Prospectus Document

Statement of Purpose

Mission Statement:

To create, develop and maintain a community of individuals working together toward constructive inspiration, empowerment and environmental conservation.

MOSAIC's goal is to increase the quality of the Northwestern University student community by creating a student-owned and operated housing co-operative focused on cultural arts, community involvement and environmental consciousness. Our organization is the first of its kind in the history of Northwestern. Its creation addresses many problems currently plaguing the community. There is a long history of tensions between Northwestern University and the township of Evanston. These tensions not only include university administrators, Evanston government officials and local commerce, they have also affected students, faculty, residents and community organizations. One main goal in the formation of MOSAIC is to help bridge this gap between 'town' and 'goal.' Within the community of the Northwestern campus, student interest and involvement in organizations and activities is low, partly due to another gap between on and off-campus populations. MOSAIC will work to counter this by maintaining a relationship with the university and other student organizations. Another objective of the housing co-operative is to address the difficulties of high prices and poor landlord practices in off-campus housing by purchasing property in the neighborhood surrounding the university. Finally, the main goal of the organization is to empower its members as consumers in the local and global market, as residents of Northwestern, Evanston, and the United States and as individuals operating in a household community. These efforts will strive to increase student involvement in the Evanston community, increase interest in Northwestern activities and decreases the cost of living for off-campus students.

Currently, we are beginning operation by leasing a house in Evanston. Our immediate goals consist of developing a structure for marketing, management and community, finding community and university support, and implementing policy for operation within the new house. Long-tern projects include gaining recognition and support from different local and national group, purchasing a house in Evanston, recruiting prospective members, and expanding the organization to other houses.

Description of Background

History and definition of the Co-operative

Definition of co-operatives: A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.1

Values: Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.2

The principals of modern cooperation is traced back to 1844. The first documented co-operative began when a group of 29 weavers pooled their savings and opened the first successful consumer co-op in Rochdale, England. They began on a social mission to provide for themselves cheap goods and services, despite the difficulties of competing with a burgeoning Industrial Revolution. They started small, but within a few years had branched out, generating annual sales of $100,000. That early group set up a vision that has been adopted by many co-operatives businesses since, including food, housing, arts and crafts, books, bakery, farm, rural electric, financial, and insurance co-operatives. Each of these has its own distinction, addressing the specific needs and concerns of its individual memberships.

Co-operative living has many benefits. Co-operatives save money, since there is no single owner/operator to take profit from the customer. Co-operatives demonstrate economic democracy. Each member has an equal share and one voice when decisions are made. Co-operatives operate for the benefit of the members. As a democratic entity, it changes with the changing needs of the members. Finally, co-operative organizations are non-profit. After the bills are paid and money is budgeted for operations and improvements, all profits are returned to the members. The purpose is not to make money, but to save it.

The Campus Co-operative

The principle of member ownership and operation work well in the campus setting. Students, faculties and others form co-operative enterprises to provide low-cost or scarce goods and services such as health food, text books, dry cleaning, housing, or bicycle repair. The high value of member participation helps people develop technical and leadership skills.

Most student co-operative ventures are housing co-ops. These services often respond to low vacancy rates and high rental prices. The large number of students competing for a small number of units leads to overcrowding, badly managed property, high rental rates and general abuse by student tenants. These problems all exist in the Evanston-Northwestern community.

Other goods and services often offered by student co-ops include the following:

• bike co-ops: bike and tool rental, repair services, used bicycle sales
• photo co-ops: photo processing and equipment
• bookstores: providing text books, trade books, and school supplies
• music studios: practice and recording space
• contraceptive co-ops: contraceptives and health care info
• dining co-ops: dining plans and open kitchens
• credit unions: low interest loans and student-specific services

Student co-operatives began springing up all around the turn of the century. In Austin, Texas and Gainsville, Florida, students began by providing themselves with meal plans. This eventually led to early housing co-ops. There co-operatives welcomed the rise of the Co-operative League of the USA, which weathered the first World War and the Red Scare in 1919. When the Great Depression set in, students were barely able to get by, but with the renewed vision of co-op activist Toyohika Kagawa, the thirties saw the establishment of such long standing co-op systems as those in Berkeley, California; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Toronto, Ontario. The movement lost momentum during the Second World War as co-op members were drafted for the war effort. However, post-war America saw new demands for student housing and the establishment of co-op systems in Ithaca, New York; Oberlin, Ohio, and Lincoln, Nebraska. Also in the forties, the first attempt was made to form a national student co-op organization: the North American Student Co-operative League (NASCL). Although initially successful, they lost their funding source and disintegrated in the mid-fifties. The sixties' political fervor brought new enthusiasm to student co-operatives, this time as a social and political alternative to the post-industrial capitalist system. Government support in the form of low interest-housing loans also contributed. In 1968, the North American Students of Co-operation (NASCO) was formed. Since that time, NASCO has served as the main networking and support services of student co-ops, keeping the movement alive through the present.

Currently, campus co-operatives are thriving on many campuses around the country and are cropping up on many others. Extensive systems have evolved at UC Berkley, Oberlin, Standford, U of Michigan, U of Wisconsin, Purdue and Harvard, U of Illinois, U of Chicago and many others have also joined the quickly growing list of universities that are hosting developing co-operative projects. Many of these schools provide property and resources to the co-operatives and the members have become important members of the universities and communities.

