WORC’N Fall Calendar & Events Committee Note

Here’s a quick calendar and related notes for WORC’N Fall activities. We have a lot going on, which is very exciting, including participation in a regional Solidarity and Green Economy Conference in Worcester, a potential event with a Mexican co-op delegation, and our regular Peer Resource Group, Co-op 101 and General Assembly events.

One particularly exciting note- In an effort to spread work around and allow the Steering Committee to step back from event planning and step into steering WORC’N, we are launching an Events Committee! This committee, to date including Lynn, James, and Reed, is charged with coordinating logistics around WORC’N events. Please give a hearty Thank You to Lynn, James and Reed, and if you are interested in joining this committee, please let me or any other steering committee member know. Now, without further ado:

The WORC’N Fall Calendar

All events from 6 pm – 8 pm unless noted

October 10, Peer Resource Group focusing on Restoring Roots Gardeners’ Co-op, a new edible landscape design and implementation co-op @ Make Shift, 549 Columbus Ave, Boston. Contact Ben Mauer with questions.

October 15, Steering Committee Meeting (10 am to 11 am) and Launch of Events Committee (11 am to noon). Location TBA (possibly Museum of Science). Contact me or any other steering committee member if you want to come.

October 17, Worker Co-op 101 @ 1151 Mass Ave, Cambridge. Contact Stacey Cordeiro with questions.

October 21, Potential event with a delegation from the cooperative sector of UE’s sister union in Mexico, the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT). Save the date and more info will come as we learn it.

November 9-10, SAGE Conference, 5 Pleasant St, 3^rd floor Worcester. For more details, see http://www.worcestersagealliance.org/?page_id=11 and if you want to go as part of a WORC’N delegation, contact me or one of the other steering committee members. We are looking into holding a regional worker co-op meet-up at this conference, so keep an eye out for more related information.

November 14, Peer Resource Group focusing on Hummingbird Co-op, a new house cleaning co-op @ Boston Collective Delivery, 12 Channel St, Boston. Contact James Bachez with questions.

November 19, Steering Committee (10 am to 11:30 am) @ Make Shift, 549 Columbus Ave, Boston.

November 21, Worker Co-op 101 @ 1151 Mass Ave, Cambridge. Contact Stacey Cordeiro with questions.

December 12, General Assembly and Social @ Just Crust, Harvard Sq, Cambridge. Contact James Bachez with questions.

Tonight: Co-op 101 at MataHari

Introduction to Cooperatives workshop
September 19, 2013, 6-8 pm
Hosted by: MataHari: Eye of the Day
1 Milk St., 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02109

This workshop will give an introduction to starting and running a cooperative business. Worker-owned cooperatives are owned and controlled by their members and are a way of providing employment for their members and needed services for the larger community. After this workshop you will understand the difference between worker, consumer, and producer cooperatives, and learn about new hybrid models of co-op businesses. You will have a sense of the history and global reach of cooperative businesses, the logistics of how they operate internally, and the steps needed to get one started.

Co-sponsored by the Worker Owned and Run Cooperative Network (worcn.org) and the Boston Center for Community Ownership (bcco.coop).

Please comment on this post to let us know if you plan on attending!

Shift Change Documentary September 20th 6-8pm at the Democracy Center

Shift Change is a documentary film by veteran award-winning filmmakers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin. It tells the little known stories of employee owned businesses that compete successfully in today’s economy while providing secure, dignified jobs in democratic workplaces.

When: Friday, September 20th

Where: Democracy Center (45 Mt Auburn Street, Cambridge )

Time: 6-8pm

Shift Change offers us living examples as well as an inspiring vision of what a productive, just, and sustainable economy can look like. The film’s core message can help to build bridges across different groups who are united in their commitment to the economic vitality and fairness of their own communities. The overall message, the cases, and the analysis are exactly what we need to help chart pathways out of the global economic crisis.

Quarterly General Assembly & Social this Thursday Sept 12, 5:30pm

WORC’N will be having it’s second Quarterly General Assembly & Social this Thursday, September 12, from 5:30pm to 8pm

General Assembly: 5:30pm

Social: around 6:30pm

Location: Make Shift Boston, 549 Columbus Ave, Boston MA 02118

Program:

First, we’ll hold a General Assembly, where the Steering Committee will report out on our work, and we’ll discuss ideas and proposals that folks send in advance. If you have a proposal or idea, please send it to Ben Mauer (ben@quilted.coop).

Then we’ll have a good old fashioned food and social hour. You are welcome to come to either or both parts of the evening, and are strongly encouraged to invite other members of your co-op to attend.

See you soon!