Start with one

You're already a caregiver. That's how every co-op begins.

You don't file a business to start a homecare cooperative. You start by getting help for the person you love — and finding one neighbor doing the same. It grows from there. We carry the hard parts.

Start with your family
The simplest possible start

Three steps. No business plan required.

Most people picture "starting a cooperative" as lawyers, licenses, and payroll. It isn't — not at the start. It's three small, human steps, and we're beside you for each one.

1

Care for your own.

Start where you already are: getting the right care for your loved one. A free five-minute assessment builds their plan — what they need, what they want, what to watch for. No paperwork, no agency call, no commitment. This is the only step you take alone. → This is the beachhead. You, already caring. Everything grows from here.

2

Find one neighbor.

Roughly one in five adults near you is also caring for someone — quietly, alone, just like you were. We help you find the second family on your block. Two families covering each other's gaps — a ride here, an afternoon there — is your first circle. This is mutual aid, not a startup. → You're no longer doing it alone. Neither are they.

3

Let it become a co-op.

As a few families join, the infrastructure arrives — a physician of record behind every plan, pre-tax HSA payments, the time bank where every skill counts, paid W-2 caregiving work, and the compliance layer underneath. You grow into ownership. You never start with a filing cabinet. → The cooperative is the destination, not the entry fee.

Bridge to your community

You don't build it alone — and you don't recruit cold.

A circle becomes real care by connecting to the people already doing this work near you. Here's who they are, and how we help you reach each one. You bring the relationships; we bring the introductions and the rails.

Other family caregivers

Your peers, and your beachhead. The neighbors quietly caring for a parent or spouse — the second and third families in your circle.How: we surface other caregivers in your ZIP as your network forms.

A local physician

Your physician of record — who reviews care plans and signs the letters that unlock HSA/FSA dollars. The clinical authority that makes neighbor-care safe.How: co-op.care provides physician oversight so you don't have to find one cold.

Hospital discharge planners

They send people home into a gap every day. With a circle on the block, you're who they can safely hand a patient to — and they become your steadiest source of families.How: we bring the discharge-pilot briefing and the FHIR data they need.

Senior center & Area Agency on Aging

Your city's older-adult services are already convening caregivers and mapping the gaps. They're looking for exactly what you're building.How: we point you to the local listening sessions and aging-plan contacts.

Faith & neighborhood groups

Congregations and block associations already run meals, rides, and visits — care work without structure. You give it a backbone, billing, and physician oversight.How: a one-page invitation you can bring to any group's next meeting.

Local caregivers & CNAs

Skilled people who want real work — W-2 wages at $25–28/hr plus ownership, instead of an agency taking the spread. Your first hires and member-owners.How: we help you recruit, onboard, and train them on the platform.

You bring the heart and the block. We bring the physician, the payments, and the paperwork. Together it's a care system — owned by the people in it.

So it stays simple

What you carry, and what we do.

You bring
  • The person you love, and the care you're already giving
  • Your block — the neighbors and relationships you already have
  • A few hours, and the willingness to ask one more family in
We carry
  • The technology — assessment, care plans, scheduling, the time bank
  • Physician oversight, and the letters that unlock HSA/FSA dollars
  • Entity formation, billing, insurance, and compliance — when you're ready
  • The introductions to every local party above
The number behind every other number

The same stranger every three months.

Investor-owned home care loses 7 in 10 caregivers every year. That's not a staffing problem — it's the business model. When caregivers earn a living wage and own a stake in the outcome, they stay. Same face every Tuesday. That continuity is the intervention.

0%
Industry turnover
PHI National, 2024
0%
CHCA co-op turnover
Cooperative Home Care Associates, NYC — 2,000 worker-owners since 1985
Retention advantage
Worker-owned vs. investor-owned

All figures are illustrative comparisons from published cooperative care research. Individual results vary. PHI = Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute. co-op.care is an early-stage cooperative; retention outcomes will be measured against these benchmarks once operational.

Start with one

Begin with the person you love.

Tell us where you are and who you're caring for. We'll help you build their plan — and start finding the neighbors who'll build the circle with you.

No spam. We use your email to help you build your loved one's plan and connect you to neighbors caring for someone too. Your ZIP finds — or starts — your circle.

You've started.

The first step is your own family. Build their care plan now — it takes five minutes — and we'll begin finding the neighbors who'll build the circle with you.

Build their care plan → See the full co-op model