2. Nuts & Bolts: Building Blocks of Cooperation
3. Advanced Cooperative Education and Leadership
4. Building Healthy Cooperative Communities
5. The Environmental Commons: Transforming Our Commitments from Sustainability to Justice
6. Sustainability Toolbox: Practices for Housing Co-ops
1. Developing New Co-ops
In today's economic climate, the demand for affordable housing solutions--like housing co-ops--is greater than ever. NASCO has pulled together a team of experts to walk future co-op founders through the process of starting a new housing co-op, from clarifying the initial concept to drafting your business plan. Workshops in this series provide a comprehensive, step-by-step training program on the development process.
111. Developing New Cooperatives Part I: Getting Organized
211. Developing New Cooperatives Part II: Obtaining Tax Exempt Status for Your Co-op
411. Developing New Cooperatives Part IV: Purchase or Lease a House for a Housing Co-op
511. Developing New Cooperatives Part V: Putting it All Together: The Business Plan
332. Fair Housing and Open Membership: Could Your Membership Policies Get You in Legal Trouble?
512. Co-op as a Business Model
2. Nuts & Bolts: Building Blocks of Cooperation
Regardless of co-op experience, everyone is a learner and teacher and can benefit from sharing tools and practices across North America. This course thread offers a wide range of co-op basics, from co-op movement history to essential skills like conflict mediation and bookkeeping to hands-on maintenance and kitchen management. This course thread is ideal for anyone who hopes to leave NASCO Institute with some concrete skills to apply at home.
141. Foundations of Non-Violent Communication
221. Basic Elements of Housing Coop Finances
222. Board Roles and Responsibilities
232. Tools for Engaging Your Members: Member Education and New Member Orientations
234. How to Promote Your Co-op for Cheap...or Even for Free!
321. Common Feast: Nutritous Meals for Your House at $1.75
421. Our Collective History: Student Housing Co-ops in North America
422. Internal Labor Systems of Housing Cooperatives
442. Conflict: Fight, Flight, or Opportunity?
521. Consensus Headaches: Rx for Meeting Moments That Are a Pain for Everyone
522. Don't Forget the Fun: Using Games to Train, Meet, and Build Community
3. Advanced Cooperative Education and Leadership
This course track offers a wealth of collective experiential knowledge; so get the insights on advanced co-op workings like financial planning, member training, and troubleshooting problems in your community and more. The second thread of this track examines the many applications that the cooperative model has for empowering communities and shaping our economic future. Some applications include community economic development, community asset mapping, cooperative careers, and the cooperative movement in the North and South.
131. Co-ops, the Triple Bottom Line, and Domestic and International Development
132. How to Start Your Own Alumni Giving Program
133. Major Renovations-Where to Begin?
142. Holy Cooperation! Connecting with Faith Communities
232. Tools for Engaging Your Members: Member Education and New Member Orientations
233. Finding Money for Housing in Your City
234. How to Promote Your Co-op for Cheap...or Even for Free!
251. "Green" Worker Owned: Why We Organize for the Planet and the People
331. By the Numbers: Connected Books
332. Fair Housing and Open Membership: Could Your Membership Policies Get You in Legal Trouble?
333. Introduction to Cooperative Personnel Management
334. Community Economic Development, Co-ops and Community-Based Careers
351. Green Worker Cooperative Business Incubator: A Case Study
431. First Do No Harm: Reducing Legal Liability of Co-op Board Members and Officers
441. A Climate for Accessibility: Redesigning Space to Create Physically Accessible Housing
471. The Roles of Co-ops in Food Systems
512. Co-op as a Business Model
521. Consensus Headaches: Rx for Meeting Moments That Are a Pain for Everyone
531. Journey Through the Maze of Financial Ratios
4. Building Healthy Cooperative Communities
The seventh cooperative principle, "Concern for Community", is especially important in the context of collective living. Conflict resolution, support during times of crisis, interpersonal relationships across social and cultural differences, and the ways that people communicate with each other on a daily basis all contribute to the health of a community. The workshops in this thread will explore the many aspects of collective well-being and other strategies for making your cooperative community a healthier and more just environment for all members.
