PwD and Cooperatives 1) Welcome/introduction 2) Background and principles 3) Build your own Co-op 4) Co-op stories 5) Co-ops and

the NDIS

Background (1)
We can usefully distinguish between three traditions of social welfare:
Tradition Type of help Mutual Aid/Self Help People help themselves and each other. Charity Welfare Charity helps people State provides for people

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

Background (2)
The first modern cooperative was established in 1844 in Rochdale England by a group of weavers. They pooled their meagre capital to purchase a shop and supplies which they sold to each other at a reduced price. This allowed them to circumvent the inflated prices charged by factory owned shops and lift themselves out of poverty. The principles by which they organised are still used by cooperatives world-wide.

The 7 Cooperative Principles

Cooperatives around the world generally operate according to the same core principles and values, adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance in 1995. Cooperatives trace the roots of 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

Cooperatives (Defn)
A cooperative is an free association of people who voluntarily cooperate for their mutual, social, economic, and cultural benefit.
Cooperatives are member owned organisations which can been established to meet a range of purposes including: 1) 2) 3) To sell and market produce (Producer Coops) e.g. Devondale To create and control work (Worker Coops) e.g. NCEC, Reverse Garbage. To buy better and cheaper goods or services (Purchaser Coops) e.g. The University Coop Bookshop. To service financial needs (Credit Unions/Mutuals) e.g. MECU, QTCU To secure affordable housing (Housing Coops) e.g. IYHG

4) 5)

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)

Peoples Organisations
We the people will work out our own destiny Cooperatives are a flexible form of organisation suitable for a variety of purposes and may also become very large entities (e.g. RACQ, MECU, Murray Goulburn) with some distance between management and membership. That is 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 Saul Alinski [U.S.A.] but also Ela Bhat [India] and Burkett and Kelly in [Australia]) to describe a community based organisation that is set up around members needs and interests and is controlled by those members. P.Os are a human sized organisation - having the size, degree of formality and mix of self and shared interest, to allow for participation, ownership and depth of relationship. P.O.s are recognised as the powerhouse of grass-roots development.

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)

Independent Youth Housing Group

Brick by Brick
The Independent Housing Group (IHG) Story: In 1989 the majority of the founding members of the Independent Housing Group (IHG) were living in private rental accommodation. The group knew each other through their common participation in the Community Living Program (CLP), a service supporting people with a disability to live in the community. A combination of private rental shortages and high rents and the fact that members of the group were reliant on Social Security payments contributed to a situation where group members found themselves paying well over half their income in rent. On June 30th 1989, nine people attended a first meeting discussing the idea of a housing co-op with a worker from CLP. This was the birth of the 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, primarily units, which provide safe and affordable accommodation to its members. Throughout the coops history members have been actively involved in the selection and purchase of properties, provision for maintenance, collection of rents and the setting of organisational policy. The cooperative has a very low rent default record due to its active member involvement and has even been able to save enough monies through rents to take out loans and purchase additional properties for new members.

Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative (NCEC), Story: NCEC was formed out the aspirations of 15 people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities who wanted to work but were long term unemployed. These individuals had made successive attempts to find employment, often with the help of employment services, only to experience frustration and failure. The cooperative began humbly as a jobs club with a borrowed mower, mowing small backyards as well as doing some local catering work. With support from local community organisations, businesses and government, NCEC has grown 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 up directorship on the board of management.

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?

Thank-you

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