Minutes 2/13/12
Leah Feder
Work Coop Meeting Minutes – 2/13/12
Bluestockings
Present:
Ben
Courtney
Arielle
Colin
Leah
Report Backs
Ben – spoke with Brooke from bluestockings, can talk to us when she gets back into town—experience with bylaws, etc: how to manage a coop model
-started reading a couple books, would be great if we all did
“How to Start a Worker Co-op”
“Worker Co-op Toolbox”
--good pdfs, step by step—on wiki
Courtney – Ian and I walked around Bk, have pictures of storefronts, will ask him to send them out so we can contact them independently, give us a sense of what we’re working with
-Bushwick seems good, we didn’t get everywhere, saw a lot of Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill (also good!)
-got info from Legal team (Acorn folk)—group of lawyers who wanted to start OWS clinic (for general legal advice)—got their advice
Colin – Thursday, network of Worker Coops has monthly meeting
-also, worked construction for years, know how to deal with permits, dept of buildings, etc
Leah – built a wiki, encourage people to throw resources & thoughts up
Agenda
Leah - ows moving toward co-operative model in general—where do we fit into this ecology?
Colin – let’s itemize what we see in a coffee shop
Arielle – question of what our model is = fundamental
-start as bare-bones as possible, maximum potential for growth
Courtney – as first step: room with coffee
Arielle – we can rent out space to non-ows
-sliding scale event offering
Leah – what’s our first goal? Seems like idea of space is primary. How do we get that going?
Colin – but is it a space or a coffee shop?
Arielle – if you build it they will come, space gets defined by the people who enter it
Colin – experience with Shea Stadium, DIY space. Sell PBR out of a cooler. In Bushwick.
Ben – we’re going to be under scrutiny as OWS
Courtney – we have to be by the book
-Media team has been violently evicted twice
Ben – there’s a pattern
-big target on our heads
-if we go by the book it shouldn’t be a problem, trying to do things in less than a year might not be reasonable
-pretty likely that we’ll need an in-depth business plan to get the funding we’ll need to open a place
Courtney – ppl might not rent to us if we don’t have a clear idea of where $ will come from
Colin – I think for a coffee shop, you can get permits relatively quickly
Ben – reading up, it seems like 6-12 months sounds reasonable
Arielle – maybe an interim project to see how we work together & generate funds
Colin – or a fundraiser
Arielle – limited edition zine?
Occupy Money Group?
-projects should have focus on iconic messaging, national movement building, helping perception/strength of movement as a whole.
Colin – 3 solid steps: pick a model, funding sources, itemize coffee shop
Courtney – over the course of the week, all group edit a business plan?
How do we want to define the space?
Arielle- self-published books
-vinyl
-how do we establish our customer?
-can’t just be a room with coffee in it
Courtney – like the idea of something simple, easy to put together, don’t need to pay each other first
Action steps:
Leah will start working on a breakdown of cooperative models
Arielle will have business plan up before tomorrow
Courtney will start pricing out necessary equipment for coffee shop
Thursday meeting before colors: Come up with some questions for people with experience – what do we want to know?
4pm Thursday, Yippie Café – discuss business plan and come up with questions to ask folk
