Saturday, November 6 | 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
311. Radical Sharing & Cooperation: Life on an Egalitarian Commune
Clementine Lazar, Jess Little
Presented by the Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC), a network of self-governed and self-supported communities in which property, land, labor, and resources are held in common, this workshop will demonstrate our model of income-sharing and participatory government, give a glimpse of what daily life is like for our members, and discuss how our successes in cooperation and sharing can be applied to the broader movement.
FEC Community Members work together to meet their needs by running worker-owned businesses and sharing in domestic responsibilities. Members labor in exchange for having all their housing, health-care and other needs met by the community.
312. Mapping University Investments - Current Connections and Creating Change
Dan Apfel
In this session we will look at college and university endowments, and how they are invested, and talk about the possibility to opening up the university and its money to the community: how communities networks can be built locally and nationally to create positive change. We will map an example college endowment and its entangled web of investments, and build from the ground up an example of the possibilities of how a school could be connected to the community and it's endowment could support those connections.
This session will include a baseline of understanding in presentation format, followed by group discussion and group work.
313. Take Back the Land Movement: Building a Movement to Realize the Human Right to Housing
Take Back the Land
The Take Back the Land Movement (TBLM) is a national initiative launched by the Land and Housing Action Group (LHAG). The Land and Housing Action group is an affiliated body of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN). The objective of the Take Back Land Movement is to realize the human right to adequate housing in the US by building and inspiring a mass direction action movement that situates decision making power directly in the hands of impacted families and communities, particularly those in Indigenous, Black, and Latino communities. This workshop will explore the ways social justice activists and organizations can get involved and help build this critical movement.
321. Building Regional Cooperation: Where Co-ops, Food Systems, and Geography Intersect
Eric DeLuca
Drawing on Northeast regional food system development, we will use mapping as a springboard for outreach, collaboration, and impact. We will explore systems thinking, identifying stakeholders, collaborating, strategy development techniques, and how to link actions with long-term goals.
Themes:
- Planning in collaboration
- How cooperatives support community resilience
- The broader relevance of food systems
- Value of regional approaches
- Rural/urban collaboration
- Turning maps into inspiring stories
This workshop will include journaling, small group work, dialogue, and key concepts. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of co-ops' impact in communities, and tools for initiating momentum toward long-term goals.
331. Navigating Co-op Websites, Intranets, and Information Technology
Matt Senate
This session will provide an opportunity to share experiences in Web, Intranet, and general Information Technology development for and in student co-ops. We will map out best practices for meeting users' needs and lessons learned from our collective experience. This workshop will explore topics from web and software maintenance and development to network and systems administration to any other information technology projects associated with student co-ops, particularly those used to mitigate common student problems (such as contact info access, event coordination, bulk ordering, inventory, etc).
332. Mapping Your Community Assets
Steve Dubb
This workshop will look at how to map a community as an organizing tool. This is based on an approach known as "asset based community development" -- that is, building on resources a community has, rather than focusing on what a community lacks. Workshop will involve both discussion of actual mapping examples that the Democracy Collaborative has engaged in for its community development work, but will also draw on the experience of workshop participants to help attendees develop their own maps that can guide their own community organizing work.
333. Q & A with the Counter Cartographies Collective
Tim Stallman, Liz Mason-Deese
This workshop will be an open session to brainstorm, discuss, strategize, and experiment with mapping as a tool for social movements. The Counter-Cartographies Collective will discuss some examples of the kinds of work they've done, and work with participants to talk through their own current or potential map-making projects
361. Introduction to Cooperative Personnel Management
Jeremiah Devlin-Ruelle
This class is for everyone, from individuals who have never managed staff before all the way to those experienced co-opers with particular staffing challenges. Learn how to conduct annual reviews and evaluations, how to prevent staff burn-out, how to deal with problem staff, how to keep staff happy, and what to do when faced with the seeming impossible task of finding someone to staff your organization. Share best practices for bonuses, probation and termination, and separation of duties. Most importantly, leave this session with a better understanding of how to create the healthiest working environment that leaves staff happy and committed and keeps the organization functioning.
362. Green Retrofitting for Co-ops
Ben Pearl
Learn how to plan & implement energy saving measures into your co-op! We'll discuss a range of sustainable choices ...from simple technologies & easy actions your community can take to reduce your carbon footprint, to deep-energy building renovations that will take your building(s) closer to zero net energy consumption. Bring your co-op's long-term plan, short term plan, pie-in-the-sky daydream, or simply your own curiosity.
371. Developing New Cooperatives Part III: Assessing Financial Feasibility: What Can You Afford?
Mark Fick, Holly Jo Sparks
Before you buy your new co-op building, you will need some basic real estate savvy and financial tools. Researching the housing market, assessing properties, and understanding proforma budgets are critical to your co-op's success. This course explores purchasing and leasing options, creating realistic budgets and assessing the financial feasibility of your project.
