Mark Fick [0], Chicago Community Loan Fund
So you've decided to start a co-op and don't know where to begin. Or maybe you've already started organizing, but aren't clear on next steps. This course provides an introduction and overview of the co-op development process. From building a solid core group to closing on a building, we will address the key steps that will get your project on its feet and moving forward.

Laird Schaub [0], Fellowship for Intentional Community
Ma'ikwe Schaub Ludwig [0], Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage and Fellowship for Intentional Community
Ask our team of crackerjack consensus facilitators your tough questions about meeting dynamics, and we'll try to come up with brilliant and humorous responses, showing how you don't have to be stuck (or stay stuck) after all. The format will be Q&A: you bring the Q and we'll supply all the A you can stand.

Elandria Williams [0], The Highlander Center [0], US Solidarity Economy Network [0]
Highlander's vision includes building a movement for justice that reaches across the South and Appalachia and connects to the world. And it starts with people working, learning and growing together. So we want to explore some key things: What helps people come together? What helps people move together? How can this kind of activity grow and change the world? This workshop will also look at the connections between popular education and organizing.

Jesse Livingston [0], ICC Ann Arbor
Geoff Mayers [0], ICC Ann Arbor
This workshop will provide basic preventative maintenance ideas to help co-op houses reduce their yearly repair expenses and work towards ecologically sustainable practices. It will also provide suggestions for getting house members excited and involved in house maintenance by creating an atmosphere of pride and stewardship.

Gabriel Rivin [0], National Cooperative Business Association Co-ops
Ted Meinhover [0], National Cooperative Business Association Co-ops
Steve Dubb [0], The Democracy Collaborative
The National Cooperative Business Association's Gabe Rivin and Ted Meinhover will be joined by Steve Dubb of the Democracy Collaborative to discuss how cooperative development is in service of the triple bottom line. The panel will highlight tools for improving community health in North America and abroad, drawing from panelists' experience supporting the development of worker-owned cooperatives in impoverished urban and rural communities. From Cleveland to Indonesia, case studies will demonstrate how group-owned and -run enterprises can enhance economic, environmental, and social well-being and strengthen civil society.

Jordan Pelot-Whitcomb [0], Berkeley Student Cooperative
Cooperatives could always use a bit more cash to run smoothly without driving up member rates. Building a solid co-op alumni donor base is a fabulous way to receive funds for necessary building and program upgrades and providing scholarships for co-opers in dire need. Learn the gist of what it takes to get those needed funds rolling in, from starting up a self-motivated Alumni Association, keeping a database of donors, honing in on a fundraising focus, getting alumni involved beyond just opening their wallets, and utilizing appeals, newsletters, and events to best reach an expanding and continued alumni donor base. This workshop is highly recommended for co-op staff, student executives, alumni, and highly motivated members who think their co-op would greatly benefit by devoting resources to an alumni giving program.

Margaret Prest [0], Santa Barbara Student Housing Co-op
Last summer SBSHC completed a full scale renovation on our 9 bedroom, 13 member house. The contractor challenged me to find one thing in the house that they didn't update, repair or replace and I couldn't. The experience taught me a lot about construction and the work that goes into it, but I also discovered the unforeseen impacts a project like this had on the house members who returned the next year. In this workshop I will share some of those experiences and I hope to help others learn from my mistakes and triumphs. This workshop will be especially helpful to members of smaller co-ops that do not have maintenance staff or members from larger co-ops who want to better understand the process and assist maintenance staff.

Anika Fassia [0], NASCO Education Board
Non-violent communication is known as a language of compassion and a tool for positive social change and as a spiritual practice. The fundamentals behind non-violent communication is that as human beings we all have universal needs, and that every action we take is a strategy to have those needs met. Our feelings point to whether or not those needs are unmet or met and that choice is internal. For example, some universal needs are a need for: Cooperation, appreciation, understanding, inclusion, empathy, mutuality, belonging, and community. Non-violent communication advocates for open-hearted living, taking responsibility for our feelings and actions, increasing our empathy and compassion for others, living in peace with unmet needs, and increasing our capacity for meeting needs. Non-violent communication can be an essential tool of communication for not only conflict resolution, or facilitation, but an overall positive way to speak with others in order to have everyone's needs met. Cooperative living challenges us in many ways by asking us to step outside our individualistic society, and to be cooperative with one another.

