On Saturday, November 9, 2019 at NASCO Institute in Austin, TX, three individual cooperators and one group of cooperators were honored as inductees in the NASCO Hall of Fame. The NASCO Hall of Fame, created in 1989, provides broader recognition to individuals who have made a truly significant impact within the cooperative movement. The 2019 Inductees are:
- Jacques Côté, Leader
- Involved in the housing cooperative movement since 1982, Jacques Côté has founded at least three coops, including l'Estudiantine, one of Québec's very few student coops. He spearheaded the establishment of a regional housing coop federation in his region and has worked to support the establishment of other projects. In 1991, he became director of CHCE, a housing coop that owned 156 apartments at the time, and he led the organization to purchase multiple other houses over the year. With over 300 apartments today, it stands as one of the largest group equity housing coops of Québec, and this is in part due to Jacques' ambitious vision for the cooperative sector. Jacques' commitment to the housing coop sector is far-reaching and historic. It goes beyond the boundaries of his region in Québec - he has also directly supported efforts in Senegal that led to the establishment of over 50 coops.
- Noni Session
- Noni is a tireless champion of racial/social equity via cooperative ownership. Under her leadership East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative has become a high profile model to innovatively fund cooperative ownership. For those of who haven’t heard of East Bay PREC, the organization facilitates BIPOC and allied communities to cooperatively organize, finance, purchase, occupy, and steward properties, taking them permanently off the speculative market, creating community controlled assets, and empowering our communities to cooperatively lead a just transition from an extractive capitalist system into one where communities are ecologically, emotionally, spiritually, culturally, and economically restorative and regenerative. The closed their first Official Capital Campaign for their first community owned acquisition, called Co-op 789. It’s a four-unit building housing majority POC residents who organized to buy their property in order to prevent the displacement of residents. Through partnership with Northern California Land Trust and by leveraging city funding and EB PREC’s first 100k in community assets, EB PREC closed escrow on the property in June 2019.
- Geoff Mayers
- Geoff Mayers (he/him/his) has impacted the ICC Ann Arbor in so many ways. Geoff started as member for 4 years (2004-2008) at the Michigan & Minnies Houses serving as Maintenance Manager, Board Rep, Minnie's House President, and Michigan House President. Geoff helped create a remarkable house culture by example, including helping lead the creation of many house murals that exist to this day. Espousing a lifetime commitment to the cooperative movement, Geoff started part-time in maintenance while a member, and then he was hired as full-time in 2005. Geoff rose in the ranks quickly due to an amazing work ethic and creative, modern maintenance strategies and ideas for long-term planning essential to sustaining house more than 100 years old as most of the ICC's are.
- Christina Gosnell, Steve Winter, & Zane Selvans
- Christina Gosnell was the most essential founding member of the Beet cooperative. She is always a leader, working to create their founding documents, working as the food steward and accountant. Steve Winter was a co-founder of the Picklebric co-op, one of Boulders most successful and innovative independent co-op's. He worked tirelessly on the their documents, systems and accounting. Dr. Sane Selvans has always been a co-op leader for the BHC, working as the house accountant and the food steward and food accountant for Masala as well as the Masala rep to the BHC board and the BHC Treasurer and he still serves on the BHC Development Committee. He was instrumental in getting the Radish to hold a City council candidate forum in 2013 and recruited co-opers to serve on public boards and commissions. At least 20 years back there was a co-op housing ordinance on the City books that NASCO Hall of Famer Will Tour worked to pass, it was never used. So Christina Gosnell, Steve Winter and Zane Selvans decided to create a new co-op ordinance. The Boulder Cooperative Housing ordinance became law in 2018. All the illegal co-ops became legal and BHC was able to create a new co-op!
NASCO is proud to honor these incredible cooperators. Nominations for next year's Hall of Fame will open in September of 2020.