Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery knows a thing or two about community support. Tucked away on the northwest corner of Airport Boulevard and North Lamar, Black Star Co-op is one of the longest-running co-ops in Austin. The pandemic has thrown many punches at the foodservice industry, and the winter freeze in February 2021 - commonly referred to as Snovid - was yet another disruption.
ACBA Board Elections!
Revised Dates! The ACBA and its partner organization, the Austin Cooperative Business Foundation, will hold their annual elections from December 15, 2021, through January 25, 2021. This year, we are asking members to select candidates for four open board seats. A ballot listing the candidates and outlining the proposed bylaws changes will be distributed electronically to members on or before December 15. We will convene a member meeting in January at which candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves. Stay tuned for details.
Are you interested in running for the board or know someone who is? Board service is an excellent opportunity for any member-owner of one of our association members to contribute to our work of supporting and expanding the cooperative economy in Austin and central Texas. Applicants must be endorsed by the Board or leadership body of a member co-op. Despite the challenges of the last two years we have made enormous progress as an organization and for the regional co-op community. We have even more planned for 2022, and we’d love to have more more inspired co-op leaders to help be part of these initiatives!
You can find out how to apply and expectations of Board members with the document linked here:
ACBA 2022 Board Election Packet.
Contact the nominations committee for more information at nominations@acba.coop. The deadline to apply is December 8th.
No other book like it: A too-short review of Collective Courage
Pictured: Cover of Collective Courage, black background with red title text and yellow subtitle text. A green line overlays the title with different shades of abstract people holding hands.
The arrival of federal troops in Galveston, Texas in 1865 marked the end of slavery in the United States. Juneteenth (short for June nineteenth) is a celebration of African American achievement and freedom. The holiday also acknowledges a period in history that continues to shape society today.
With the end of slavery, African Americans used cooperative development to take control of their economic lives and their community’s economic well-being. Cooperation is a proven way for marginalized communities to meet their needs when prevailing market forces, government agencies, or pressures towards economic individualism do not meet them. Cooperatives continue to be a force for economic justice, and the study of co-ops shows how early Black co-ops (and also not-so-early ones) thrived while facing extreme discrimination.
About the book
Jessica Gordon Nembhard, a political economist and cooperative icon, chronicles African American cooperatives since the Civil War in her book Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. This book is truly unique, and not just because it’s the only full-length study of African American-owned cooperatives and collective economic activity written in the last 100 years. This book is unique because it’s a deep dive into the struggles, strategies, and legacies of Black co-ops - and it inspires readers to see how economic cooperation and collective action can solve many of the problems we face today.
Pictured: Jessica Gordon Nembhard giving a speech at a podium.
African American Cooperatives
One cooperative in Nembhard’s book is the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Co-operative Union (CFNACU), which was founded in Houston County, Texas - just a little over 10 years after the original Juneteenth. The CFNACU was the largest African American organization of its time and promoted collective bargaining, pooling resources, and increasing Black political participation. Its state chapters strongly supported education, with some even founding academies. Constant racial discrimination and harassment, coupled with economic problems such as increasing debt, lack of capital, and poor wages led to the group’s dissolution by 1896.
The CFNACU isn’t the only Texas cooperative in Collective Courage. Texas’ first cooperative sawmill, a farmers’ co-op in Fayette County, was used by both Black and White farmers. Established in the late 1930s, the cooperative sawmill persevered during Jim Crow and the Great Depression. Nembhard explains how both necessity and the value of cooperation allowed Black co-ops to proliferate during times of great struggle.
Nembhard’s penultimate chapter focuses on the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF), which she describes as a network of cooperatives focused on African American and low-income rural economic development and land ownership. The FSC/LAF is the only existing African American regional or national cooperative organization in the US.
Pictured: FSC/LAF Logo, Three black people stand with their arms holding up a sun, with panafrican colors and geometric rays emanate out.
Takeaways
One takeaway from Nembhard’s work is that many of the cooperatives used education as a strategy - first forming as study groups and then deliberately planning training, further study, and discussion. The cooperatives in this book serve as reminders of how important education is to the success and impact of cooperative action.
