News & Updates

Registration is Open: NASCO Institute 2016

Over 400 participants will converge on Ann Arbor, Michigan from November 11-13, 2016 to share ideas, learn new skills, and look at issues affecting the cooperative movement worldwide.

Since 1977, NASCO's Cooperative Education & Training Institute has been widely recognized as one of the most important training and networking opportunities available to members, directors, staff and managers of group-equity cooperatives. The annual Institute is always a one-of-a-kind opportunity to network with hundreds of cooperative leaders and employers, to caucus about pressing issues, and to work on building an inclusive and accessible cooperative movement.

Join us! Register and apply for scholarships on our website.

Join Our Board of Directors

Nominations are now open for NASCO's board of directors. This is an opportunity to be part of the governance of a bi-national cooperative organization. In order to run for the board, you must be nominated by either one Active Member cooperative, two Associate Member organizations, or five Individual Members of NASCO. Nominations must be received by November 1, 2016 - see our website for more information.

We Wanna Buy a House For You!

Are you trying to create a new housing co-op, but need financial help? Consider joining our "co-op of co-ops".

Take a look at the request for proposals released last month by NASCO Properties. We expect to invest up to $100,000 in down payment money to help you create a new co-op house.

Once the co-op is open, your group would be a part of NASCO Properties, and have access to training, staff services, maintenance money, a seat on the NP board, and collaboration with the 16 current NASCO Properties houses around the country.

NASCO is Hiring a Director of Community Engagement

The Director of Community Engagement connects people to the cooperative movement. This position will inform, excite, and empower cooperative members and other stakeholders to connect their co-op experiences and ambitions to the larger mission of NASCO. They will connect NASCO and NASCO members to social justice and anti-oppression work both within and outside of the cooperative movement.

The full job posting, including application deadline and hiring process, can be found on our website. Applications are due tomorrow - Thursday, September 08, 2016.

NASCO Has Moved

The NASCO office moved as of September 01, 2016. Our new address is:

1100 West Cermak Road, #514, Chicago, IL, 60608, USA

If you have already sent something to us in the mail, rest assured that we have set up mail forwarding and it should still reach us. You can, of course, still reach us by email at info@nasco.coop.

Member Stories

Qumbya Housing Cooperative is Expanding

After working closely with the staff at NASCO Development Services for the last several months, the members of Qumbya Housing Cooperative will open a newly purchased fourth location in Chicago. This cooperative will offer affordable and transit-accessible housing on Chicago's south side - and for the first time, Qumbya will offer housing outside of the Hyde Park neighborhood.

The opening of this new house will bring Qumbya up to nearly 70 members in size, and allow the co-op to expand their staff hours and board size. This co-op development also builds on two important relationships. First, the purchase was made through Lots in Common, a non-profit co-op land trust that allows established cooperatives organizations to invest in the creation of new houses. Second, the financing for this project was made possible through Shared Capital Cooperative, a co-op sector lender operated as a cooperative.

Movement News

Three Excellent Cooperators Join NASCO Hall of Fame

The NASCO Cooperative Hall of Fame, created in 1989, honors the best of our movement. We use the Hall of Fame as a means for NASCO member co-ops to provide broader recognition to individuals who have made a truly significant impact. This year, a committee of former Hall of Fame inductees and current NASCO board members selected three individuals to join the Hall of Fame:

Cindy Christiansen, former Director of Major Maintenance for the Inter-Cooperative Council, Ann Arbor, is being inducted for her leadership as a long-term co-op employee and her stewardship of ICC Ann Arbor’s physical properties.

Cindy oversaw more than $20 million in properties over 16 years with ICC Ann Arbor, helping to define the physical identity of buildings called home by hundreds of members. She was not shy about sharing her expertise with members and staff of other cooperatives, and her systems serve as an exemplary model for a thorough and proactive student housing cooperative maintenance program.

It is easy to speak about the work of members in crafting a cooperative’s identity, but it is also clear that Cindy’s personal vision for cooperative houses is at the heart of what makes ICC Ann Arbor a wonderful place to live.

Lillian Mayer and Tom Silva, founders of the Genesee Valley Cooperative, are being inducted for their charisma and perseverance as “movers and shakers,” in recognition of their three-year effort to successfully create a student housing co-op in Upstate New York.

The Genesee Valley Cooperative, which is now in its third year of residential operation, began as a dream in a dorm room. Thanks to the efforts of their organizers, the GVC was able to overcome many hurdles to finally opening its doors. Along the way, the GVC founders advocated for co-ops to the broader student body, fostered community with local residents through regular community meals, helped to start the area’s first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share, and hosted arts workshops to supplement their local, defunded arts programs.

While Tom and Lillian have both graduated and left the co-op, the spark that they left in Geneseo continues to burn brightly.

The induction ceremony will take place on the Saturday evening of NASCO Institute, November 12, 2016. Please join us in celebrating Cindy, Lillian, Tom, and all of our movement leaders and heroes.