Employee ownership is not a panacea for the economic problems of the black community. But it does offer black Americans an opportunity to shape their futures. The common forms of employee ownership - ESOPS and cooperatives - have been described in the first part of this handbook. Their common denominator is that they provide an ownership share in the company for most or all of its employees. ESOPs offer a wider range of tax advantages than co—ops and can be used in various ways including as an employee benefit plan, as a market for owners who decide to sell their firms, as a means to raise Capital, and as a way to increase employee participation in the company. Worker cooperatives are more democratic and less common than ESOPs. In the typical cooperative, the workers are the sole owners and each member has an equal vote, although co—ops also may hire non-owning workers on a temporary basis, e.g., part-time or seasonal.