Do you have a book you’d like us to review? Send an email to p5@acba.coop. The Principle 5 “P5” committee provides education, training, and information about cooperatives to residents of Central Texas. Future book reviews will cover Jon Steinman’s Grocery Story. And don’t miss out on upcoming education opportunities this summer.
Health Care Co-ops: Principle 5 in Action
By Tracy Heim, P5 Committee Volunteer
If you haven’t heard of health care cooperatives in Texas, there’s a good reason why. Texas business code doesn’t allow cooperatives to contract with a health care provider or to provide medical care. However, in other states and in places around the world, health care cooperatives provide medical care in a consumer-owned model.
All people want access to care. In his book Health Care Co-ops in Uganda, George Halvorson shows how the cooperative model can respond to this universal truth. The book highlights how cooperatives can help other co-ops get started by sharing knowledge, tools, and training – all aspects of the fifth co-op principle and the cooperative value system.
Watch this video to learn more about HealthPartners work in Uganda.
What are health care co-ops?
A health care co-op is a consumer-owned and consumer-governed health care plan. It has two fundamental parts: a buying coalition and a care partner. The local buying coalition, the essence of the health care co-op, needs sufficient membership and credibility to work with a care provider. The planning and decision-making process to start a co-op could take months, as it involves explaining complex insurance and coverage issues so that each potential member can decide if the plan benefited them and their family.
About the book
The book is about how HealthPartners, a Minnesota-based health care co-op, helped set up a cooperative development program in Uganda. In a book that’s part narrative and part how-to guide, Halvorson - the former CEO and president of HealthPartners - explains the decision-making process behind co-op formation and provides a crash course in universal health care realities.
HealthPartners’ goal was to establish a cooperative health care program that was locally governed, patient-focused, and self-perpetuating. The program also needed to be affordable and accessible for Ugandans. Affordable in the Ugandan context meant more than lower-cost care – the costs also had to be predictable and able to be spread over monthly payments. Like in the United States, the cost of care for serious illnesses can financially destroy a family.
Halvorson lays out insurance policy tools (enrollment windows, quotas, pre-existing condition exclusions, riders, co-payments, in-network care exclusivity, etc.) with illustrative and helpful examples. As an advocate for health care reform, it’s clear he wants to make health care affordable and widely accessible. His discussion of administrative costs and payment structures in the Ugandan co-op plans sheds light on how the US health care system often duplicates processes to the point of convolution.
Co-ops helping co-ops is a common theme throughout the book. This should resonate strongly with co-op members who know that of the 7 cooperative principles, or guidelines by which cooperatives put their values into practice, the sixth principle is to assist and strengthen the cooperative movement. Principle 5 - providing education, training, and information to co-op members and the public – is also a common theme.
The story of why HealthPartners decided to send a team to Uganda begins with another Minnesotan co-op, Land O’Lakes. Land O’Lakes has its own global outreach program and helped establish dairy co-ops in Uganda. Feedback from dairy co-ops on their success with negotiating affordable veterinary services led to a discussion on the high demand for accessible health care in the country.
In addition to the dairy co-ops, other agricultural, credit, and social services co-ops in Uganda served as foundational organizations for the health care initiatives. The HealthPartners team worked closely with Ugandan co-op leaders to gauge community interest in setting up health care co-ops. When the interest and buy-in were high enough, Halvorson explains that existing co-ops were essential for the health care co-ops because they were already organized and action-oriented, shared a common language, and knew the benefits of cooperative action first-hand.
Takeaways
Two takeaways stand out in Halvorson’s work. First, people everywhere want accessible health care. Second, a health care co-op, no matter how small, can make a huge difference. Halvorson ends with a story about a co-op drastically improving the health care landscape for a mountain town. Instead of walking down a treacherous steep road, the town residents have access to a small clinic, medical taxi service, and prevention programs – and it is all self-governed and self-financed.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in co-ops, or who wants to learn more about health care in a digestible format.
Do you have a book you’d like us to review? Send an email to p5@acba.coop. The Principle 5 “P5” committee provides education, training, and information about cooperatives to residents of Central Texas. Future book reviews will cover Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s Collective Courage and Jon Steinman’s Grocery Story. And don’t miss out on upcoming education opportunities during National Small Business Week.
