11 Feb
2014
11 Feb
'14
11:09 p.m.
If anyone is interested in writing an application, the Berkeley Student
Cooperative has announced a $10,000 cooperative development grant for
cooperative projects that serve students or underserved members of
low-income communities within the SF Bay Area
https://sites.google.com/a/bsc.coop/eacom/co-op-development-fund
Applications are due 11:59 pm, Sunday March 9th.
I am still interested in starting an extension to the mesh in Berkeley
starting within the co-ops. This might be a nice way to get the central
management on board, too and bring a bit more funding for hefty backbone
equipment / more nodes.
Lemme know if you all have questions. Still have a PicoStation sitting
around waiting for mesh firmware to be loaded on!
Nader
11 Feb
11 Feb
11:34 p.m.
Hi!
Just a comment. This money is awarded if you want to create a coop as an
entity/business. Not only if project is cooperative in spirit.
But I do encourage you to apply if you have any coop idea. Friends of
mine (they were at Mass effect) (Derek and Mikey) are for example
creating an IT coop (where mesh is a part of their ideas). (If anybody
has any contacts with other IT coops in the area, if they are any,
please tell me to forward them.)
So yes, this is a great opportunity. It is yearly. Spread the word around.
Mitar
--
http://mitar.tnode.com/
https://twitter.com/mitar_m
12:44 p.m.
Hi!
I must say that filing for a coop status only to get this grant is a
bit... The idea of this grant is to help people who really believe in
cooperatives as means to a social change and need help with this. If you
really want and believe in cooperatives and you want to be a
cooperative, then this is a great opportunity.
Mitar
--
http://mitar.tnode.com/
https://twitter.com/mitar_m
2:21 p.m.
Jeremy and I are applying to this grant for our food worker coop ;)
I think the more relevant applications, the better. The BSC has funded lots
of cooperatives in the past, and also helped with loans and financing,
fiscal sponsorship, shared services, etc. Funding opens up from different
places historically, so we should always keep the BSC in mind. For example,
the Berkeley Student Food Cooperative received funding that was intended
for a different source, and diverted locally. The organization is ~80 or so
years old at this point and just received its biggest ever single donation
of 400,000 for a seismic retrofit. It needs similar donations and
fund-raising for maintaining existing services, as well as expanding. The
capital flows in multiple directions at once, and it must for any such
large org. It's beautiful since the people who use it (the members living
in houses and apartments) actually run it and "own" it as the board of
directors, as well as in many jobs are staffed by students.
However, I agree with Mitar. Unless Sudo Mesh wanted to be a cooperative,
which would require bizarre finagling, then I don't think we're a relevant
choice and would hold back the application.
On the other hand, I think it could work if a group of Berkeleyans wanted
to coordinate a group to start their own "mesh cooperative" since this
seems to be a vibe of many of the folks we've talked to in Berkeley,
students and other residents alike. Any such "mesh cooperative" could
participate in The People's Open Network and work in close coordination or
simple solidarity with Sudo Mesh.
I'd be happy to contribute in a nominal fashion to such an application, and
to provide an official recommendation to the BSC as an alumnus of the org.
However, I will be spending my main effort in our food worker cooperative
application.
Cheers,
Matt
On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 12:44 PM, Mitar <mitar(a)tnode.com> wrote:
2:37 p.m.
Let's bring it up at the next Mesh meetup. perhaps SudoMesh could partner
with other Meshes in the EB as Matt suggests.
Even if we don;t end up qualifying, we could still use this opportunity to
grow the Mesh community and connect with like-minded individuals.
On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 2:21 PM, Matthew Senate <mattsenate(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
3:52 p.m.
Hi!
Jeremy and I are applying to this grant for our food
worker coop ;)
Amazing!!! :-)
(I am not sure what food worker coop is, but still amazing. :-) )
I think the more relevant applications, the better.
Yes!!! Please, spread the word, apply. Personally, I really think that
people should try to create more coops, it is a very good way for a
social change.
Yes!
And they do not have to be from Berkeley. Grant are not targeted only to
Berkeley area.
Maybe also think about a coop which would build on top of mesh network.
In guifi.net (Spanish community wireless network with 15k+ nodes) whole
small companies already work inside the network, providing different
services and so on. There are people who would like and are able to pay
to become a member and they want also technical support. A coop could be
that. Or maybe some service on top of it. Or it does not have to be mesh
related, but still something which would integrate mesh at some point
later on. Personally, I really like the idea of IT coops, so instead of
startups, you create a coop. You do the same thing, only all workers own
the company.
One step further is also that you make all your customers own the
company as well. So not only workers, but customers also become members
and then you together determine prices. A friend of mine had an idea for
a farming cooperative, where they would connect multiple small farms
together to be able to fulfill big orders, but also customers would be
members of this cooperative.
Do not forget that there can be many different types of cooperatives,
like housing, worker, and consumer coops.
For an inspiration, the biggest cooperative, with 14 billion EUR in
revenue and 80k employees. Check what all they do:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation
Mitar
--
http://mitar.tnode.com/
https://twitter.com/mitar_m
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4 participants
participants (4)
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Luis Murillo -
Matthew Senate -
Mitar -
Nader Morshed