NASCOFamily News
Monthly News from the NASCO Family of Associations
Issue #1 • January 15, 2005
NASCO Family News is a summary of important current events in our community. It will be sent out monthly to the membership.
NASCO
Staff member leaving. Anjanette Bunce, long time NASCO staff member will be leaving by the end of March. Anjanette has worn many hats while at NASCO, working with educational programs, editing Co-op Voices, organizing the annual Institute, managing the web site and data base, and overseeing office operations. We will miss her.
Information on applying for a job with NASCO will be distributed soon.
Internship Network. NASCO is now talking with employers about summer internship positions and will be asking co-op members to submit applications in the near future. For more information or an application for participation in the program, contact .
New NASCO members. We have two new members since the Institute:
• Ford Village Housing Co-op, a small family housing co-op in Wyandotte, Michigan (near Detroit). This group is currently structured as a limited equity co-op but would like to shift to a group equity model.
• Steiner House in Cleveland, which is re-joining. Steiner House is an intentionally international co-op with roots reaching back to the 1940s. They are located at Case-Western Reserve University.
Co-op leaving membership. We must sadly report that the University Cooperative Housing Association in Los Angeles is dropping membership in NASCO. Founded during the Depression, UCHA was one of the founders of the Campus Cooperative Development Corporation in the late 1980s. They will be missed.
Staff and Managers Conference. Mark your calendars! April 14-15 in Seattle, Washington. More information will be soon available.
Call for a national purchasing association. Jim Jones has proposed the formation of a national purchasing group to pool the buying power of our housing co-ops, particularly for food purchasing, but also in other areas. The large co-ops will be discussing this, and if it is successful, smaller groups might be able to take advantage of the plan.
NASCO Properties/Lots in Common
Property transferred to new partner. In early December, the three houses of Qumbya co-op in Chicago were transferred from NASCO Properties ownership to Lots in Common, the new joint venture between NASCO and Riverton Community Housing in Minneapolis. This will give Lots in Common a “starter set” of houses which should allow them to develop a track record for future purchases.
NP market equity now at $1.3 million. After the Qumbya transfer, refinancing in Santa Cruz, and the retirement of a significant amount of debt, our new estimate of market equity is 1.3 million dollars. Much of this equity is in Santa Cruz, where the past decade saw soaring property values while our debt remained stayed about the same.
Campus Cooperative Development Corporation
Boston Community Co-op signs contract for purchase. CCDC is assisting the Boston Community Co-op (BCC) with the purchase of its first house. A contract has been signed and lenders are now considering whether to fund the project. BCC is a community based group equity co-op with many members who previously lived at other NASCO co-ops. They currently are renting a house for Millstone Cooperative.
Sherwood Cooperative refinancing. CCDC is also working on to refinance Sherwood Co-op in Seattle, which recently purchased its property from its landlord, who also financed the sale. This co-op has it roots in the 1930s, when it was a part of the huge Students Cooperative Association at the University of Washington. It was the only group to survive the implosion of SCA and the sale of its property in the 1950s.
The NASCO Family News is sent by email to AGM representatives, co-op staff members, Associate and Individual Members, and special friends of NASCO. To add an address, contact Jim Jones, Executive Director at .