From Collapse to Cooperation: Building a Better World
This year’s NASCO Institute theme is From Collapse to Cooperation: Building a Better World. As the world faces growing instability, housing cooperatives are creating spaces of solidarity and collective care, cultivating community connection and possibility. While co-ops offer real solutions, we also face mounting political and economic threats. In the U.S. and Canada, corporate interests and policymakers have increasingly targeted co-ops through legal and financial barriers that undermine cooperative ownership, making it harder for communities to build alternatives.
At Institute, we will explore what it means to build—from housing to networks to policy—while confronting the ever-mounting systemic forces working against us. Through skill-building workshops, collaborative discussions, and storytelling, we’ll grapple with the collapse of unsustainable systems and share strategies for growing sustainable alternatives. We’ll connect the act of building with the cooperative values of equity, democracy, and mutual aid, emphasizing the transformative power of collective action in times of crisis. Together, we’ll explore the parallels between dismantling systems of inequity and growing alternatives rooted in these values.
Join us to strengthen our movement, sharpen our strategies, and build cooperative solutions to the challenges of today.
Who are we?
Since 1968, North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) has been working with housing co-ops, students, worker-owners, activists, and community members who are interested in applying cooperative principles to meet their needs and fulfill their missions. We are the network that facilitates mutual aid and support amongst co-ops.
Testimonials
"It was awesome to meet so many awesome cooperators and in a real way this weekend changed a lot of how I viewed the world. I used to feel like systemic change was an impossible challenge, but the keynote made me realize that we do have collective power and we can make a difference in the world."
“We found the conference to be very beneficial for our small community-based co-op, especially from a financial perspective. We learned so much about strategies for being a smaller worker co-op, with a focus on membership and trust-building.”
“I can't put into words how valuable the educational experience is at NASCO Institute. You get to learn about things that you know you want to know for your co-op and then there are other, newer ideas presented to you. And the networking is priceless.”
“NASCO Institute gave me skills and concrete actions plans for anti-oppression work in my own community, as well as ideas/skills/contacts for creating new worker-owned co-ops and housing co-ops."
"The courses were very relevant and well-delivered. I appreciated the networking opportunities, and the mix of seminars and other types of events like tours, meals, and social events."
"I loved meeting people and sharing wisdom with each other. I had a great time and feel very grateful for the opportunity to attend."
"The courses were very relevant and useful. It was very helpful to learn that literally every challenge that our co-op has experienced has been faced by other co-ops too, and finding out how they responded to those challenges. The networking both during and outside of formal Institute events was also very helpful. The solidarity housing, which I was kind of dreading, ended up actually being really fun."
"I love my co-op my co-op loves me and boy was it incredible to meet other people who love their co-op too and to build solidarity and to feel so seen all weekend."