We are pleased to announce that NASCO has been awarded two grants through the CHS Foundation’s 2016 Cooperative Education Grants Program. We have been generously awarded $10,000 to support NASCO’s annual Cooperative Education & Training Institute, and a $16,000 capacity building grant to grow NASCO's resource and program development capacity to more sustainable levels. We are extremely grateful for the continued support of the CHS Foundation and are excited for the many ways that this funding will strengthen our organization and our movement.
The CHS Foundation is the major giving entity of CHS Inc. (NASDAQ: CHSCP), the nation's leading farmer-owned cooperative and a global energy, grains and foods company. As a part of the CHS stewardship focus, the CHS Foundation is committed to investing in the future of rural America, agriculture and cooperative business through education and leadership development.
NASCO has seven open seats on its board, and all Active Members and Individual Members are able to vote in the election to fill these seats. All members have been sent ballots. If you did not receive yours, please contact rek@nasco.coop. The candidate statements can be read here. Ballots must be cast by January 31, 2016.
Is your inner-cooperative-educator looking for a creative outlet? Do you have an academic paper about co-ops that you’re hoping to share with the world? Check out these Requests for Proposals from various upcoming co-op conferences:
California Co-op Conference, April 29-30, 2016, Sacramento, California. Proposals due January 12, 2016.
Joint Conference of the Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation (CASC) and the Association of Cooperative Educators (ACE), June 1-3, 2016, Calgary, Alberta. Proposals due January 15, 2016.
CCMA: the National Conference for Food Co-ops, June 9-11, 2016, Amherst, Massachusetts. Proposals due January 15, 2016.
NASCO has received a $3,000 grant from the Cooperative Foundation to update the content and structure of the NASCO Co-op Organizer’s Handbook, transferring this comprehensive 60 page manual to a much more accessible web-based format! The Organizer's Handbook is a comprehensive guide to creating group-equity housing cooperatives, and is an essential resource for the student or community organizer focusing on housing issues.
See the full list of 2015 grants here.
Did you miss NASCO Institute this year? Maybe you lost your notes, or missed a workshop that sounded really exciting? Whatever the reason, we’ve got you covered! We have uploaded course materials from forty-five different workshops from this year’s conference. Check them out here! We’ll be posting videos from the event to our website soon, too. Enjoy!
After providing member cooperatives a two week extension to submit their annual dues in order to vote in the Annual General Meeting, ballots have been counted and results are in! We are please to announce that the new Active Member Representative, serving from March 2016 to March 2017, will be Carina Mata, from ICC Austin!
It was a very close election (7x6x4x2), which reflects that commitment and enthusiasm that all of the candidates displayed. Thank you all for participating, and congratulations Carina!
We've extended the deadline to nominate candidates for NASCO's board of directors, to correspond with an extension in the deadline for submitting dues payments. The new election timeline is:
November 13, 2015: Nominations due
November 18, 2015: Ballots sent
January 31, 2016: Ballots due
February 3, 2016: Results announced
You can continue to submit nominations to us until midnight, CST, on Friday, November 13.
One of NASCO's members, the Berkeley Student Cooperative, is currently accepting applicants for two professional jobs, their Member Resources Supervisor position and their Rochdale & Fenwick Apartment Manager position.
More information about these positions can be found by visiting their hiring website (hicom.bsc.coop) or by clicking the links above.
We have extended the deadline to apply for Low Income Scholarship Funding to attend NASCO Institute 2015! If you missed the deadline, it is not too late to apply. We will accept applications until October 16, 2015, and notify people by October 20, 2015. (People who applied by October 05 will still be notified by October 09 in order to get the early registration rate). NASCO's scholarships are able to support registration and travel costs for folks who are low-income, rural, from marginalized groups, youth, and others who face financial barriers to attendance. Please pass this update to others in your cooperative who might be interested in applying!