Session materials from “Organizing across Movements” presented by Camila Tapia-Guilliams at NASCO Institute 2024.
Cooperatives are organized by community members collectively meeting their needs as mutual aid. They are rooted in a diverse history across movements for people power. While community organizing is foundational to many cooperatives’ history and practice, it is often an unspoken tactic or framework.
Session materials from “How NASCO has inspired European Student Housing Cooperators” presented by Anke Schwittay and Jim Jones at NASCO Institute 2024. This workshop will introduced the Pan-European Student Cooperative Housing Network (PESCHA), which is an ecosystem of cooperatives in six European countries that aims to grow the number of student housing cooperatives. While some members (UK, Germany, Switzerland) have well-established coops, other members (Ireland, Hungary, Italy) are at the beginning of their coop journey.
In 2021, NASCO conducted interviews with 28 member co-ops using a standardized set of questions regarding several areas of co-op health: governance, legal obligations, finances, membership, education, maintenance, leadership, staffing, community engagement, and quality of life for members.
In this report, NASCO has aggregated the results of all co-op health assessments to offer an overall picture of our sector's health. The goals of this report include:
This is a discussion guide that offers participants the opportunity to reflect on ways in which the cooperative movement does and does not support indigenous sovereignty, and to brainstorm how co-ops can uplift the land back movement. These slides provide a few discussion prompts and resources to continue the conversation in your co-op.
Below, are the recordings for NASCO Institue 2020 sessions by room. Please share lessons learned with your cooperatives and communities.
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With roots in the women's movement of the late 1800s, group equity co-ops have continued against the odds for almost 150 years, finding ways to create both affordable housing and community across North America.
Group equity co-ops are solidly rooted in the Chicago area, first rising as a practical solution to the very real needs of nineteenth-century single women. But this self-help approach eventually became an important option for anyone with financial need.
Many Hands: Building a Cooperative Future
Filmed in 2013, this is an inspirational chronical of the cooperative movement in Austin, Texas, and also an organizing tool for anyone searching for a cooperative approach to broader empowerment and stronger community.
Presentation from a session at NASCO Institute 2017.
Cooperatives are educational experiences. Whether your cooperative experience is campus-based or community-based, we all learn a lot as members.