141. Foundations of Non-Violent Communication
142. Holy Cooperation! Connecting with Faith Communities
143. Working Toward Healing Community Trauma
144. Trans Allyship: Eradicating Transphobia in Our Communities
172. Movement Building on College Campuses
232. Tools for Engaging Your Members: Member Education and New Member Orientations
241. Anti-Racist Organizing Part 1: People of Color Transcending White Supremacy
242. Anti-Racist Organizing Part 1: White Anti-Racist Praxis
243. Restorative Justice in our Communities: Working With Perpetrators of Sexual Assault
343. Anti-Racist Organizing Part 2: Dialogue
371. Reframing Sustainability: Food Politics from an Anti-Oppression Perspective
441. A Climate for Accessibility: Redesigning Space to Create Physically Accessible Housing
444. Money and Relationships: A Workshop About Class Privilege
462. Ecovillages: Sustainable Cooperation for Life
541. Theater of the Oppressed: Playing With Space-An Interactive Workshop
542. Radical Mental Health on Campus and in the Community through an Anti-Oppression Lens
5. The Environmental Commons: Transforming Our Commitments from Sustainability to Justice
This course track fully embraces the theme of Institute, raising awareness of the ongoing history of environmental injustices that communities of color, indigenous people, and low-income communities face and actively resist, highlighting community organizing, and addressing corporate greenwashing with an internationalist perspective. These courses also explore issues deeply connected to the environmental commons-the interconnected space and resources that shape our livelihood, on local and global levels-such as land, borders, food, water, youth, race, gender, and the economy in North America and beyond. A final plenary will engage participants in dialogue about the role of cooperatives and local environmental justice issues and organizing, and what historical opportunities are available for cooperatives in a greenwashed economic recession.
131. Co-ops, the Triple Bottom Line, and Domestic and International Development
171. Developing Local Economies through Local Food
251. "Green" Worker Owned: Why We Organize for the Planet and the People
253. Reclaiming the Commons Part I: Worker-Owned Cooperatives in a Post-Industrial City
353. Reclaiming the Commons Part II: A Do-It-Yourself Perspective from West Philly and Detroit
351. Green Worker Cooperative Business Incubator: A Case Study
352. Indigenous Peoples Protecting and Restoring the Environmental Commons
361. Co-ops as Agents of Change: Climate Change, Water Rights, and Environmental Justice
451. Green Capitalism, Racism and Environmental Injustice
453. Fair Trade and the Co-op Movement
551. Conference Conclusions: a Plenary on Environmental Justice
6. Sustainability Toolbox: Practices for Housing Co-ops
This course track highlights the best practices and offers tools for reducing the ecological footprint of housing cooperatives, including energy-efficient initiatives, waste reduction, and sustainable design. Hands-on workshops will demonstrate ways to incorporate low-tech tools and long-term sustainability projects into different types of housing, from old Victorian houses to high-rise apartments.
123. Taking Care of the Place: Preventative Maintenance and Stewardship
161. Green Building as a Collaborative Process
261. Waste Reduction and Prevention for a More Sustainable Cooperative
362. Creating and Maintaining Energy Efficient Co-ops: Small-Scale Initiatives
363. Resource Efficiency: Implementation and Member Buy-in for Large Co-op Systems
461. Clay Finishes: A Hands-On Workshop
462. Ecovillages: Sustainable Cooperation for Life
551. Conference Conclusions: a Plenary on Environmental Justice
7. Re-imagining Food Systems
Food is a central hub in co-op communities, and co-ops have tremendous purchasing power and influence in the future of food sovereignty in North America and beyond. Cross-pollinating with the framework of environmental justice, participants dive deeper into issues of food access, security, and sovereignty by examining land rights, food policy, agribusiness, the organic industry, and family farms. In addition to understanding key issues around food systems, participants will rethink practicing food politics in their co-ops and strategize for food sovereignty in their local communities. DIY food-related skillshares complement this course track.
171. Developing Local Economies through Local Food
172. Movement Building on College Campuses
271. The Corporate Takeover of Organics
321. Common Feast: Nutritous Meals for Your House at $1.75
371. Reframing Sustainability: Food Politics from an Anti-Oppression Perspective
372. Meet the Filmaker: Screening of Asparagus: Stalking the American Life and Dialogue
453. Fair Trade and the Co-op Movement
471. The Roles of Co-ops in Food Systems
551. Conference Conclusions: a Plenary on Environmental Justice