Keep your Cooperative Competitive: Start a Business

Although living in a cooperative should be the cheapest housing option, it does not always work out to be so in reality.

Some expenses (like a mortgage, payments to a landlord, or debt from major renovations) outweigh the savings that you gain from collective purchasing power. So, how do you make your cooperative less expensive? Start a business! It may sound crazy, but read on, friend. I have a success story.

In 2008, Kalamazoo Collective Housing started an apparel company called Grassroots Goods. Grassroots Goods produces organic cotton shirts (manufactured in the United States) with several attractive designs (printed in Kalamazoo, Michigan). The shirts are sold in bulk to retailers around the state, who have had a great deal of success selling our niche product….

To read the other three sections of this article, visit us at our new location!

Fundraising: The Lifeblood of your Non-profit and its Community

One subject that likely no one in a community gets excited to talk about is fundraising, especially in a volunteer-powered organization. The kind of thinking, planning, and professionalism that are required to obtain grants from corporate donors and individual or group philanthropists are not a high priority for a volunteers’ downtime activity. And while events like concerts and bake-sales seem to require less investment, the cash return is often less, and the number of hours that organizers actually invest often exceed what was projected.

Despite its dreariness, a good fundraising program is essential to a Non-profit, and there are a few tricks that you should keep in mind to make the process easier, more lucrative, and more fun. To see this article in full, please take this link to our new location!

Spirituality & Cooperation: Organizing in Boston

In Boston, Massachusetts, a group of seven people are creating the model for the Lucy Stone Cooperative (LSC). LSC seeks to be a presence that gives back to its community through living out Universal Unitarian values. Other issues that LSC organizes around are sustainability, affordability, and cooperation.

LSC is raising funds to purchase property. Through years of planning, LSC has been gaining in member numbers and mission clarity. Some members of the planning team have been working for as long as five years. Others, like Hilary Lake, a former member of Kalamazoo Collective Housing, joined the team about one year ago.

Our site has moved, but you can still read about LSC. Visit the article at our new location!

Loan Modification Scams

On June 16, Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services (KNHS, INC.) held a symposium on the issue of “loan modification” scams.

If you know that you are headed toward foreclosure, others know it too. Predatory lenders seek those who are listed as going into foreclosure on public forums and databases.

KNHS is a nonprofit that serves low-to-moderate income neighborhoods in and around Kalamazoo County. Their educational services, offered at no cost, are designed to help people prepare for an upcoming purchase, manage their finances, and achieve other goals. In addition, KNHS offers foreclosure counseling. In some cases, KNHS can award grants to individuals in danger of being foreclosed upon.

According to KNHS, loan modification scams are routinely offered to homeowners under threat of foreclosure. Loan modification scams have been an issue for decades. They are still very common. About 15% of KNHS’s clients have been victims of a scam.

Our article goes on to list ways of avoiding becoming a victim of foreclosure scams. Please see it in full length at our new location.

Impact the Future of Kalamazoo

The next Plan Kalamazoo! meeting will be held on the 28th of July, from 6:00 until 8:00 PM. Here’s what it’s about. It will be held at the Maple Street School for the Arts, 922 West Maple Street.