A cooperative just might be the answer to a host of issues that we are now dealing with in this declining economy. Hundreds of people across the country work in or live in a co-op and/or are doing business with cooperatives (credit unions are financial co-ops). Come hear a report back from co-op grassroots organizer Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo on her recent trip to Mondragon, Spain. Mondragon is a complex of over 100 cooperatives, including manufacturing facilities, innovation centers, a bank and a university. Mondragon was and continues to be the inspiration for people in this country and all over the world forming cooperatives since the 1950s to have control over their economic futures. What lessons can we learn from Mondragon to address economic injustice in this country, as well as to create more fair and sustainable jobs? Come and talk with others who are involved in cooperatives in the metropolitan DC area.

Cooperative businesses and their supporters all over Pennsylvania will gather to celebrate cooperatives and to network in order to inspire ideas to meet community needs, building businesses and fostering community. One hundred and 50 cooperatives, collectives, credit unions, mutuals and start-up groups are expected to participate. In addition to it's program on Nov. 4, the IYC Pittsburgh Organizing Committee plans to create a directory of local cooperatives as well as to sponsor workshops to raise awareness about cooperatives. Members of IYC Pittsburgh Organizing Committee include The Big Idea Bookstore, Ujamaa Collective, the Small Business Administration, the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development and the Duquesne University Small Business Development Center.

Four Steppingstones to Developing Organizations, Groups, Teams, and Yourself September 23-25, 2012 With Drs. Ellen and Max Schupbach Process-Oriented Deep Democracy is a unifying paradigm that brings together theoretical concepts from modern physics, research from psychology and systems theory, and experiences from aboriginal cultures, creating an overarching paradigm for facilitating change in individuals, teams, communities, and organizations. We focus on discovering hidden structures and system wide, non-measurable tendencies, and how to use them creatively while enhancing measurable goals and strategies. For full description: http://deepdemocracyleadership.eventbrite.com/ WHERE: Fort Mason Center, SF WHEN: Module 1: September 23-25, 2011; Module 2: February 17-19, 2011; Module 3: May 18-20; Module 4; September 21-23 HOW MUCH: Each single module: $350.00 If you take all four modules, prices are: modules 1-3: $350.00 each—module 4: $200.00 HOW TO REGISTER: Phone: + 1 (415) 729-5768

The Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NoBAWC) is hosting two important public forums about the proposed Worker Cooperative Corporation legislation, AB 1161, sponsored by California Assemblyperson Nancy Skinner. A draft of this legislation has been written by individuals from the Bay Area worker cooperative community to be considered for the 2012 California legislative cycle. Between now and the beginning of the 2012 legislative session, NoBAWC is providing a space for the Bay Area worker cooperative community to learn about, discuss, shape and possibly endorse this legislation. NoBAWC strongly encourages your workplace to participate in this conversation. Who better to help inform and shape the content of the bill than members of worker cooperatives? In order to facilitate this discussion, NoBAWC will: a. Host a two-part public forum for attendees to learn about, discuss and offer feedback about AB 1161. b. Create an on-line discussion forum with materials relevant to the bill including a summary of the bill, full text of the bill’s current draft and an interactive discussion forum for people to share ideas, ask questions, post concerns and offer feedback about what the bill should and should not include in its final draft. c. Provide an official Letter of Support for the bill if/when NoBAWC members decide to endorse it. Purpose for August 20th Event: To learn about and discuss the proposed Worker Cooperative Corporation legislation (AB 1161), which adds a new Worker Cooperative Corporation Law to the California Corporations Code and makes amendments to the Consumer Cooperative Corporation Law. Attendees will take back this understanding to their workplaces and organizations for discussion. Worker cooperative members, developers and advocates will be prepared to provide feedback on the legislation and discuss next steps at the follow-up forum on September 24th, 2011 (location & time of 9/24 event TBA). Agenda for August 20th Event: 1. Introductions: This is a discussion to give you a voice in shaping the legislation. This legislation is not written in stone; it can be changed if there is a strong sentiment to do so. 2. Presentation on AB 1161 by authors and advocates of the bill 3. Clarifying Q&A

