Conference Highlights

Friday Evening Welcoming Session
Kick off Institute weekend with interactive co-op games geared toward meeting other participants and just plain having fun! After some games and get-to-know you’s, stick around for “Fun with Group Process” with Katja Hahn D’Ericco for an educational and experiential presentation of Group Development Theory.

NASCO's Cooperative Hall of Fame
Join us as we honor the newest members of the Campus Cooperative Hall of Fame. These inductees display remarkable dedication and commitment to the group equity cooperative movement. The ceremony is one of the weekend’s most inspiring events, and will be followed by a reception and a short documentary film festival.

Documentary Film Festival
Independent artists from various parts of North America will screen short documentary films highlighting creativity and resistance to cultural and political events in their communities. Some of the film makers will be around for Q&A following the screenings.

New Credit Union Track!
Join us for a new track this year! Learn how to get more involved in your local credit union, how to reach out to your fellow students, and how student credit unions and campus cooperatives can work together to strengthen the movement!

Bigger Worker/Retail Co-op Track!
This is a pivotal year for the worker-run co-op movement, which just launched the U.S. Federation of Worker Co-ops and Democratic Workplaces. Come take advantage of a fuller worker co-op course load with a variety of classes ranging from financial skills and technical assistance, to investigating marketing options, governance models, and organizing new worker-run cooperatives. We will also have a Worker Co-op Forum to discuss the growing movement, and how to build a strong relationship between NASCO and the new Federation.

Caucuses
Attend a caucus to meet people who share your interests. Caucuses provide informal networking opportunities for co-opers to share ideas and experiences, as well as draft proposals and resolutions to bring to the AGM. Come participate in electing a caucus chair to keep your caucus active throughout the year and to be an official representative to NASCO’s Diversity Congress.

Some of the possible caucuses this year include regional caucuses (Canada, West Coast, Midwest, East Coast, and Southwest), People of Color Caucus, Queer Caucus, Alumni Caucus, Co-op Staff & Managers’ Caucus, Organizer’s Caucus, Eco Sustainability Caucus, Anarchist Caucus, Community Housing Co-op Caucus, and Intentional Communities Caucus. There will be focused discussion sessions Saturday afternoon for a Women’s Forum, and a Worker & Retail Co-op Forum.

With so much caucus interest, some groups will no doubt have a time conflict, so we encourage everyone to participate in the Diversity Congress. Please contact the NASCO office if you are interested in forming a caucus that is not listed here.

NASCO's Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting is a forum for members to voice their opinions and participate in NASCO governance. Board members will be on hand to answer questions, and assist active members in making changes in NASCO. It is also the forum for active members to nominate and elect an Active Member Representative (AMR). The AMR is elected by active member co-ops at Institute and serves a one-year term on the NASCO board of directors.

On Saturday, the first part of the Annual General Meeting will begin at 8:00 am, with introductions and an orientation to the meeting process used during the Sunday business meeting. The current Active Member Representative will make a report to the NASCO membership, and explain the role of the AMR so that nominations for the new AMR can begin.

On Sunday, the AGM will continue, beginning with caucus reports at 9:30 am. The reports will occur between 9:30 and 10:00 am, and caucus members will be free to attend the workshops starting at 10:30 am. The business meeting will begin at 10:00 am. Co-op representatives should plan on attending this business meeting, which will continue throughout Course Block 3.

Diversity Congress
The Diversity Congress was designed by active members from the People of Color Caucus, the Queer Caucus and other caucuses, as a united forum inclusive of the intersection of personal identities. As the newest component of discussion, networking, and democratic participation at NASCO Institute, it serves as a place where members from every caucus can come together to share common concerns, suggest active steps for members to take home to their own co-ops after Institute, and ultimately develop strategies to eliminate oppression within the cooperative movement. This year, the Diversity Congress will meet at 12:30pm on Sunday during lunch, following Course Block 3.

Plenary Sessions
On the Saturday afternoon of Institute Weekend, from 4:30-6:30 pm there will be Plenary Sessions in the Michigan Union. This will be a more focused session than the caucuses, with forum facilitators, and in some cases, panel speakers and a moderator. We intend to use the plenary time to dig deep into issues that interest the membership and, through large group discussion, we will attempt to enrich our understanding of complex co-operative movements, dynamics, and initiatives. In addition, a few off-site courses will be held during this time, including a co-housing tour, and a workshop about community and the co-op kitchen.

Co-op Music Benefit
The University of Michigan’s rad.art collective is excited to host an evening of co-op music as a benefit for both rad.art and Critical Moment magazine. The members of Critical Moment form an editorial collective publishing local written independent print media. rad.art is an unending series of radical art events in Ann Arbor, which contribute to the strengthening of the community by providing spaces in which radical politics can be affirmed through art. rad.art events engage political issues in a more casual setting and provide newer activists with a more accessible entry point through which they can confront new political issues. The show will be on Saturday night at 9:30 pm, and will feature artists from musical co-ops & collectives near and far performing everything from folk, to rock, to hip-hop. www.umich.edu/~radart

Co-op Bookstore
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative and Community Bookshelf will be setting up shop for the entire weekend!

Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative (www.rainbowbookstore.org) is a cooperatively owned and run bookstore in Madison, WI. They will bring the best picks (books, magazines, bumper stickers, pins, etc.) from their store.

Community Bookshelf (www.bookshelf.ic.org), a part of the Fellowship for Intentional Community, is a mail order and traveling bookstore specializing in books on cooperation, process & leadership, sustainable living, and ecology.