2020 in Review
By Ryan Nill, ACBA President
2020 is a year we will not soon forget. All of ACBA's members were impacted in one way or another and I’m sure we will be feeling the impact of this year for many years to come.
I remember sitting at our last in person board meeting in March and at the beginning the mood was we would still be able to have an annual meeting in person on April 2nd. During the meeting we heard news that the NBA had been canceled and Tom Hanks had COVID and by the end of the meeting we had planned to do everything remotely until further notice.
No longer were we having a summer BBQ or a Holiday party. Instead, we had that annual meeting online where we had a chance to get together and strategize a co-op sector COVID response. We also had 6 virtual educational events, including a History of Austin Co-ops and Co-ops 101, and a Zoom Summer Social.
At this point in the pandemic and the resulting recession, no ACBA member has had to permanently close its doors. Over the past twelve months, ACBA and the Texas Rural Cooperative Center worked together to inform ACBA members about available funding and provided pro bono consulting. Fortunately at least 8 ACBA member co-ops received funding such as PPP and the City of Austin grants. This has shown us once again that when co-ops work together we can survive hard times.
We have also used this newsletter and social media channels as a form of COVID response, assisting our members by alerting the community as to how each business has adapted. Many adaptations included curbside pick up, shifting hours, and implementation of online ordering systems.
Finally, not everything we did this year was COVID focused. We received two grants in 2019 that allowed us to create educational events and research the housing co-op ecosystem, two projects we completed in 2020. Last month we celebrated our research and discussed next steps at What’s Next for Austin’s Co-op Economy As you have read above, we just received news of a huge victory - winning a City of Austin contract to provide co-op coaching and training, which will help to grow our movement. Additionally, ACBA's housing committee worked heavily to respond to the City’s land development rewrite earlier this year. Housing committee members are also working on developing a new model for consistent and sustainable housing development, which we are preparing to launch in the months to come.
With a vaccine landing in Texas around the same time this message lands in your inbox I really hope we can have that Summer BBQ next year and see all of you in person again soon.
We're hiring!
The Austin Cooperative Business Association is looking for a dedicated member of the co-op community to support our work in 2020! We are hiring for a part-time Program Director. You can read more about the position in the attached description; please submit your application material to hiring@acba.coop by January 19, 2021
ACBA Program Director Job Description
What’s Next for Austin’s Co-op Economy - Recap & Recording
Thanks to everyone who attended ACBA’s virtual event, “What’s Next for Austin’s Co-op Economy” last Saturday, November 14th! We discussed the current state of the cooperative development ecosystem in Central Texas, and what’s needed to take it to the next level.
The main takeaways: we need to build cooperative development infrastructure (such as a cooperative incubator), improve access to capital for cooperatives (via credit u nions and co-op loan funds), bolster local government support (including in procurement policies and incentive programs), and focus on community wealth building (supporting cooperatives in underserved communities and neighborhoods). In addition, we can work together to identify local businesses who may be suitable for cooperative conversion and help them become part of our growing movement.
We are so grateful to the amazing panelists - Andi Shively of Key Figures Co-op, Annelies Lottmann of the Texas Rural Cooperative Center, Assata Richards of the Sankofa Research Insitute and Ryan Nill of Cooperative Housing Expansion of Austin - who gave us insight into their current co-op work. Thanks to everyone in the audience who participated and asked thought-provoking questions!
If you missed it or want to review, you can check out the recording here. Support the ACBA in putting on more events such as these, and help get Austin’s co-op economy to the next level - join our monthly donor Cooperation Club.
Support the Co-op Movement this holiday season!
Give the Gift of Cooperation the Holiday Season! Support co-op movement in one of three ways:
Read below for more details!
SUPPORT THE AUSTIN COOPERATIVE BUSINESS FOUNDATION
Your contribution to ACBF help us produce educational programming and materials to support co-operative development in central Texas. Contribute any amount to help support the cooperative movement in our community. Donate today!
