. “I appreciate NCDC and everything they've done to help this dream to become a reality. It’s exciting to be the first worker/owner homecare cooperative in the state of Nebraska. The future of eldercare is changing, and this will give individuals the opportunity to remain in their own homes and in their own communities.”
To connect with RRVHC, contact Cathy Bowers at reprivervalleyhomecare@gmail.com.
To connect with NCDC, contact Cindy Houlden at choulden2@unl.edu or 308-293-6417.
