June 22-24 National Worker Cooperative Conference in Boston

[Jennifer Hill]

Maine Cooperatives - The National Worker Cooperative Conference is coming up in late June - right in our backyard of Boston, Mass. I am interested in attending this conference and will represent your co-op (or a group of co-ops), writing up a synopsis of the event afterwards and sending it to your co-op. It looks like minimal expenses will come to around $942, of which the biggest chunk is housing, but also includes tours, registration, and Concord Trailways round trip bus ticket. Registration for the conference ends June 1.

 

If you are interested in having your cooperative represented at this conference and being part of the broader, national cooperative stage, email me your pledge and I'll let you know if we reach a critical mass and can move forward with the registration.

 

Suggested donations: $942 - I will represent your co-op solely; or $500 & $100 donations, etc.

 

Jennifer Hill for Cooperative Maine

 

Jennifer Hill
Memorable Events
17 Main Street
Belfast, ME 04915
207-930-5700
roo...@fairpoint.net
www.memorableeventsmaine.com

 

 

In This Issue Daylong Intensive on Cooperative Development Families with Kids Register NOW Vendor Fair! FYI INTERPRETATION We will offer Spanish-English simultaneous interpretation. CHILDCARE We will provide childcare on-site for all conference events. Please request childcare in advance when you register. TOURS We are busy planning tours of Boston, its hidden histories and cooperative economies. Tour info will be available in April. FILM NIGHT Friday, June 22 will be a worker cooperative film night. Let us know if you have a film or short video you'd like to show.       Hello, cooperators!    The registration deadline for the national worker coop conference is June 1,2012.      Please register as soon as possible to ensure your spot. This is especially important if you're staying on campus or have children. We cannot guarantee housing or meals after June 1.    See you in Boston! USFWC Conference Staff, Stephanie and Melissa    Thunderstruck thanks to Patrick St. John for design and Carlo Mogavero for site building. How to Persuade Your Cooperative to Send You to the Conference Convincing your workplace to spend money on anything can be difficult. Here are some points you might make when asking your cooperative or organization to support you to go: 1. You'll bring back valuable information Offer to give a reportback at a meeting, write up your key learnings, or hold a sharing session so everyone can benefit from your attendance. If the coop is paying, the coop should benefit. 2. It's probably in your mission Most coops have a missions statement that includes something about ongoing education, connection to other cooperatives, or both. Remind your coop that this is a great way to fulfill a part of your mission that can be difficult to realize sometimes. 3. It's the most affordable legal/accounting/consulting advice you'll ever get! Come on... for the cost of normally one hour of their time [$240 for member registration, $320 for public] you have nearly unlimited access to the country's top cooperative attorneys and accountants, including concentrated time in our Ask an Expert Sessions? It's a no-brainer! 4. You might expand your market or find new vendors.  This is business, people! Find and talk to other coops - see who you might buy from and sell to. For a minimal investment, you're gaining access to a trove of marketing opportunities and resources. 5. It's not all fun and games. Your co-workers may not want to subsidize you to party, so don't tell them about the amazing community party and all the fabulous after-hours times you're going to have. Concentrate on the nearly 15 hours of workshops you'll be there for. 6. Put the cost in perspective Your workplace probably spent more than $240 on its last office supply order, and all you got for that was some pencils and a toner cartridge. Put the cost in perspective alongside all the other costs of doing business, and there you'll see the real value. Good luck making your case! We think it makes itself. And let us know if a personal phone call from one of the very persuasive USFWC staffers would help....  Calling All Families with Kids! Register NOW! Parents should register as soon as possible CHILDCARE We are arranging childcare for attendees, and we'll need to know as soon as possible how many children are attending, and how old they are. Please contact confe...@usworker.coop ASAP with your childcare needs and details. HOUSING FOR FAMILIES WITH KIDS Because our host site does not allow young children in the dorms, we are arranging free and low-cost community housing for families. If you have children, please get in touch ASAP with your housing needs. We cannot guarantee housing for families with children who register after June 1. Vendor Fair and Tables We're planning a vendor fair of informational tables and booths - maybe even a carnival-style midway! The DAWN Ask-A-Peer-Advisor Booth with be there, as will the various loan funds, cooperative publications, and projects in the works. Vendor tables are $25/day for a full table. To reserve a table, please contact Stephanie at sne...@usworker.coop.

