The 2010 Cooperative Education and Training Institute will provide a space for cooperative members from all over Canada and the US to connect through the universal language of mapping. Mapping is an emerging process widely used to facilitate communication, share information, and build community--elements that are essential to building cooperation. Using maps as guides for navigating the cooperative movement, we will explore cooperation across geographies, sectors, and movements. Over the last three years, we have explored alternative economies, land rights, and environmental justice, and mapping will serve as a tool to explore the intersections of these and other themes.

Over 400 participants will converge in Ann Arbor, Michigan this November to share ideas, learn new skills, and look at issues affecting the cooperative movement worldwide. Since 1977, NASCO's Cooperative Education & Training Institute has been widely recognized as one of the most important training and networking opportunities available to members, directors, staff and managers of housing cooperatives. The annual NASCO Institute is always a one-of-a-kind opportunity to network with hundreds of cooperative leaders and employers, to caucus about pressing issues, and to work on building an inclusive and accessible cooperative movement.