BECOME AN ACBA MEMBER
If you have been waiting to join the ACBA, give yourself the gift of membership! Is your organization interested in joining the local cooperative movement by supporting the Austin Cooperative Business Association as an Organizational Member? We offer memberships based on a sliding scale. Join today!
JOIN OUR COOPERATIVE CLUB
Support the cooperative economy in Central Texas when you join the ACBF Cooperation Club! Club members get special invitations to events and workshops and have access to other great thank-you gifts including our gorgeous Cooperative Principles posters designed by artist Christie Zangrilli. Your donation is a powerful way to make Central Texas a great place for Co-ops. Join today!
COVID-19 Relief: Updates
COVID-19 Relief: Updates - September 15, 2020
The City of Austin completed a major round of relief funding for small businesses and nonprofits in August. This included grants of up to $40,000 for small businesses and up to $20,000 grants for 501(c)3 nonprofits. These grants were available to reimburse costs since March, including rent, payroll, inventories, and other expenses. Grant allocation was based on both an "equity and urgency" score and by random lottery. ACBA contacted our members repeatedly about these grants, including direct follow-up and support for many co-op businesses and nonprofits. While not all of our members received grants, a large number did. Four member co-ops received Small Business Relief Grants and four more member co-op received Nonprofit Relief Grants. During the course of our outreach to members, at least two member co-ops were given additional direct technical assistance in applying for federal grant and loan relief. We are ecstatic that so many of Austin's co-ops were able to benefit from these programs, and proud that ACBA helped them learn about and access local and federal funds. Additional city funds are currently available, which may be especially valuable for housing co-ops and housing co-op residents, co-op workers, and allies:
RENT: This program provides up to 3 months of rent support for income-eligible Austinites experiencing income loss related to COVID. Funds are distributed by lottery regularly until funds are fully expended. September 14th at noon is the cutoff for this round. For more information visit www.austintexas.gov/rent.
RISE 2.0: The city is distributing grants of $2,000 to residents of Austin and Travis County impacted by COVID. RISE funds can be used for rent, utilities and other financial assistance. Applications are open from September 14-21. Eligible applicants will be awarded through random lottery. For more information and to apply for these funds visit https://www.austintexas.gov/article/covid-19-relief-state-emergency-rise-fund.
BLACK STAR CO-OP TURNS 10 YEAR OLD
Black Star Co-op celebrated it's 10-year anniversary of opening on August 16th. While social distancing rules in COVID times did not allow for a full in person birthday celebration, workers at Black Star held a livestreamed toast for members. This featured updates on the co-op and showing off the new mural by Ted Cheavens on the patio. While we look forward to a future with larger events, it was great to see the bar and share a "cheers to 10 years."
It has been an eventful 10 years! For the last decade Black Star has been a leader in the cooperative movement and in brewing generally. The world's first co-op brewpub, Black Star has inspired new co-op brewpubs and breweries from Minneapolis and Michigan to Georgia and California. Black Star's brewers have gone on to start new breweries in Austin, including Blue Owl Brewing and 4th Tap Brewing (a worker-owned co-op).
It has also been a leader in modeling better employment and environmental practices in the industry. A leading member of Good Work Austin, Black Star helped champion the Paid Sick Leave ordinance passed by Austin City Council; this was the first ordinance requiring paid sick leave for workers in the south. Black Star helps champion similar pro-worker small business policy, especially crucial in 2020. They also are an environmental leader in efficient use of food waste, spent grains, and water and energy.
Black Star has also spent ten years providing innovative beers and great food. Currently open for takeout, curbside pickup, and patio sales, you can sample some of their new beers including Black Is Beautiful, a collaboration beer with Weathered Souls in San Antonio. Portions of sales from this beer will be donated to the local nonprofit Austin Justice Coalition.
Black Star has provided good beer, quality food, laudable working conditions, and a beloved community space to Austin cooperators since 2010. We look forward to sharing and celebrating the next ten years.
