North American Students of Cooperation

North American Students of Cooperation, commonly known as NASCO, is a federation serving housing cooperatives in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1968, it has traditionally focused on student housing cooperatives while also including community-based and other democratically managed cooperatives in its network. Rather than operating as a conventional consumer-facing brand, NASCO functions as an infrastructure, education, advocacy, and development organization for the cooperative housing movement. NASCO connects member cooperatives with one another and with broader cooperative institutions. Its work includes operational assistance, governance support, leadership development, training, consulting, cooperative organizing, and advocacy directed toward governments, universities, communities, and national cooperative organizations. The organization has been associated with the group-equity model of cooperative housing, in which residents collectively participate in ownership or governance and share responsibility for the operation of their communities. A central part of NASCO's role is helping cooperatives improve their internal systems. Staff consultations and workshops have addressed meeting procedure, board responsibilities, strategic planning, staff relations, marketing, diversity and anti-oppression work, conflict resolution, facilitation, consensus decision-making, organizational development, accounting, maintenance planning, member recruitment, and participation. Active member groups have traditionally received periodic on-site consultation, while newer or expanding cooperatives can seek assistance with pre-development work, business planning, financing, governance, and start-up activities. NASCO also supports movement-wide education and networking. Its Co-op Voices newsletter reports on cooperative activity and is written for and by members. Regional gatherings in areas including the Midwest, West Coast, Ontario, Minneapolis–St. Paul, and the Northeast provide opportunities for cooperative residents and staff to share practices and organize training. The NASCO Cooperative Education and Training Institute, usually held in Ann Arbor, Michigan and hosted by the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan, combines workshops, skillshares, caucuses, and guest presentations. Action Camp offers intensive training for leaders and active members of housing cooperatives, worker collectives, and other democratic communities, including work on privilege, anti-oppression, and participatory methods. Through affiliated and associated structures, NASCO has also participated in property ownership and asset management. NASCO Properties was established in 1988 to acquire and hold housing assets that could be leased to local cooperatives, helping preserve buildings within the affordable cooperative housing sector. NASCO has provided management and technical support to leasing cooperatives and has worked with other title-holding and housing organizations, including Lots in Common and NASCO-partnered cooperatives. Its development role was further supported by the Kagawa Fund for Student Cooperative Development, established in 1989 with a donation from the Japanese Consumer Cooperative Union and administered in cooperation with the Cooperative Development Foundation. NASCO's present identity is therefore best understood as a cooperative federation and movement-support platform rather than a product brand. Its services combine member support, education, advocacy, cooperative development, networking, and housing-asset stewardship. The organization serves a decentralized network whose participating cooperatives retain their own local identities and governance structures.

NASCO emerged in 1968 as a continental network for student housing cooperatives. Its historical purpose has been to help locally governed cooperatives share knowledge, develop leadership, and strengthen the practical systems needed to provide affordable housing. Although student cooperatives remain central to its identity, the network has also included non-student housing cooperatives and other democratic communities whose needs overlap with the student cooperative movement. Over time, NASCO developed from a networking body into a broader service and development institution. It became a point of contact between local cooperatives and national organizations such as the National Cooperative Business Association and the Cooperative Housing Federation of Canada. This linking role allowed housing cooperatives in different regions to exchange approaches to governance, membership participation, finance, maintenance, conflict resolution, and organizational growth. Education has remained one of NASCO's defining activities. The organization has supported regional gatherings and training programs and has offered workshops on both routine administration and larger questions of cooperative democracy. Topics have included board and staff relations, consensus processes, meeting facilitation, strategic planning, accounting, marketing, diversity, anti-oppression, and the development of new cooperative organizations. Its Co-op Voices newsletter has provided a communications channel for reporting on member activity and cooperative news. The NASCO Cooperative Education and Training Institute became a major annual gathering for cooperative residents, staff, and organizers. Generally held in Ann Arbor, Michigan with the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan as host, the multiday event uses workshops, skillshares, caucuses, and guest speakers to connect practical housing management with broader cooperative and progressive organizing. Action Camp complements the Institute with an intensive residential training experience focused on leadership, participatory practice, privilege, and anti-oppression work. NASCO expanded its development and financial-support functions as cooperatives sought to create or enlarge housing organizations. NASCO Development Services has assisted with pre-development, business planning, financing, organizing, governance, and start-up needs. In 1989, a donation from the Japanese Consumer Cooperative Union provided the initial capital for the Kagawa Fund for Student Cooperative Development. Named for Japanese cooperative leader Toyohiko Kagawa, the fund was designed to provide loans and technical assistance to new and existing housing cooperatives, with administration involving the Cooperative Development Foundation and NASCO Development Services. Property stewardship became another important part of NASCO's institutional history. In 1988, NASCO Properties was created as an affiliate to purchase and hold title to housing and lease it to local cooperatives. Its first property was the House of Commons, a 21-bedroom student house in Austin, Texas, acquired from the financially troubled ICC-Austin with the objective of keeping the property in the cooperative housing sector. ICC-Austin later repurchased the house in 2003. NASCO Properties also provided continuing assistance to leasing cooperatives, including visits and support related to finances, maintenance, and operational problems. In 2004, NASCO and Riverton Community Housing created Lots in Common, another title-holding structure associated with cooperative housing preservation and development. NASCO subsequently entered asset-management arrangements involving organizations such as Davis Campus Cooperatives. Its partnered and supported housing cooperatives have included groups in Texas, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, California, and other locations. NASCO's historical development reflects the needs of a decentralized cooperative movement. It does not replace local cooperative governance; instead, it supplies shared expertise, training, connections, development resources, advocacy, and in some cases property-related infrastructure. Its enduring role is to help student and community cooperatives remain viable, democratic, and connected across the United States and Canada.

