Meeting 4/17

Hi All!

Central to establishing our co-op is EDUCATION. Let's self-educate a bit at the following websites:
-http://couch.coop/
-http://couch.coop/Brooks


Here are the notes from today's meeting... We've created a timeline of goals leading up to house acquisition.


Timeline

June 2009:
o 3 more core members
o contact with NASCO (top priority)
o finish presentation/movie
o rough drafts of by-laws and mission statement
Fall semester:
o detailed financial plan – spreadsheet
o cost estimate
attend November NASCO workshop
apply for scholarships
sign-up for workshop
establish as a student group
by September
get support of SGA
finding a house


We also talked on the phone with Jim Jones.
Some notes from that conversation:
Logistics- operational details
o how to let people in
o how to deal with labor
o pet policy
o what kind of food
o Champaign, Urbana co-op website
find building first
o tailor to size of building
o ideal size?
funding
o difficult to buy a building
o no one will give us money
o students are second-class citizens
o borrow 95% of value of house
o 80% from bank max
o loan funds
o co-operative borrows
o NASCO properties
o find your own resources!
property
o too early to find a building
o to discuss in May: what kind of building to look for
timeline
o look into incorporating
o the community of urbana champaigne co-operative housing C.O.U.C.H.
o http://couch.coop/
handbook for brooks house
http://couch.coop/Brooks/
May 4- dinner with peeps
July 19 or 20- meet up with phone dude

Our goals for NEXT WEEK:
o start the process of incorporating
o finish C-ROOTS film