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WATERLOO REGION — A new housing co-operative is looking for investors to help shake up the way rental housing is done in this region.

Union: Sustainable Development Co-operative has 10 startup members and needs 50 or 60 more to help purchase a mixed-use residential and commercial building in Kitchener or Waterloo. They plan to partner with Reception House Waterloo Region to provide rental housing for new government-assisted refugees in this first building.

A recent MultiBriefs series examines the affordable housing crisis that’s spanning the nation. The most recent installment of this series specifically looks at housing cooperatives and their potential to address the growing shortage of affordable housing in many US cities.

I learned that participatory budgeting is relatively new in the United States, but, globally, it’s been around for several decades. That said, the way that we practice it in the US is also a bit different. The first thing that happens, and my favorite part to ensure transparency, is that community members come together to write the rules that will govern a participatory budgeting process. Then we enter the idea-collection phase, where we collect hundreds, if not thousands, of ideas on how to spend a pot of money to make a community better.

People who want to work for a democratically run business can now search for vacancies on a dedicated jobs and recruitment website.

Valerie felt the need to start a union at The Creamery because neither the GM nor the board would hear her complaint about being paid substantially less than her male predecessors. She says the board kept reiterating that, as an operational matter, her pay was out of their hands, and solely at the discretion of the GM. But when she would raise the matter with the GM, he would deflect as well.

The social and solidarity economy (SSE) is an economic phenomenon in the full throes of expansion throughout the European Union, as well as other parts of the world.

Debate between the credit union and banking sectors over tax and regulation turned fierce this month when Alex Sanchez, president and chief executive of the Florida Bankers Association, called for an end to “corporate welfare” for credit unions.

There are some surprising results in the 2019 Top Co-op Issues survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives at The University of Saskatchewan.

Read the full report at The Next System Project

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As the movement for economic and workplace democracy continues to grow, we think it is vitally important that nonprofit organizations also internalize and practice workplace democracy.