Spartan Housing Cooperative Executive End of Term Reports 2020-2021
President Erik Berg, Orion Preface This report, and the reports to follow, comprise an attempt by the Executive Committee to inform the membership on the current status of the SHC as a whole and the wide assortment of work that has been done, is being done, or will be done by the co-op’s officers. Because of the great variety of problems that are worked on even in normal times, it’s a full-time job to keep up with the progression on all fronts. Reports of this nature are absolutely necessary to fill in many of the gaps that exist in the SHC “knowledge barrier.” Only through sufficient knowledge can wise decisions be made. This report is thorough. It was written with many different people in mind, present and future. Because of its length, I’ve divided it up into five main parts, two of which contain its own sections. All of the information herein is valuable and informative, but certain readers may only be interested in certain sections. Feel free to skip around to the parts that seem interesting or relevant.
Introduction I came into this role as what I believe to be SHC’s most experienced president. The reason? I’m a historian — specifically, an SHC historian. I honestly believe that I can count the number of people who know the history of our co-op better than I do on one hand. There are two reasons for this: the first is out of self-interest, and the second is because of the experience it provides. Co-ops like ours are chronic amnesiacs: with the average member only sticking around for two years, many problems faced are cyclical. Even when factoring in technological changes over time, every fathomable problem within our cooperative system, or at least a derivative of it, has happened at least once in our past. By reviewing the problems faced in the past and how they were resolved, there is no problem faced in the present that cannot be resolved. Or so I thought. There’s only one external problem that our houses have never faced in over 80 years of history: a pandemic. History be damned, this was a situation that had no precedence. I wrote in my journal on March 16, 2020: Elected as the next President of the MSU Student Housing Cooperative. Coronavirus/COVID-19 is sweeping the nation. A week ago Michigan had 0 confirmed cases. Today there are 53 confirmed cases. That number is rising exponentially. Officials believe the pandemic may last well into the fall. I take office May 1st.
“There is Chinese curse which says ‘May he live in interesting times.’ Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history.” —Robert F. Kennedy Day of Affirmation Address June 6, 1966 “Interesting” is one word to describe the times. It’s also a fitting word to describe my first year SHC President. Although it feels more like six years have passed, I’ll try to summarize some of the notable events that’s happened in that time, reflect on the accomplishments and failures, and draw out some lessons to be learned. Let’s start at the beginning. Pre-Presidency While I technically didn't become SHC President until May 1st, 2020, I'm starting in March because that's when I feel I truthfully began this role. The SHC began responding to the pandemic in the second week of March, 2020. And it was kind of a panicked response, to be honest. Our Executive Director sent out an email to all of our members linking to CDC and WHO resources, but there wasn't much else we could do. Back then we knew even less about the virus, so there was a sharp uptick in anxiety and distress. This is back when a lot of people were convinced it was just another flu, so there were plenty of interpersonal conflicts. It got so bad at my house, that two of my housemates couldn't take it anymore and moved out permanently. Others just grabbed what they could and got out of town. But most people stayed. On Wednesday, March 11th, MSU suspended face-to-face classes and started encouraging students to leave East Lansing, and that sent a shockwave throughout the co-ops. We had members rejoicing because they didn't have to go to class, others panicking because the gravity of the situation was beginning to set in. I was on our Board of Directors at the time, and I started talking with representatives from two of the other, larger houses because we started to realize that our modus operandi wasn't going to cut it anymore. We had events and parties coming up, and there was no way we could safely go forward with those. I emailed the rest of the Board and the Executive Committee essentially demanding an emergency meeting, and eventually pulled together a small meeting on the 13th. I printed off a bunch of fliers about sanitation and health practices, and after the meeting I went around East Lansing with Connor Meston, a former SHC President and employee, delivering them to all of the houses. We figured it was only going to get worse from there, and we didn't have much time if we were going to spread the word to the houses before the first cases started popping up in East Lansing. All in-person meetings and events were cancelled indefinitely, as was office labor, as was the SHC office. Three days later, on the 16th, I was elected as the next President of the SHC. To give some perspective, at the time there were 53 confirmed cases in the entire State, and a week earlier there were zero. A week later, Michigan went into lockdown.