CITY RELIEF PROGRAMS
The City of Austin is launching a new rental assistance program. Over $12 million in rent support will be made available to Austinites. If your income is between 30% and 80% of the area MFI you are eligible for one month's rent; if it's below 30% MFI you could receive three month's rent. This can be for back-rent or future rent payments. The application opens Wednesday morning, August 19, at 8:00 AM. You can apply here: https://austin.covidrenthelp.org/
Apply quickly! Funds are rolling so if you need rent assistance apply as soon as you can on Wednesday. You can find out more information here:
Note: Income limits are based by household and how a lease is held. We strongly encourage members of housing co-ops to apply as needed.
We know many members of the local co-op community are deeply involved in Austin's creative life. If you are a worker in the creative sector, including artists, musicians, people who work at venues or museums, web content creators, etc., you can apply for another grant specifically for creative workers. You can receive up to $2000. Awards will be made by equity scoring and through a lottery. Applications close next Friday on the 28th, so apply soon.
https://www.austintexas.gov/department/austin-creative-worker-relief-grant
City economic relief grants and EIDL
From the Business Co-ops Committee:
The CIty of Austin has released two major grants relevant to Austin's co-op community:
Applications are due by 5pm, July 24th, 2020. The Austin Small Business Relief Grant will provide grants of up to $40,000 to reimburse expenses incurred between March 1-July 7, 2020. Co-ops are eligible. Eligible businesses must have 25 full-time equivalent workers or fewer, with part-time workers counting as 0.5 FTEs for application purposes. Businesses must also have under $5 million in annual revenues.
The Austin Nonprofit Relief Grant will provide grants of up to $20,000 to reimburse expenses incurred between March 1-July 7, 2020, for 501c3s or 509as. Eligible nonprofits must have 25 full-time equivalent workers or fewer, with part-time workers counting as 0.5 FTEs for application purposes. Funding is broken into different tranches; for example, 501c3s that provide housing services (like housing co-ops) would apply under the "Health and Human Services" category.
For both grants, eligible organizations and businesses must be headquartered in a City of Austin Council District. The applications will be scored based on an "equity and urgency" matrix. 50% of funds in each grant pool will be allocated based on that equity score; the rest will be allocated based on a random lottery of all eligible applicants. Between the two programs approximately $24 million will be disbursed.
Eligible expenses include the following:
Payroll and contractor pay
Rent, either paid, or incurred and deferred but still obligated
Inventory and operating expenses
Mortgage payments
PPE and COVID adaptations
Business and nonprofits have to demonstrate some sort of economic loss, but that is not related to how much relief they can request. If you have any level of economic loss you can file to be reimbursed for any eligible expenses described above. Applicants that are selected will receive the full grant for their reimbursement, with no reporting requirements or spending constraints after.
We strongly encourage all our member co-ops impacted by COVID to apply. If you need assistance or have other questions, please contact us at ACBA. You can also check out the informational webinars and other resources to support businesses and nonprofits in understanding and applying for these grants, or contact the community organizations listed for specific help; they are listed on the City websites linked above.
POLYCOT ASSOCIATES FOUNDER, JON LEBKOWSKY RETIRES
In March, Polycot Associates founder Jon Lebkowsky announced his retirement from the local website development cooperative.
Jon has been in the web development business since soon after the web first appeared, and he managed a variety of technology projects for years before that. He was an Internet maven and early evangelist for widespread Internet adoption. Aside from his web development work, he also has been a net activist (president of EFF-Austin, a cyber liberties nonprofit, for over 15 years) and community networking advocate. In short, Jon has been witness to and in many ways driven the emergence and mainstreaming of the innovative technologies that have become so much a part of our lives. Jon assures ACBA that Polycot will continue to thrive and take on new challenges as a worker-owned and worked-managed cooperative in his absence.
Until the pandemic arrived, Jon planned to spend his time traveling with his wife, Marsha. Until the pandemic ends, Jon will focus on his other interests, including meditation, bicycling, literature, film, cooking, and eclectic music. He also plans to write his memoirs and the great American novel.
North Lamar Mobile Home Park residents celebrated a deal they made to purchase the land their homes sit on.
The 68 homeowners and their families took a major step toward securing their financial futures this month when they took ownership of the land beneath their neighborhood, becoming the second resident-owned manufactured housing community in Texas.