MOSAIC: A student housing co-operative for the Evanston-Northwestern community

Today, we would like to bring the principles of co-operative living to our community in Evanston. Our vision is to bring awareness of the movement to Evanston, inspiring students to explore options of member-owned and operated businesses. Specifically, MOSAIC will begin operations by focusing on housing by providing a new housing option. Eventually, we would like to branch out, inspiring and supporting new developments in student co-operative ventures in the Evanston-Northwestern community.

As implied by our mission statement, our intention is to promote individuals to work together towards creative, political and social expression, while creating an environmentally conscious and socially responsible living environment. The existence of co-operative efforts in Evanston will address many of the community conflicts between Evanston and Northwestern as well as inspiring students to become involved within the campus community as well as the greater Evanston community. MOSAIC will also offer the unique opportunity to learn skills in community relations, business management and interpersonal communication.

MOSAIC began forming in December, 1997. The initial members started by researching co-operative living and investigating the possibility of a student housing co-operative living and investigating the possibility of a rental possibility in the Evanston residential community and began inviting other to join the effort. The lease was signed and plans immediately began for the 1998-1999 school year. At the same time of writing, MOSAIC has sixteen members and is beginning operations in a rental house in Evanston. Internal organization of the house has started and the group is prepared to take the steps to become recognized as an official non-profit co-operative corporation.

Description of Implementation

The next stages of development for MOSAIC are crucial in terms of the long-term resonance of the project. An initial internal system has been developed and the organization is ready to open its doors to new members and begin the next stage of planning and development towards the future.

The first stage of the plan is to implement strategies of structural formation. By researching other co-oops and carefully considering the immediate, short-term and long-term goals of our organization, we must create a constitution and bylaws for the organization. This will help to orient and focus the efforts, needs, rights and responsibilities of the members and the organization. One effort of these documents will be to help develop some kind of contractual obligation between members. These documents also help to define to policies of governance, delineating officer responsibilities and methods of democratic decision-making. After the bylaws and constitution are completed, MOSAIC will be fully ready to open its doors to the community as a fully operation organization.

Once MOSAIC is fully functional and exposed to the Evanston-Northwestern community, the organization will implement the recruitment strategy is crucial to the continued survival and development of the organization. Currently, interest is high among those who are familiar with the project, and through greater education and publicity, MOSAIC can extend its appeal to a wider audience. This can be accomplished in many ways such as:

• holding informational meetings for interested students
• sponsoring and hosting events to promote community interaction and raise awareness of the co-operative: poetry readings, story-telling, lectures, workshops, and performances.
• recognition by the Student Government
• advertising and being present at local community events
• recognition as a viable housing option by the off-campus housing office and residential housing office

As prospective members become interested, we can begin implementing the methods laid out in the bylaws for the initiation of new members. MOSAIC will continue to exist as a residential unit, but can become an entire community of residential and non-residential members.

Description of Operation

Currently, MOSAIC is developing a contractual agreement and a handbook for all members that lays out detailed responsibilities and rights of the members. At the moment there are only resident members, so each member is responsible for the following:

• general maintenance and cleanliness of common areas
• assisting and preparing and organizing co-op activities
• participation in meal preparation and food purchase
• sharing in financial costs of the organization and household
• forming and activating and organizational structure
• making an effort to develop a household camaraderie of support and interaction between the individual members

The benefits and rights thus afforded the members are as follows:

• an equal democratic voice in major decisions of the organization
• use of the organization's general resources
• financial benefits of investing and purchasing goods and services as a group
• inclusion in a living environment of healthy cohabitation, openness and mutual support

As the organization is in its first year of operation, the members are also afforded the opportunity to create and develop a system for a household business. Future members will be afforded similar opportunity so that each person can continue to empower themselves and influence the operation of the organization.

The current organizational structure is based on a committee system. There are five committees: Development, Housing, Food, Maintenance, and Outreach/Events. Each committee meets regularly to attend their respective responsibilities and brings its concerns and decisions to the general organization for discussion. There are also positions of Treasurer, Secretary/Scribe and Facilitator. Each member is either a co-chairperson for a committee or acts in one of the official positions. There is no official executive responsibilities, as we are attempting to maintain a system based on mutual governance and consensus decision process. We are forming the current system with consideration of its effectiveness in both our immediate position and the future developments.

Future Plans, Goals and Responsibilities

Accepting that the nature of MOSAIC is inclusive and ever-changing with respect to its members needs and wants, what follows are the long term goals and plans of the organization as it stands under its forming principals and membership. These future goals are in no way binding, but are important in focusing the group on the future possibilities. The major goal of MOSAIC is to purchase property for the organization. While operating in a rental environment, we are unable to accomplish all of our goals of autonomy and empowerment. In order to have purchasing power, MOSAIC needs to find sources for loans and organize its financial basis to prepare for a continuing existence as a homeowner in Evanston. The second goal is important in networking into larger communities. This goal is to gain recognition from the state as a Not-for-Profit corporation, from Northwestern University Associated Student Government as a campus organization and from NASCO as a recognized and supported campus co-operative. The third major goal of MOSAIC is the implementation of further expansion for our organization and the cooperative ideals in Evanston and Northwestern. Both Evanston and Northwestern could benefit greatly from a strong co-operative community and MOSAIC could participate in the development of more households under a larger organization. MOSAIC could also aid in developing a task force on co-operative implementation in Evanston in other forms such as books, music, bicycles, credit unions, groceries, and restaurants.

MOSAIC: Members Of Society Acting In Cooperation

Prosperitus written by Andrew Fife, founding member.