• 2006

  Asset-management work expands

  [1]North American Students of Cooperationen.wikipedia.org

  NASCO enters asset-management contracts involving Davis Campus Cooperatives.

• 2004

  Lots in Common is formed

  [1]North American Students of Cooperationen.wikipedia.org

  NASCO and Riverton Community Housing create Lots in Common as a further title-holding structure associated with cooperative housing.

• 2003

  House of Commons returns to ICC-Austin

  [1]North American Students of Cooperationen.wikipedia.org

  ICC-Austin repurchases the House of Commons, NASCO Properties' first property.

• 1989

  Kagawa Fund is seeded

  [1]North American Students of Cooperationen.wikipedia.org

  A donation from the Japanese Consumer Cooperative Union helps establish the Kagawa Fund for Student Cooperative Development, supporting cooperative loans and technical assistance.

• 1988

  NASCO Properties is created

  [1]North American Students of Cooperationen.wikipedia.org

  NASCO establishes NASCO Properties as an affiliated property-holding organization to acquire housing and lease it to local cooperatives.

• 1968

  NASCO is established

  [1]North American Students of Cooperationen.wikipedia.org

  North American Students of Cooperation begins as a federation associated primarily with student housing cooperatives in the United States and Canada.

A member-oriented federation and capacity-building organization for student, community, and other democratically governed housing cooperatives in North America.

• Cooperative education and conference

  NASCO Institute

  NASCO's annual multiday educational conference, generally held in Ann Arbor, Michigan and hosted by the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan. The program uses workshops, skillshares, caucuses, and guest speakers to address cooperative governance, housing operations, leadership, organizing, and wider movement concerns.

• Leadership and social-justice training

  Action Camp

  An intensive training program for leaders and active members of housing cooperatives, worker collectives, and other democratic communities. Its curriculum has included participatory activities, anti-oppression education, privilege analysis, and methods influenced by Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed.

• Newsletter and communications

  Co-op Voices

  A member-oriented newsletter reporting on NASCO activities, cooperative developments, and news from housing cooperatives in the United States and Canada. Contributions are intended to reflect the experiences and work of cooperative members.

• Cooperative development consulting

  NASCO Development Services

  Development assistance for groups creating, expanding, or strengthening cooperatives. Services may include pre-development support, business-plan work, financing assistance, organizing, governance design, recruitment, and start-up guidance.

• Housing property ownership and asset management · 1988

  NASCO Properties

  An affiliated property-holding and asset-management structure created to acquire housing and lease it to local cooperatives. It has also supported leasing cooperatives with financial, maintenance, and operational assistance.

• Cooperative finance and technical assistance · 1989

  Kagawa Fund for Student Cooperative Development

  A fund established with seed support from the Japanese Consumer Cooperative Union to provide loans and technical assistance to new and existing housing cooperatives. It is associated with NASCO Development Services and the Cooperative Development Foundation.

• 1989

  Establish the Kagawa FundOther

  Background

  New and existing student housing cooperatives needed access to development capital and specialized technical assistance.

  Action taken

  NASCO participated in creating the Kagawa Fund for Student Cooperative Development with seed support from the Japanese Consumer Cooperative Union.

  Aftermath

  The fund became a mechanism for loans and development assistance to housing cooperatives.

  Source

• 1988

  Create a cooperative housing property affiliateStrategy

  Background

  Local student cooperatives could face financial or organizational difficulty while owning buildings that were important to affordable cooperative housing.

  Action taken

  NASCO established NASCO Properties to acquire and hold housing assets and lease them to local cooperatives.

  Aftermath

  The structure enabled NASCO to participate in preserving cooperative housing assets and to provide ongoing support to leasing cooperatives.

  Source

1. 1North American Students of Cooperationen.wikipedia.org
2. 2North American Students of Cooperation official websitenasco.coop