Nominations for NASCO's board are now closed. Stay tuned, because we are just mere hours away from publishing this years ballot! Remember all ballots are due April 28th 11:59PM CDT.
- Acorn Community, Mineral, Virginia
- New Economy Coalition, Boston, Massachusetts
- National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International, Washington D.C.
- Madison Community Cooperatives, Madison, Wisconsin
- Green Worker Cooperatives, Bronx, New York
- Philly Co-op Intern (Mariposa Food Co-op, LCA Land Trust, Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance,) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, New York, New York
- Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Detroit, Michigan
At every NASCO Institute, an Active Member Representative is elected for a 1-year term on the NASCO board. This position is elected by the Annual General Meeting Representatives. Our outgoing Active Member Representative is Vanessa Toro. Vanessa has a few words to share before leaving the board. Read Vanessa's Letter below.
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Sneha Narayan is a PhD student at Northwestern University, and has lived in MOSAIC co-op in Evanston, IL for two years. Before moving to Chicagoland, she was a student at Oberlin College and a member of the Oberlin Student Co-operative Association (OSCA) for 4 years, during which time she served on the Board of Directors, and sat on the Finance and Education Committees. She has attended NASCO's Institute three times, and attended the Annual General Meeting twice. In addition to being really into co-ops, Sneha enjoys contra dancing, cooking, and juggling. Please welcome our 2014 Active Member Representative!Your membership in NASCO provides your co-op with educational resources. With each newsletter, we will highlight new online resources available to you, and share updates on our work. We have a great selection of articles and materials on Anti-oppression education. Check out our Shared Resource Library for more resources. For example, one article that we have for your reading pleasure is Cooperatives in the African American Experience by Doctor Jessica Gordon Nembhard (John Jay College, City University of New York; and Grassroots Economic Organizing Collective). Please read and share!
NASCO is working with AORTA to conduct an anti-oppression audit of how power, privilege, and oppression play out in the areas of governance, staff, leadership development, and education. The Inclusion Committee is working hard to educate their membership on issues of anti-oppression and diversity, and in fact, two members of the committee made a trip out to Oberlin College this past November to facilitate a training for Oberlin Student Cooperative (OSCA) members.
We created a fundraising plan and calendar for this year, coordinated by staff and reviewed and evaluated by the committee, which will be a building block for development work for years to come. Going forward, staff will send out a monthly report describing their work and successes in regards to the milestones and goals outlined in the plan, and from which the committee will evaluate their progress and provide guidance. Now that a firm development plan is in place, FISUS is looking to determine what other issues fall under its "financial sustainability" umbrella.