Andrew McLeod [0], California Center for Cooperative Development
This workshop will focus on the ways that cooperative economics connect with various religious traditions, with emphasis on the three Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These connections provide an important opportunity for outreach to people of faith, and a way to encourage peacemaking through creation of a more just economy.

Elliot Newman [0], Santa Cruz Student Housing Cooperative
Kas Ocasio-Pare [0], Santa Cruz Student Housing Cooperative
This workshop is based around asking questions of community trauma and working toward coming up with answers. What kind of events could lead toward community trauma? How would your coop respond or react to a death in the community? How can we heal from the community trauma produced from hard times? What can we do to make our coop strong before a potentially traumatic event occurs? We will be discussing causes of and responses to trauma, as well as how to manage before, during, and after potentially traumatic events.

Lydia Pelot-Hobbs [0], New Orleans Anti-Racism Group, NASCO Board
Going beyond basic understandings of transphobia and the gender binary system, this workshop will push participants further in how we consider gender and what it means to be a trans ally in our co-ops and communities. Using role plays, scenarios, and other interactive activities we will think about how transphobia hinders our communities from being safe spaces for everyone and the need for an anti-oppressive analysis that takes into account multiple forms of oppression to truly eradicate transphobia.

Dan Millis [0], Sierra Club Borderlands Campaign
Much of the American public is unaware of the devastation being caused by harmful U.S. trade and border policies. The most symbolic and destructive infrastructure resulting from these bad policies is the newly-constructed U.S.-Mexico border wall. (paragraph break) This presentation begins with a screening of the new border film, "Wild Versus Wall," showing the ecological effects of enforcement and infrastructure in the four states that share boundaries with Mexico. It also showcases the unique natural landscapes of our border southwest. A slideshow will follow, featuring more in-depth aspects of the areas that have been affected, including photos of a mountain lion blocked by the border wall, massive flooding along the wall in the city of Nogales, different types of border wall, and its costs to taxpayers. The presentation demonstrates the ineffectiveness of this kind of enforcement-only approach to border security, and stresses the importance of addressing root causes such as unfair trade policies and quality of life issues.

Connie Ruth [0], Chad Bailey [0], Gay McGregor [0]; EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality
This workshop will cover an overview of EPA's perspective on the health impacts of air pollution resulting from transportation and a renewed commitment to environmental justice. Included will be information about goods movement, the National Clean Diesel Campaign, and specific ways to engage your communities in pursuing solutions and funding to address environmental injustices in these areas.

Andrew Haydon [0], The Grand House Student Cooperative
Since 2005, The Grand House Student Co-op has worked with hundreds of designers, gardeners, builders, students, professionals, volunteers, children, academics and like-minded advocates for green building to design and build a 14-bedroom sustainable housing co-operative.

Michael Gregor [0], Kalamazoo Collective Housing, Fair Food Matters
Kimberly Wasserman [0], Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) [0]
Will Fantle [0], The Cornucopia Institute [0]
Rebecca Nole [0], NASCO Education Board, Riverwest Food Co-op, ICC-Ann Arbor Alum
This panel discussion will focus on the role of local and sustainable food initiatives in economic and community development. Learn about exciting projects happening right now and exchange ideas with experienced local food organizers. Panelists will include Kim Wasserman of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Will Fantle of the Cornucopia Institute, Michael Gregor of Fair Food Matters...and will be moderated by Rebecca Nole of Milwaukee Urban Agriculture Network.

Alli Reed [0], Berkeley Student Food Cooperative, Real Food Challenge
Janet Frishberg [0], Berkeley Student Food Cooperative
Movement Building on College Campuses will be an inspirational workshop that will begin with the story of a large campaign that just took the UC Berkeley student government by storm and dramatically changed the way the student government and campus staff looked at food sustainability policy in the student union. We will use this case study to discuss campaign strategy that will cover topics such as working with the media, lobbying decision makers, public messaging, building momentum and creating diverse coalitions. We will also go over the basics of starting a student-run co-op from scratch. Community organizing around sustainability and building programs that address sustainability will be the central theme to this workshop. It will be led by students who have been key players in the UC Berkeley campus sustainability and cooperative movements.