NASCO Properties is a co-op of co-ops, which exists to give resources, stability, and help to each of the participating local cooperatives. Each local cooperative is a separate autonomous co-op with its own mission, board, bylaws, and policies. These separate cooperatives come together through the NASCO Properties board to set system-wide budgets and share information.
The Policy and Resource Intern will work with the NASCO Properties General Manager to collect and organize policies, working documents, training materials, and written resources from each of the NASCO Properties cooperatives. The purpose of the position will be to organize these documents into a library to be made available to any member in a NASCO Properties cooperative.
The intern will work with guidelines from the NASCO Properties board and General Manager to create categories in order to allow easier browsing through the library of resources. The library should exist online, and use tools that are easily maintained with little technical training.
For training materials and internally created forms from NASCO Properties cooperatives, the documents will be categorized to allow searching by topic, date, originating co-op, and other characteristics as defined by the NASCO Properties board or General Manager. For policies, leases, and bylaws, the individual clauses of these documents should be categorized to allow for co-op members to search within the policy documents.
After collecting and organizing policies, documents, and resources, the intern will work with the NASCO staff to create templates and resources for NASCO Properties cooperatives to easily adapt and use for their home cooperative. At the end of the internship, the intern will have produced templates for the most commonly used and needed resources. This will include templates for a member lease, payment plans, grievance policy, and recruitment materials. In order to write these templates, the intern will need to keep track of commonalities and differences between different cooperatives’ resources, consult the NASCO Properties board and General Manager, review NASCO Properties policies, and do independent research.
The Policy and Resource Intern will receive detailed orientation documents to learn about NASCO and NASCO Properties. The intern will also attend the two-day summer NASCO Properties meeting, in order to meet the NASCO Properties board in person, stay up-to-date about the needs of NASCO Properties, and consult with the board about the needs of NASCO Properties cooperatives.
The intern will develop and deepen skills in project and time management, communication, website content management, resource organization, and policy writing. The intern will also develop knowledge of NASCO, NASCO Properties, and cooperative housing and non-profit operations.