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.
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.
Nominees will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session at NASCO Institute to discuss their candidacy with members of other co-ops.
Active members can download the nomination packet and nomination form. (If you are an Associate Member, you can use this nomination packet and nomination form, and if you are an Individual Member, you can use this nomination packet and nomination form).
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 Director of Community Engagement will manage public media platforms (website, email, social media, print) to connect with co-op members and movement partners. They will coordinate the Alumni Network of former NASCO co-op members. They will also plan and execute grassroots fundraising campaigns to build and maintain connections with individual supporters. The Director of Community Engagement is also responsible for coordinating member services and communications to NASCO’s members, including visits, elections, dues, and the NASCO Annual General Meeting and Annual Report.
The full job posting, including application deadline and hiring process, can be found here.
The NASCO office is moving as of September 1, 2016. Our new address will be:
1100 West Cermak Road, #514, Chicago, IL, 60608, USA
Please update your records to this new address (be sure to include our suite number, #514, so that mail will reach us).
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.
Kalamazoo Collective Housing is hiring a part-time Executive Director, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. You may read the job posting here, and the Kalamazoo Collective Housing 2016-2020 Strategic Plan here. Applications will be received until September 7th, 2016 at 5:00pm EST.
Questions? Email director@kalamazoo.coop.
The Center for Student Business at UMass Amherst is hiring a new full-time Director. This is an excellent opportunity to support an established power-house of student democratic businesses. Apply by 08/31 for priority consideration.
We're very pleased to announce that Ed Whitfield, Co-Managing Director of the Fund for Democratic Communities, will be joining us November 11-13th to keynote this year's Cooperative Education and Training Institute. Ed's speech, titled "Changing the World in a World that is Changing," will explore how we go about changing the world for the better, recognizing the motion and counter-motion all around us. In particular, Ed will talk about how access to tools and resources is the key to the power to direct change along the path we care about, toward a wholesome, equitable, sustainable and just world.
Ed's keynote speech will build on this year's overall conference theme, "Cooperative Resilience," focusing on the innovative and resilient nature of cooperatives, and how these qualities are essential to adapt in a changing world as we build the next economic systems. We're excited to explore this theme with you, investigating the role of cooperatives as a driving force for grassroots democracy and community stability.
The NASCO Cooperative Hall of Fame, created in 1989, honors the best of our movement. Our hope is to use the Hall of Fame as a means for NASCO member co-ops to provide broader recognition to individuals who have had a truly significant impact.
As a member of the NASCO community, you may have knowledge of someone past or present who is deserving of recognition. Nominations can honor people that perhaps should have been recognized long ago: a co-op founder, a long-time member or employee or any other significant contributor. We are also eager to show that current members and staff can have a similar impact on their cooperatives, so we make a special effort to induct some individuals who are current or recent 'movers and shakers'.
A committee of NASCO board members, advisors, and former honorees will select inductees to the Hall of Fame for 2016. The induction ceremony will take place on the Saturday evening of NASCO Institute, November 12, 2016.
Nomination forms must be returned by August 25, 2016 via email to morgan@nasco.coop or to the NASCO Office at: 330 S. Wells St, Suite 618-F, Chicago, IL 60606 USA.
The NASCO Family boards took a major step toward renewing a strategic vision at our planning retreat the weekend of June 17-19, 2016. The three boards met to affirm their united intentions for the NASCO Family. NASCO aims to grow and serve more co-ops through increased member engagement. We will more proactively pursue cooperative development opportunities in partnership with historically marginalized communities, continue to develop more robust cooperative leadership and social/economic justice education opportunities, and reassume a prominent position among cooperative social justice organizations. NASCO also resolves to be a focal point for pro-cooperative advocacy.
The retreat brought members of all three NASCO Family boards, our advisory committee, and our staff together from across North America to a beautiful, wooded Michigan campus for a three-day planning session, meetings, and training led by the phenomenal facilitators Kristin Schwab and Jean-Jacques Gabriel of Philadelphia. The NASCO Family plans to present a draft strategic plan at our Annual General Meeting in November at NASCO Institute for member comment and feedback.
Waterloo Co-operative Residence, Inc. (WCRI) is hiring a full-time Executive Director. WCRI has provided co‐operative student housing and programming for postsecondary students attending University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario for over fifty years. They are currently seeking an exceptional candidate to fulfill this role and further enhance their non‐profit co‐operative.
Job posting is linked here. Please apply with cover letter and resume to: hrcom@wcri.coop. Only those applicants selected for an interview will be contacted.