NASCO Institute

Program guide for NASCO Institute 2011, "CREATIVE INTERSECTIONS: Education, Media, and Cooperatives."

Program guide for NASCO Institute 2012, "Cooperating to Survive and Thrive Beyond Capitalism: Building a Solidarity Economy."

Presented by Daniel Miller (NASCO Staff) & David "Rosebud" Sparer (Herrick & Kasdorf, LLP)

Why do co-ops become legal corporations? What does it take to incorporate? What are the pros and cons of different legal statuses? What does non-profit status do for a co-op, and does your co-op qualify? These resources will help give answers to these questions and more, with specific examples to help your co-op.

Presented by Daniel Miller (NASCO Staff) & Emily Ng (UHAB)

Co-ops can live in a grey area between residential and commercial, between formal and flexible, and between the collective and the individual. This can be a powerful advantage if your coop wants to negotiate the nest lease for a property - but your model might be unfamiliar to a landlord. These resources are meant to help you learn how to lower your lease payments, win more autonomy for your coop, and set yourself up for growth in the future.

Presented by Steve Dubb (The Democracy Collaborative), Rachel Plattus (New Economy Coalition), Joe Rinehart (US Federation of Worker Cooperatives & Democracy at Work Institute), Farzana Serang (CoFED), & Lisa Stolarski (Center for Community- Based Enterprises)

Presented by Cecile Reuge (University of Vermont & Vermont Workers' Center)

In the 1880s, the Knights of Labor, known as largest labor union in the world at the time, organized a network of almost 200 industrial cooperatives across the United States. Today, the presence of labor unions is at an all-time low. Meanwhile the cooperative movement continues to grow, but in whose best interest? This resource will explore the history of food cooperatives within the broader context of cooperative and labor movements as well as workers rights in food consumer cooperatives.