"We didn’t lack things," said Jennifer, one of the homeowners who joined and helped form Asociación de Residentes North Lamar (ARNL). "But now that we own it, the community will be improved and the children will be raised with more opportunity. Maybe we will put in a park or a community room."
ARNL purchased the community, known as North Lamar MHC, from an RV Horizons subsidiary North Lamar MHC, LLC for $6.5 Million.
Roberto Sanchez, president of the ARNL Board of Directors, said the volunteer community leaders who worked on the purchase made it a very important part of their lives.
“Sometimes we have to divide our hearts," Sanchez said through in interpreter. "One half is ARNL and the other half is my children and my family that is why I say when I die I want to be buried with the ARNL flag."
In a resident-owned community, homeowners are able to buy one low-cost member interest in these democratic ROCs. An elected Board of Directors acts on day-to-day issues. Members vote on larger matters, such as the annual budget, bylaws and community rules.
The Association was helped by both Building and Strengthening Tenant Action (BASTA) and Community Housing Expansion of Austin (CHEA). “My mom lives in a manufactured housing community and I grew up in one so I was really excited about this project” said Gabriela Garcia, Gabriela spent many hours canvassing the community to communicate the benefits of ownership and working extensively with the board CHEA will continue to work the community for at least 10 years. Ryan Nill, Program Manager at CHEA, said ARNL is now the largest housing co-op in Austin.
“I am proud to have been here to help the residents to start a cooperative," Nill said, noting that CHEA benefitted from a JP Morgan Chase Foundation grant to help cover startup costs associated with the project and from strategic planning provided by the Austin Cooperative Business Association. "This will give them agency and control over their living environment unlike anything they have had before. CHEA has been committed to creating more cooperative housing for a generation and I personally have been committed to this vision for 13 years.
"There were about 800 people living in Housing Co-ops, and ARNL’s addition to the co-operative community means there are now over 1000 people living in Cooperatives in Austin."
Cooperative ownership of manufactured (aka “mobile”) home parks as a way of preserving affordable communities is a priority for several national non-profit organizations that in 2008 formed ROC USA® to make resident-owned communities viable nationwide. ROC USA is sponsored by the Ford Foundation, NeighborWorks® America, Capital Impact Partners, the Prosperity Now, and the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund.
ROC USA (rocusa.org) is a non-profit organization with a national network of 10 organizations such as CHEA and a national financing source for resident-owned communities. ROC USA and its affiliates have helped 258 communities preserve nearly 17,500 homes in 17 states since 1984.
“We give residents access to expert technical assistance and financing to help homeowners purchase their community when it’s for sale,” said Paul Bradley, ROC USA’s founding president. “This approach helps them overcome the two hurdles to resident ownership.”
ROC USA® Capital provided the primary financing of $4,673,000 for ARNL. The City of Austin provided $2,500,000 of subordinate, forgivable financing. Austin City Council Member Gregorio Casar, worked closely with ARNL Members.
"All of you have inspired me, taught me much, and you are all the reason that you are owners of your own destiny and your families' destiny and this city’s destiny," Casar said. "So thank you, really, from the bottom of my heart, there is not a job that has been more important to me in my five years at the city than helping you."
ARNL Members celebrated their purchase with a parade through the community.
CHEA Open positions
CHEA Open positions:
Operations Manager
Community Board Representative - Volunteer
(see below)
Operations Manager
Position: Operations Manager
Reports to: Community Housing Expansion of Austin Board of Directors Status: Hourly, part-time position (up to 15 hours per week)
Community Housing Expansion of Austin (CHEA) seeks a part-time Operations Manager to support the work of the Board of Directors in helping autonomous co-ops thrive.
Who we are: CHEA (www.CHEA.coop) is a 18-year-old non-profit co-operative housing provider with two existing apartment and shared home cooperatives in Austin, TX. We’ve recently joined a network of nonprofit partners under the umbrella of ROC USA®, (www.ROCUSA.org) a national organization that works with homeowners in mobile home parks to buy, own, and manage their communities as cooperatives.