Is trouble just trouble or do disturbances potentially point the way to collective growth? Organizations, like individuals, form functional identities that can limit awareness--until it's disturbed! In this free HUB Lab you'll be introduced to Process Work methodology and ideas concerning collective trouble. You will have the opportunity to explore an organizational or collective disturbance in an "inner-work" exercise that you'll be free to hold privately or share with the group. Time: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Sign up: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1811495231 About the Facilitator: Bill Say, M.A., directs the Deep Democracy Institute San Francisco, and is an affiliate organizational consultant for Olive Grove Consulting. He consults on the issues of diversity awareness, conflict resolution, leadership, and community building. He is a former faculty member of JFK and Naropa universities, and teaches in the US and abroad. Bill is a Process Work Diplomate. His website is: www.CoreCommunity.com

September 22, 2011 at 4pm Ostrom’s seminal book, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, was published in 1990. But her research on common property goes back to the early 1960s, when she wrote her dissertation on groundwater in California. In 1973 she and her husband, Vincent Ostrom, founded the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University. In the intervening years, the Workshop has produced hundreds of studies of the conditions in which communities self-organize to solve common problems. Ostrom currently serves as professor of political science at Indiana University and senior research director of the Workshop. The Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops, as part of UMass Co-operative Enterprise Collaborative, invited Ostrom, the first woman to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, to speak at UMass about her work regarding collective action. We hope to see you there!

What if community members decided how their city budgets should be spent?. This is called Participatory Budgeting, and it is happening in some areas of the U.S. and hundreds of cities all over the world. Come to a discussion with local groups in San Francisco and Josh Lerner of The Participatory Budgeting Project to explore how the participatory process can be applied in San Francisco. Also speaking: Chicago Alderman Joe Moore who launched the first participatory budgeting process in the U.S. He invited residents of his ward to directly decide how to spend his $1.3 million discretionary budget. Time: 6:30-9:30 pm. Wheelchair accessible.

Corporate leaders, academics and "thought leaders," will explore what it means to be a "conscious" business in the 21st century at a 2-day conference sponsored by the Conscious Capitalism Institute. The theme: Conscious leadership and Conscious Marketing. Attendees will include: John Mackey of Whole Foods, Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation, Jurriaan Kamp of Ode Magazine, and Marianne Williamson, of the Peace Alliance.

A forum seeking ways to strengthen partnerships between cooperatives, non-profits mutual companies and associations and supportive governments in order to meeting needs not adequately addressed by the public or private economy. "An enabling public policy and program environment is needed for the social and solidarity economy to be able to develop and deliver to its fullest capacity," says a press release. The Canadian Community Economic Development Network is a partner in the planned launch. CCEDNet is a charitable organization comprised of community-based organizations involved in community economic development across the country. Forum website:  http://www.fiess2011.org 

A day-long conference sponsored by the Vermont Employee Ownership Center offering 19 workshops to learn about the unique benefits and challenges of employee ownership, as well as the opportunity to learn from the most sought-after experts in the industry. $125 early registration. Pre-conference dinner takes place on Tuesday, June 9 at Magnolia Bistro in downtown Burlington for $35. Who should attend the conference? business owners interested in learning about employee ownership as an exit strategy; members of existing employee-owned companies; anyone interested in employee participation or sustainable business models; entrepreneurs considering starting a business with broadly shared ownership; economic development professionals; bankers, accountants, attorneys and financial planners; state legislators; students.

The conference will focus on providing information on using worker co-operatives and other related models as an alternative to businesses without successors. This is the first part of a two-part conference. The second, A North American Conference of Worker Cooperatives, takes place Oct 13-15. These are organized by the Canadian Worker Co-op Federation, the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, North American Students of Cooperation and Co-op Zone. Bilingual: English and French.