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[Jane Livingston]

Indivisible, Inc. will match the first $100 contribution from a single co-op or organization. As the national and global economy continues down its slippery slope, the need for co-op development escalates.

 

Worker cooperatives have an outstanding--amazing--track record in empowering the people who produce the goods and services we buy to form and maintain their own businesses. These businesses in general far outperform their non-co-op counterparts (take, for example, the homecare industry, or the restaurant business, or recycling companies, or printing and copy centers, or...). This sector is also very actively lookng at multi-stakeholder models, and this year's conference has, in addition, a whole day devoted to helping co-op development practitioners get up to speed.

 

Finally, the event offers an unparalleled opportubity for Co-op Maine to network with worker co-ops around the US and in particular around the Northeast. I hope three or four co-ops reading this will determine that it is worth the $100 investment (or maybe more?) to send Jennifer to the conference.

 

We are indebted (in-debt-ed) to Jennifer for all the research, networking, reporting back, organizing, facilitating, communicating, and especailly for the positive energy and enthusiasm (not to mention intelligence and sensitivity) she has poured into the effort to bring Co-op Maine from an informal association into becoming a "second tier cooperative" owned by its co-op and credit union members, or perhaps a multi-stakeholder co-op owned by the co-ops/CUs and the workers who keep Co-op Maine growing.

 

She needs and deserves to know this important contribution is valued, in order to maintain her high level of volunteerism (on your behalf). Pony up, even if it's just $25. We are stronger together.

 

Sincerely, Jane Livingston

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[Jonah Fertig]

Local Sprouts Cooperative had exciting news yesterday. 
We voted by consensus yesterday that all workers will be worker-owners with new equity structures and commitments to the cooperatives and decentralized committee structure.  We are excited to expand worker-ownership to over 25 workers here in Portland and continue to create a democratic economy.  This vote comes just before our 2 year anniversary of the opening of Local Sprouts Cafe (we're having a party on Friday June 1st) and the 5 year anniversary of the founding of Local Sprouts.

Yesterday we also voted to purchase a workplace pass for our worker-owners to attend the US Federation of Worker Cooperative's Conference in Boston.  We are federation members and we have 8 worker-owners that will be going to Boston for all or part of the conference.  Not to compete with Jennifer's request for support, but we are also raising funds to help defray our costs for attending the conference.  The workplace pass that we are purchasing will cover 4 workers (or 8 workers for one day each) and costs $740.  We are trying to find free housing in the Boston area and will carpool so our additional costs should not be too much more.  We will have a benefit event at Local Sprouts Cafe to raise some funds and would love any donations/contributions that anyone wants to contribute to our attendance at the conference.  We will also be sharing what we learn with other workers-owners in our cooperative and use our learning to help support more workers to organize and create worker-owned cooperatives.  If you want to support our trip and attendance at the conference, you can get in touch with me directly.

Thanks,

Jonah

 

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Jonah Fertig

Local Sprouts Cooperative

Cafe     Catering    Learning     Community

local   organic    fair-trade    worker-owned

Worker-owner, Co-founder

Catering, Outreach and Learning Coordinator

jo...@localsprouts.coop

cell: 207-615-9970, Cafe: 207-899-3529

Local Sprouts Cafe 649 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101

www.localsprouts.coop

Contact Me

[Jennifer Hill]

Maine Cooperatives - I have received 3 pledges, including 1 organization that will match funds for the first $100 from any co-op or organization. Additionally, I have been invited to share a double room at the conference, may have a ride down, and will forgo tours, which will bring the total amount I need down to $695.

 

Deadline is June 1 - let me know if your co-op is interested in being represented at the National Worker Cooperative Conference in Boston (see information below).

 

Jennifer Hill for Cooperative Maine

Memorable Events
17 Main Street
Belfast, ME 04915
207-930-5700
roo...@fairpoint.net
www.memorableeventsmaine.com

[Jane Livingston]

oh, i didn't see this--GREAT!! can't you get that 3,000 member co-op to pony up $100 so I have someone to match??

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[Jennifer Hill]

thanks to an anonymous donation for $100, only $495 left to go! Deadline is June 1.

 

See your co-op represented in Boston in June - I pledge to make connections and gather materials for your co-op to read.