The job:
● Support CHEA’s Board of Directors, Program Manager, and houses’ continued operations and success
● Participate in twice-monthly meetings of the Board and at least one house meeting per house per month
● Participate in quarterly finance meetings with CHEA’s budget officers and accountant
● Track goals in accordance with CHEA’s Strategic Plan and coordinate with other staff on projects as needed
● Plan and help facilitate annual General Membership Meetings, including organization-wide elections
● Conduct annual membership survey, including information on household income for affordable housing reporting purposes, and produce the Annual Membership Report
● Field requests/emails from outside the organization
● Research grant/funding opportunities
● Assist with tasks as needed relevant to the organization's line-of-business providing technical assistance to resident-owned mobile home communities
● Guide the Board and the organization at large towards developing an antioppressive, anti-racist culture
Qualifications:
● Experience living in and/or working with cooperative housing
● Commitment to building an anti-oppressive, anti-racist culture
● Experience in organizing, housing assistance, non-profit management and grant writing a plus
Interested candidates, please send a resume and letter of interest to operationsmanager@chea.coop.
Inclusion:
In accordance with Federal law, this institution is prohibited from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. CHEA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.
We promote economic prosperity for all through our work with our clients, our hiring practices, and our vigorous commitment to cooperative principles. We strive daily to acknowledge and eliminate all forms of oppression. By examining bias within ourselves and our organization, we work mindfully to make our board and staff more inclusive. We actively fight against racism, classism, gender inequality and all efforts to marginalize anyone. The nature of our work engages us directly with the working poor, the educationally disadvantaged, the elderly, immigrants and refugees. It is our goal to see all of our clients prosper within the cooperative movement.
We welcome applicants from underrepresented identities, and those who have a commitment and track record of bringing an inclusive and equitable approach to their work.
Community Board Representative - Volunteer
Who we are: Community Housing Expansion of Austin (www.CHEA.coop) is an 18-year-old non-profit co-operative housing provider with two existing apartment and shared home cooperatives in Austin, TX. We’ve recently joined a network of nonprofit partners under the umbrella of ROC USA®, (www.ROCUSA.org) a national organization that works with homeowners in mobile home parks to buy, own, and manage their communities as cooperatives.
CHEA is seeking Board candidates with experience and skills in:
● Nonprofit management
● Real estate development
● Community development
● And/or familiarity with the affordable housing sector
We are looking for effective, motivated people who are passionate about supporting cooperative housing in Texas. Board members are required to attend at least 75% of biweekly Board meetings, which typically last two hours. During these meetings we discuss and make decisions relevant to the administration of our mobile home community conversion program and the wellbeing of our two CHEA houses; as well as the general health of the organization.
Interested candidates, please send a resume and letter of interest to operationsmanager@chea.coop.
Inclusion:
In accordance with Federal law, this institution is prohibited from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. CHEA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.
We promote economic prosperity for all through our work with our clients, our hiring practices, and our vigorous commitment to cooperative principles. We strive daily to acknowledge and eliminate all forms of oppression. By examining bias within ourselves and our organization, we work mindfully to make our board and staff more inclusive. We actively fight against racism, classism, gender inequality and all efforts to marginalize anyone. The nature of our work engages us directly with the working poor, the educationally disadvantaged, the elderly, immigrants and refugees. It is our goal to see all of our clients prosper within the cooperative movement.
We welcome applicants from underrepresented identities, and those who have a commitment and track record of bringing an inclusive and equitable approach to their work.
Co-op Amendments voted down in LDC Rewrite
Thursday Morning, February 13th, the City Council voted down on 2nd reading amending the group residential and co-housing definitions in draft of the new land development code. Amending these definitions is critical because as is these uses have 66% reduction in occupancy. For example, in an area where you can build a 4 plex, you can house 24 people in a four plex but in a group residential co-op you would be limited to 8. We’ve seen co-ops in Austin that cost as much as half of what a comparable property might cost, but that’s not enough to make it worth losing the ability to house that many people. There is still a third reading so there is still a chance to fix this.
One of the reasons why we’ve had such difficulty in getting amendments passed is that one of the goals in the code is to achieve affordability runs counter to the way the co-ops provide affordability. The idea is to allow building more smaller units so the monthly cost is lowered. This is without a doubt one way to build affordable housing, but it’s an individualistic way to do it. We are attempting to offer a community-based model with a large shared unit with common resources create affordability by economies of scale. It’s been difficult to figure out how to create one without limiting the other option.
Additionally, early on in the LDC rewrite City Legal that the Council could not define co-ops in the code as they saw co-ops as a style of ownership and management and that the code could only regulate building types. This means that our advocacy will also benefit other community housing forms like dorms, co-living, boarding homes, fraternities and sororities. Unfortunately, we have not encountered people from these communities at City Hall during our advocacy efforts.
The third and final reading is tentatively scheduled for late March or early April. During 2nd reading we got 5 of 11 votes to pass our amendments. We were close, and we have the time to reach out to our friends in other community housing and to try to get one more vote on council. If you want to support, or are able to build connections so we can build a broader community housing coalition please send me an email at ryan.nill@acba.coop.
CALL TO ACTION: Co-ops Restricted in Latest Draft of the Land Development Code
The City Staff released their 2nd Draft of the 2nd attempt of the Land Development Code Rewrite last Friday, January 30th, in preparation for their 2nd reading on Tuesday February the 11th. The Co-housing and Group Residential uses, which are the intended uses for Co-ops, were shockingly modified so that they could have 1/3 the occupancy of a standard development. Normally you are allowed 6 per dwelling unit, and the draft makes it 2 per sleeping unit and sleeping units are substituted for dwelling unit.
This results in the strange scenario where in the Residential 3 (R3) zone you may build a house with three bedrooms, call it "Group Residential" house 6 people in it and max up your occupancy for the lot. Alternatively, you can build a house with three bedrooms call it a "House" put 6 people in it and then still be allowed to build 2 more houses for a total of 18 people and 3 structures for the lot.
The ACBA Housing Advocacy Committee, along with help from other co-op supporters and Council Member Harpers-Madison and Casar’s offices and have been hard at work creating proposals to fix this issue and make cooperatives and other forms of community housing viable.
The first proposal is to change the limit from 2 to 6 unrelated adults per sleeping unit bringing on a level playing field with a standard development.
The 2nd proposal is to allow Group Residential by Conditional Use Permit in all Residential zones to allow co-ops to engage in a political process which could result in their development where they would otherwise not be allowed.
Please take a minute to also support by emailing the Mayor and Council, or better yet emailing your council person directly if you know what district you’re in. We find that personal messages work far better than copy and pasting the template, but we do have some sample language for you to use. Please take this sample language with our asks and modify it and add to it why cooperative housing matters for you
Sample Language
Honorable Mayor and Council Members,
I support the Austin Cooperative Business Association (ACBA) proposals to put group residential and co-housing on a level playing field with the traditional nuclear family standard development models by modifying the definitions in the new LDC.
Draft 2 of the Land Development Code rewrite contains a definition for Group Residential and Co-housing that caps their occupancy to 1/3 of that of the standard by right development. Co-housing and Group Residential are the land uses that allow for community-based housing such as cooperatives, co-living, co-housing, senior living, Please support the ACBA’s proposal to change the occupancy for group residential and co-housing to 6 per sleeping unit and allow group residential by CUP in all R zones.
Season of Giving - Support the Co-op Movement
Give the Gift of Cooperation the Holiday Season! Support co-op movement in one of three ways:
Read below for more details!
SUPPORT THE AUSTIN COOPERATIVE BUSINESS FOUNDATION
Your contribution to ACBF help us produce educational programming and materials to support co-operative development in central Texas. Contribute any amount to help support the cooperative movement in our community. Donate today!
BECOME AN ACBA MEMBER
If you have been waiting to join the ACBA, give yourself the gift of membership! Is your organization interested in joining the local cooperative movement by supporting the Austin Cooperative Business Association as an Organizational Member? We offer memberships based on a sliding scale. Join today!
JOIN OUR COOPERATIVE CLUB
Support the cooperative economy in Central Texas when you join the ACBF Cooperation Club! Club members get special invitations to events and workshops and have access to other great thank-you gifts including our gorgeous Cooperative Principles posters designed by artist Christie Zangrilli. Your donation is a powerful way to make Central Texas a great place for Co-ops. Join today!