The situation was dire. We began holding virtual meetings of the staff and Executive Committee. There were some urgent decisions to be made. At that first meeting, the SHC budget was frozen for all non-vital spending, and we pulled $25,000 from our vacancy reserves to set up a Financial Relief Committee and crisis fund to support those impacted by the economic fallout. We sent out a preliminary survey to the membership, and found that about 30% of our residents had left town. In the weeks and months to follow, the bombardment of crises, challenges, and complications faced by the SHC as a whole, the staff, the officers, and myself personally, were unique in their novelty and relentlessness. Nevertheless, we’ve not only managed to endure these trials, but continue improving in spite of them. In writing this report, I’ve struggled to determine what it should include. It’s loosely meant to cover my personal accomplishments, but even an instruction as simple as that is difficult for me. So much has happened — which accomplishments should be included or not included? And in some cases, what should be deemed as an “accomplishment?” After much overthinking, my parameters for these two have become very conservative. There are two reasons for this. The first being that a majority of my work is still in progress, and plenty of the things that I would label as “accomplishments” might seem trivial as just a component of an ongoing process toward a bigger accomplishment. The second and much more significant reason is simply a result of the way both our organization and I operate. Our success lies in our ability to work together to accomplish the things we cannot easily achieve through individual efforts. Consequently, I’ve played a supporting role in almost everything we’ve accomplished over the past year, but few of these would be relevant enough to include in my specific report. The 2020 Member Census is one example that comes to mind: I was instrumental in the implementation and execution of that undertaking, but so was Holly Jo, and so were the members of our Visionary Committee. Attempting to claim the glory for that alone in this report just feels wrong. So, this report is admittingly light on accomplishments. Does this mean I’ve been an ineffectual president thus far? It’s possible; I’m not in a position to say. In any case, I’ve certainly seen, done, and experienced a lot these past few months. This report will review some of the highlights, report on the progress I’ve made on my objectives as president, and draw out some important lessons to be learned. Accomplishments Cooperation Among Cooperatives Just one year after organizing in 1939, Hedrick loaned $300 to Elsworth so that they could afford to buy their own house and establish themselves as the second co-op house in town. In 1946, Elsworth loaned $300 to Hedrick so they could reopen after WWII forced them to shut down. Without this early cooperation, neither the SHC nor any of the houses that it consists of would exist today. Over the summer, we performed a similar deed by loaning GRACC (Grand Rapids Alliance of Cooperative Communities) the funds necessary to purchase one of their four buildings — the first cooperatively-owned house in Grand Rapids. This accomplishment was only realized after several
months of ongoing surprises and issues that threatened to thwart the effort, especially once the pandemic began picking up speed. Nevertheless, by the end of July we had provided both a direct loan and cosigned on a loan from MSUFCU on their largest house. Co-ops existing out of rental properties have a high mortality rate, which is why ownership is so important. In fact, this was the primary motivation for organizing SHC: buying homes for the co-ops in rental units and thereby expanding the movement. Decades later, our co-op federation is larger, richer, and more developed. By helping a fledgling federation along in this regard, we’ve continued to fulfill our purpose and make our founders proud. The Board of Directors I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have a board of diligent and dependable directors, new and old. While board turnover and the consequent inexperience and re-training has been a chronic problem for the SHC, a majority of directors from the prior year remained, and the newer members have shown plenty of gumption and interest in their roles. This has been crucial to the Board’s efficacy, as the abundant challenges faced by the pandemic has made its work significantly more difficult. In the summer, it’s historically been a problem to get enough people to show up to Board meetings. Lots of house officer positions turn over in May, and lots of student members leave town after Finals. In summer of 2019 we hardly had a Board meeting that could reach a quorum, which obstructed a lot of important work. So, I reached out to some board members to confirm they’d be sticking around. Still, there were a few houses that had no-shows. After trying to track people down with no luck, I finally announced to all houses that I’d be reinstating a fine for non attendance and/or having no board member. From that point onward, we had no issues reaching quorum at Board meetings. The truth, while unpopular to some, is that having a fining policy in place is the deciding factor in whether your meetings will be productive and attended. My predecessors were unwilling to do this, and they had several meetings that needed to be cancelled due to lack of quorum as a result. I don’t like giving fines and avoid it at all costs, which is why I’m very lenient in handing out excused absences. But if an absence isn’t communicated beforehand, and the person has used their freebie absence, they’re getting fined. They consciously signed up to do a job, and when they shirk it by not showing up to meetings, they let down both their housemates and the SHC as a whole. The contrast in Board meeting attendance before and after instituting fining is the latest example in the fifty-year mountain of examples showing how and why it’s important to fine co-opers who neglect their responsibilities — to their house, their committee, or even the Board of Directors. Policy monitoring has been a problem that’s plagued the Board for years. In February 2016 the Board adopted the Policy Governance model, which no doubt has its pros and cons, but its adoption and implementation can only be called “problematic.” One of these problems has been that the rate at which policies in the Board Policy Manual are meant to be monitored by the Board is in no way possible. The necessary written reports cannot be compiled and written in time, and this monitoring has consumed the bulk of time spent in Board meetings, limiting productivity. In October 2020, we decided that the schedule needed desperate revision, and an ad hoc committee was formed to find a realistic solution. The Board also mercifully agreed to relax its expectations that we adhere to the existing schedule. As a result, Board meetings have consisted of much less rubber-stamping and
much more productivity. This ad hoc committee is still at work, and the outcomes still remain to be seen. Another problem has been with the relevant information given to the Board. When I was a Board Director, we were hardly given any information on what had been done recently by the rest of the co-op. If the Board is unaware of what’s happening on the operational side of the organization, it cannot effectively do its job. My solution to this has been to give detailed written and verbal management reports to the Board at every meeting. This adds onto the length of meetings, but, especially with time, I think they’ve proven their value. It does create plenty of extra work for myself, though. I began writing these reports alone and later with the help of Emily, but they were really just re-written reports that I’d been given by members of my Executive Committee. So, I eventually began including reports from EC meetings in the Board Packs. Still, it was a common problem where I wasn’t able to answer all questions or elaborate much on the second-hand information given. In the past few years, it had stopped being customary for the EC to be present at Board meetings. So, that’s another change. I didn’t want to implement it with the current EC due to time conflicts, but I’ve made it clear to my incoming EC that it would be an expectation. COVID-19 Response While I’ve mentioned the SHC’s initial response to the pandemic in this report’s intro, the rising need for a continued and more involved response obviously advanced in lockstep with the rising number of cases in the community. This past summer, I initiated and organized the COVID-19 Response Team, although it’s been referred to by a number of similar, but not technically accurate, names since. Nevertheless, I don’t think anyone’s been confused by any references to the “Coronavirus Action Team” and the like. It was difficult to get the ball rolling at first, but a handful of first-rate co-opers took up the mantle and dedicated their time to this important ad hoc group. Because of our decentralized nature and the vast differences in size, needs, and culture of our houses, template policies were created to be adapted and enforced by each house. The team has also helped coordinate the communication and aid to each house as it experienced a positive case. At the time of writing, those houses have included: Beal, Ferency, Elsworth, New Community, Raft Hill, Phoenix, Apollo, Vesta, and Harambee. The composition of the COVID-19 Response Team shifted with time. Several SHC members partook for only one or two meetings, while a few were present for almost all meetings. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the efforts of Chloe Ribco, Jonathan Sheehan, Casey Paskus, and Cassie Shugart for their exceptional dedication to supporting all of us with their contributions to this team. Staff transitions and lack of office labor has stretched the capacity of the officers and staff to a level where almost nothing could get sufficient attention from any of us, but these five and a few other co-opers took the reins and ensured that each house had the support they needed before, during, or after experiencing a positive case. All of us who’ve lived in the SHC throughout this pandemic owe our thanks to those co-opers who’ve volunteered their time on this committee and provided a great example of cooperative leadership to us all. Wind Through The Pines & Alumni Relations
12,000 co-opers. While the definite amount is nearly impossible to ascertain, this is about how many people have joined the SHC over the past 50 years. One of the greatest tragedies of our co-ops lies in how poorly we keep in touch with our members after they move on from this system. Those who leave are often interested in keeping up-to-date with those of us currently living in the houses, and those of us who are here right now have a surprising amount to gain from keeping in touch. For most members, life in our cooperative houses, like the college experience as a whole, is easy to view as a temporary existence housed in just one chapter of our lives. But by engaging with alumni and building those connections with past generations of co-opers, it’s easier to sense the continuity and value the ongoing process that we’re a part of. Additionally, maintaining contact with alumni can bring fundraising, networking, storytelling, advising, training, and potentially other opportunities to the membership. Attempts to start an alumni program date back to 1972, although none of them have sustained enough interest and momentum to last more than a year or two. But it would seem there’s been a change in the wind. This winter, we published the third edition of the Wind Through the Pines alumni newsletter — the biggest and best edition yet — with plans for the next edition already underway. Beyond the newsletter, we’ve been making headway on improving our alumni outreach. Our rudimentary alumni database is expanding, older alumni are starting to reconnect with SHC, and more departing members are opting to join the SHC Alumni Facebook page and other, house-level alumni groups. Our 50th anniversary celebration had to be postponed to 2022, but this has allowed more organizing to take place in the run-up to the reunion. Most recently, we received approval to host an AmeriCorps VISTA member tasked with coordinating and developing a program for alumni communications and fundraising. The work produced by this position will build the capacity of the organization and increase the opportunities available to current members in a way that will pay off in dividends. 131 Whitehills/Expansion I can say with absolute certainty that the primary reason for founding the SHC was to expand cooperative housing in our community. We began in 1971 with six houses, and today, we’re at 17. This is impressive, but a closer look at our individual membership is less fortunate. I have a comparative balance sheet of the years 1973 and 2018 that shows our number of members has stayed roughly the same: ~240. While our number of houses have increased, our houses have become less dense. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing — Hedrick is no doubt a lot more comfortable with 15 members in single rooms today than it was in 1971 with 29 members in cramped doubles. But it calls into question whether we’ve accomplished our primary goal as an organization. Fortunately, we’ve struck gold. After 50 years of interest, the SHC finally has the opportunity to purchase 131 Whitehills, or “Left Bower,” the building next door to Bower. While the efforts to acquire this building for co-op housing began in the ‘70s, the most recent push began in November 2019. After extensively reviewing the details of the opportunity, I’ve been a strong proponent of it since, and I’m proud of the progress all of those involved have made in the past year. Jim Jones, our first president and full-time staff member, is the current owner, and through his hard work and generosity, the SHC will soon have a referendum to purchase this building and finally expand the
cooperative movement and our federation. The reasons for this necessary purchase and the exhaustive list of how tragic it would be for the referendum to fail would be a 20+ page report on its own, so I won’t continue on this issue here. Hundreds upon hundreds of hours have gone into ensuring this expansion can happen, by myself, and several others, and for this I’m optimistic and proud. The work continues. Institutional Memory & Documenting and Recording History “SHC's history, as told in the reams and reams of documents we have, tells the story of a corporation that is decidedly near-sighted.” —SHC President Elizabeth Gibson, 1992 I cannot put into words just how important history is to all aspects of our organization and the people that comprise it. The adage, “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it” is truer nowhere more than in housing co-ops like ours. When the average member only sticks around for two years, the same situations, problems, and solutions — good and bad — arise over, and over, and over again. Understanding our history not only reveals the solutions to so many seemingly novel problems, but it also gives very important context to why things are the way they are today. This understanding is vital for wise decisions to be made. Unfortunately, the history of SHC, its prehistory, and the histories of each of our houses are largely forgotten or obscured. To most members, our history consists primarily of legends and first or second-hand anecdotes from prior members’ experiences. Even among our staff, who’ve been here for several generations of members, the co-op’s past has many unknowns. SHC history has been an interest of mine for the past three years, and I can confidently say that there is only one person alive who knows more of this history than I do. Obviously, I feel an obligation to use this knowledge for the benefit of the co-op as a whole. In addition to its practical uses, our history is an incredible tool to drive member engagement. The stories behind how this system got to where it is today are nothing short of incredible. The number of times each individual house and/or the SHC as a whole should have collapsed but didn’t is just unbelievable. I’ve said before that if I won the lottery I’d fund a docudrama of SHC history, but I’m not sure if anyone would believe that the ridiculous plot line and constant cliffhangers weren’t just lazy writing. The point I’m trying to make here is that our history is fascinating, to put it lightly, and when people learn about this history, they become more invested in this system and stronger co-opers. It’s like a cheat code. Knowledge is power, and in this organization, this particular knowledge is the most powerful. It’s for these reasons that I’ve been spending my free time documenting, scanning, digitizing, preserving, and archiving as much of this history as possible. This has been done in a large number of different ways, but the most significant has been the compilation of information on the SHC Google Drive. What started as a temporary folder has grown into a digital “Presidential Library,” which is exactly what it sounds like. While I am documenting my own presidency in there for its historical value, this “library” is pretty much devoted to SHC history that precedes me. It’s a perpetual work in progress. Right now it’s available to anyone with the link, but it needs some more organizing before I start widely sharing it. My hope is to leave it behind for future SHC members and alumni to freely browse. It’s possible that people may want to contribute to it in the future. Or it may
get broken apart and reconfigured into a greater filesystem. And there will eventually, if not already, be a platform more suitable to host it than Google Drive. It’s for this reason that I’ve been trying to organize everything in a way that’s consistent and makes sense. Only the future knows whether this project will grow and expand beyond me, or remain a curiosity in the co-op’s file system. The New SHC Website My pet project of late 2019 and early 2020 was to help develop a new website for the SHC using the ICC Ann Arbor’s website as a base. The existing website was, quite frankly, terrible, for a number of reasons outside the scope of this report, but a primary shortcoming was the difficulty in both adding and maintaining relevant information to the membership. By switching platforms from Squarespace to WordPress, a much wider variety of information could be presented, made easily accessible, and maintained by the staff and office laborers. I had two primary co-collaborators on this project: one became too burnt out to continue, and the other moved out of state. I continued my work alone for a short while, but this work was halted by the pandemic, my becoming president, and budget freeze. Fortunately, we were able to take on Marshall Clabeaux of Rivendell as a temporary full-time employee with the ability to devote some of his paid time to continuing development of the new website, with plenty of freelance help from Fuzzy Konnor, a longtime friend of the co-ops. Had it not been for the uncertainty of the pandemic and events to follow, this new website would have otherwise been completed at some point in the spring of 2020. This is the course of events I had invested my campaign objectives in, and this new, completed website would be a central conduit to increasing not just the accountability structure and opportunities for member education within the SHC, but especially to increasing the degree of communication and transparency between the office, committees, Board of Directors, and general membership of the SHC. The new website went live in March of 2021, and while its formatting remains a bit unpolished and the availability of some information is sporadic and occasionally lacking at the time of writing, it carries the potential to enable a co-op glasnost. Among countless other benefits, integrations with the SHC Google Drive will make transparency near-automatic. A centralized location for SHC news, updates, Pine Press editions, community discussion, an improved maintenance request ticketing system, and a calendar of SHC events are just a handful of the new features that will aid in communication between the houses and the office. For brevity, the full list of anticipated and potential benefits won’t be listed here. Objectives I formulated my campaign for SHC President weeks before the first COVID-19 case had been confirmed in the United States — and before the name “COVID-19” even came into existence, for that matter. The same day I decided to run, I read an article about a “pneumonia outbreak” in a Chinese city. Looking back 16 months later, I obviously didn’t recognize this curse for what it was, nor how interesting the year ahead would be. At that time, my objectives, or “campaign promises,” centered around improving our co-op’s function in four areas: communication, education, transparency, and accountability. The current times have forced me to divert my focus from these areas much more than I’d like, but my focus hasn’t been
diverted fully. Despite the accomplishments thus far, there is still much work to be done in these areas. As the vaccination rate continues to climb and the dangers of interacting in-person decrease, our ability to focus on these weak points in our operations returns to normal. The next few sections outline the improvements made in these areas in spite of the unparalleled decrease in capacity SHC’s experienced this past year. Presently, we can only wonder how much progress will be built upon these accomplishments in the year to come and beyond. Communication I’ve been told on multiple occasions that I am, absolutely, a “man of the people,” in both the best and the worst interpretations of the title. Look no further than my “origin story” to understand this. I, along with my housemates, were incredibly frustrated with the (albeit benign) complete lack of transparency between the SHC office and the SHC members. This was a frustration I carried with me from the beginning of my first term of residence in the co-op to my first term of office in the co-op. While the efforts have been piecemeal thus far, the amount of information freely available to the average SHC member continues to multiply throughout my term of office. The area I have the most immediate control over, and can receive the most immediate feedback in, has been the communications between myself and the Board of Directors. Beginning my presidency after 1½ years on the Board meant that I knew exactly what forms of communication were lacking. As mentioned previously, I’ve increased the quality and quantity of information shared with the Board in meetings. I also created a centralized hub on the website for directors to access folders, documents, and spreadsheets with information that may be needed. Beyond that, I’ve been directly reaching out to Board members, and sometimes, entire houses, via email. Since I haven’t been able to casually visit houses in over 14 months, I’ve turned to emailing. This has somewhat allowed me to informally touch base with people and help out where possible. I’ve even had 1-on-1 video chats with members who’ve wanted to meet and discuss a wide range of topics, which I’m always happy to oblige, stemming from email outreach. In the Fall 2020 Member Census, we added a question surveying which social media platforms were used by members. Currently, SHC uses emails and a Facebook group to communicate things with the membership, but Facebook use is declining. Several members have suggested that I create an SHC Discord server, but I wouldn’t want the hassle of one unless it were to actually be used by a sizable number of members. I included Discord as an option, but the results were not promising. A few months later, with no relation to this idea, the Board requested that a Discord server be made as an additional channel of communication in between Board meetings. There was considerable adoption, and this server is still taking shape. If it sustains its value and there’s enough interest, it’s possible it could expand to non-Board areas of SHC, like operational committees. Time will tell. Our monumentally limited capacity has greatly impacted the communication to the membership surrounding financial and especially facilities matters. House officers and other members began reaching out to me directly to inquire about things in both of these departments, and I became a de facto contact person to some people in order to lighten the workload of Nikki, Shyla, MC, and Mike. Eventually, things calmed down to where the Finance Committee began holding regular meetings again, and we were able to hire Dan Tooman as our new Maintenance Coordinator and second
maintenance staffer. In addition to increased facilities capacity, with the launch of AppFolio we now have a real maintenance ticketing system, as opposed to logging things in a spreadsheet. While this new system is still being worked out by staff, it’s been well-adopted by members, and it's resulted in a noticeable improvement in facilities-related communication both ways. Education Of these four categories, education has seen the least progress over the past year. Co-op education is vital to the successful functioning of any cooperative, and SHC’s relatively high turnover makes this truer than almost any other co-op. Education is what separates us from a landlord system — if the membership doesn’t know how to democratically control the co-op or their individual houses, they become powerless. Additionally, in co-op education, the “why” is just as important, if not more important, than the “how.” Understanding why we must purchase another property, why we allocate W money for X purpose, or why Y decision was made by Z group is crucial for a sustainable organization and sound democracy. Again, I’ll have to zero in on the Board. Board meeting agendas sometimes include a section for “Board Education,” which has been covered, in my experience, at about ⅕ meetings. While I initially didn’t include this agenda item very often, once the policy monitoring schedule let up I started finding the time to include material in Board meetings that would help the Board do its job. The item is still occasionally skipped over while “read later” info is included in the meeting packets, but I’ve made quite a bit of progress improving the education provided to the Board over the past year. I’ve had to reinvent the way new directors are oriented outside of the Fall Board Retreat to work 100% virtually, which seems to have been a success. The variety of online educational resources available to Board members has grown exponentially throughout my first term, and the educational opportunities available to new and existing directors will only increase once we’re able to meet in-person once again. Outside of the Board, I haven’t been directly involved in creating a significant amount of educational opportunities for members. I know each committee has made some progress informing its members, and Emily has worked with the Education Committee on a few projects. I helped create the “Co-ops 101” zine and am currently working on a Board Education zine with Emily. I also wrote almost everything and provided almost all of the materials for the zine sent out to Board members for the 2021 Visionary Retreat, which included my infamous “SHC History Timeline,” never intended for distribution as-is and full of blunt observations and vulgar language. Despite my creative liberties, everyone seemed to enjoy the history lesson. Speaking of history lessons, I partnered up with Jim Jones recently to give a 2½ hour presentation on the incredible history of our houses and federation. The presentation was called “50 Years of Cooperative Resilience,” originally intended to cover just SHC history and mark our 50th anniversary, but the history of SHC really starts in the '30s, and it’s an incredible story of hard work and sacrifice by many members over the years. A few dozen people attended, and I was able to get consent from everyone to record and save the whole presentation. As always, the members who were unfamiliar with this history were enthralled, and some have admitted that it bolstered their interest in and commitment to their house and SHC as a whole. Being forced to do everything digitally has made
both organizing and getting members to show up to educational events incredibly difficult, so this event in particular stands out to me as a victory for us all. With Emily, our VPE, serving a second term and the potential for a return to in-person events in the coming months, I look forward to the increased opportunities for educational events of all kinds. Transparency I’ve always said that if the membership is left to wonder what the SHC office is up to, they’ll do just that. They’ll also wonder why they’re left to wonder. The boring reality is that there hasn't been any shady dealings within SHC in 30 years. But, for all the reader knows I could be an embezzling grifter just saying that. Which is why it's important that as much information as realistically possible is available to the membership. Unsurprisingly, this, too, has been incredibly difficult to work toward during the pandemic. One great source of member education, communication, and transparency has been the office labor program, but with the office closed for almost 14 months and counting, including members from almost all of the houses in the day-to-day workings of the staff and officers has been impossible. The expanded divide between the office and the houses is almost impossible to bridge virtually. In one way, increasing the amount of information openly available on the SHC Google Drive has been how I’ve tackled this. But that information's only open to those with the right links. So, I've channeled a lot of transparency through the Board. As mentioned previously, more operational info is reported to the Board at meetings and included in the meeting packets than what used to be standard. Board meetings are always open to all members to attend, and so I've made a point to include both the links to the meetings themselves and links to the accompanying board packets on the website via the SHC Google Calendar. In the board packets, I've also linked to copies of the most recent EC meeting documents. The hope is that directors will share this information with their housemates, but this is only one avenue of communication and depends on the diligence of each house's representative. Accountability We are currently living through a period of SHC history in which the degree of accountability afforded to our executive officers is at its lowest since the Dark Age of 1980-1992. I’ve now been on our Board for over two years, and not once has there been a single EC evaluation in that time. Just a few years ago, officer evaluations were a regular and expected agenda item at every Board Meeting, and conducted via survey to their respective Committee members along with Board evaluation. Presently, If I, for example, were doing an unquestionably terrible job as president, there is little that could be done about it. Even the penalties that theoretically could happen in such a scenario are far unlikely to be executed under our current operating structure. Our staff are in a similar situation. While, again, I believe they are all diligent, efficient, and passionate about their work and our co-op, only the SHC President and Executive Director have an overarching knowledge of their performance, duties, and priorities. I can personally say that in some cases, I don’t even always know what a particular staffer might have been doing, nor get sufficient
information on their work when customarily requested. Let me reiterate that I am the President and CEO of the corporation. Appropriate structures of accountability do exist, can be implemented, and have been implemented within the SHC already — the cobwebs just need to be dusted off. In October I hired Dale Kruithoff, our Board Director from Howland, as our next Corporate Secretary because of his longstanding commitment to restoring EC and staff accountability. I’ve known this issue to be a priority of his work while on my Governance Revision Committee, and I look forward to his continued work on this important issue while on my Executive Committee. As Billy Mays would say, “But wait! There’s more!” Deficiencies in accountability exist in several areas that don’t involve our staff, executive officers, or board directors. Yes, I’m referring to our house officers. Chronic no-shows have been and continue to be a problem for our Board and Operational Committees. This is problematic for two reasons. The first problem is that each absentee member of the Board or a Committee inhibits its ability to function, consequently inhibiting the SHC’s ability to function. The second problem is a problem for the house: an officer who shirks their responsibility cuts off the house from that sector of the co-op. A Facilities Officer absent from the wrong budgetary discussion could mean your house gets passed up for a renovation. A Board Representative who can’t be bothered to represent you could mean you have no voice when we vote to hike assessment $30. Observations and Conclusions Co-ops are about people. It isn’t just a cheap place to stay. In writing this report, I’ve tried, to the best extent possible, to “stay in my lane.” To just focus on my work strictly as President and CEO. As noted in the introduction and demonstrated herein, this is impossible — because we all work together, are equal to each other, and cooperate with one another. I also tried to succinctly cover a majority, but not all, of the significant developments over the past year. Not only is the length of this report ridiculous, but I’ve had to either delete or intentionally leave out a lot of important happenings over the past year for it to be this “short.” If this report indicates anything, it’s that the SHC hasn’t witnessed a dull moment in well over 12 months. More importantly, it demonstrates the resilience of the cooperative model in times of crisis. The trials and travails of the past year have left their mark on the co-op, but in that time we’ve managed to not only survive, but grow — as an organization, as houses, and as people. This pandemic has taught us a lot about ourselves, and we see the same lessons in our houses that we see in our society. In co-ops, there will always be individualists who are unable to conform to group living and group decisions. The operation of a cooperative house, by definition, requires a degree of subordination of personal desire and interest to the needs of the group. A few members have discovered that they could not accept that degree of self-subordination and have left the SHC. But the preponderant majority has faced up to the situation between cooperative necessity and individual inclination. This may, in the long run, be the most valuable single learning experience arising from cooperative living.
But this hasn’t been easy for all of us. The past year has been marred by conflict in several houses, with plenty of issues stemming from disagreements over safety precautions and improper communication between housemates. Just as no two houses have the same environment or culture, none have had the same response to COVID-19. Of course, some environments are more conducive to cooperation than others. The deciding factor is always the people, as they’re the ones who decide the environment, culture, and procedures. