coops and pwd power point show.ppsx

8/13/2019 Coops and PwD Power Point Show.ppsx

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PwD and Cooperatives

1) Welcome/introduction

2) Background and principles

3) Build your own Co-op4) Co-op stories

5) Co-ops and the NDIS

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Background (1)

We can usefully distinguish between threetraditions of social welfare:

Cooperatives are part of the Mutual aid/Self Help tradition.

Tradition Type of help

Mutual Aid/Self Help People help themselves and each other.

Charity Charity helps people

Welfare State provides for people


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The 7 Cooperative Principles

Cooperatives around the world generally operate accordingto the same core principles andvalues, adopted by the International Co-operative Alliancein 1995. Cooperatives trace the rootsof these principles to the first modern cooperative founded in Rochdale, England in 1844.

1. Voluntary and Open Membership

2. Democratic Member Control

3. Members' Economic Participation

4. Autonomy and Independence

5. Education, Training and Information

6. Cooperation among Cooperatives

7. Concern for Community
http://www.ica.coop/al-ica/http://www.ica.coop/al-ica/http://www.ica.coop/al-ica/http://www.ica.coop/al-ica/http://www.ica.coop/al-ica/


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Cooperatives (Defn)

A cooperativeis an free association of people whovoluntarily cooperate for their mutual, social,economic, and cultural benefit.

Cooperatives are member owned organisations which can been establishedto meet a range of purposes including:

1) To sell and market produce (Producer Coops) e.g. Devondale

2) To create and control work (Worker Coops) e.g. NCEC, Reverse Garbage.

3) To buy better and cheaper goods or services (Purchaser Coops) e.g. The

University Coop Bookshop.4) To service financial needs (Credit Unions/Mutuals) e.g. MECU, QTCU

5) To secure affordable housing (Housing Coops) e.g. IYHG


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Build your own

Co-operATIVE

Referring to a scenario provided (or making up your own)

Build your own Co-op in 10 Minutes!

What is your primary purpose?

How will you work together to achieve this ?

How will you make democratic decisions ?

(e.g. consensus / majority vote / representative/other)

What are the active membership requirements

(i.e. what must members commit to in order to remain a member)


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Peoples OrganisationsWe the people will work out our own destiny

Cooperatives are a flexible form of organisation suitable for a variety ofpurposes and may also become very large entities (e.g. RACQ, MECU, MurrayGoulburn) with some distance between management and membership. Thatis why when talking about cooperatives we also choose to invoke the concept

of Peoples Organisations.

A peoples organisation is a term used in the development world (See SaulAlinski [U.S.A.] but also Ela Bhat [India] and Burkett and Kelly in [Australia]) todescribe a community based organisation that is set up around membersneeds and interests and is controlled by those members.

P.Os are a human sized organisation - having the size, degree of formality andmix of self and shared interest, to allow for participation, ownership anddepth of relationship. P.O.s are recognised as the powerhouse of grass-rootsdevelopment.


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Some Cooperatives/P.Os

Established by PwD

Caboolture Community Work

Cooperative

Independent Youth Housing Group

Nundah Community Enterprises

Cooperative

Rougemount Co-operative Homes (which

led to the Deohaeko Support Network)


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Independent Youth Housing GroupBrick by Brick

The Independent Housing Group (IHG) Story:In 1989 the majority of the foundingmembers of the Independent Housing Group (IHG) were living in private rentalaccommodation. The group knew each other through their common participation inthe Community Living Program (CLP), a service supporting people with a disability tolive in the community. A combination of private rental shortages and high rents andthe fact that members of the group were reliant on Social Security paymentscontributed to a situation where group members found themselves paying well overhalf their income in rent. On June 30th1989, nine people attended a first meetingdiscussing the idea of a housing co-op with a worker from CLP. This was the birth ofthe Co-op, as its members came to call it.

Through successful submissions to local housing authorities the Co-op was able to

purchase its first properties early in its history. It now owns 12 properties, primarilyunits, which provide safe and affordable accommodation to its members. Throughoutthe coops history members have been actively involved in the selection and purchaseof properties, provision for maintenance, collection of rents and the setting oforganisational policy. The cooperative has a very low rent default record due to itsactive member involvement and has even been able to save enough monies throughrents to take out loans and purchase additional properties for new members.


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Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative (NCEC), Story: NCEC was formed out the aspirations of 15 people withintellectual and cognitive disabilities who wanted to work but were long term unemployed. These individuals hadmade successive attempts to find employment, often with the help of employment services, only to experiencefrustration and failure.

The cooperative began humbly as a jobs club with a borrowed mower, mowing small backyards as well as doingsome local catering work. With support from local community organisations, businesses and government, NCEC hasgrown to employ over 20 members in a range of part time roles and generates over 5000 hours of work annually.NCEC members are involved in drafting their own workplace rules, designing a supportive workplace and taking updirectorship on the board of management.


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Cooperatives and the NDIS

Q? Creating a cooperative is a possible

response to the NDIS.

Why might people with a disability (and

their supporters) choose to work

together within a Cooperative structure

and ethos?


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Thank-you

www.ncec.com.au
http://www.ncec.com.au/http://www.ncec.com.au/

coops and pwd power point show.ppsx

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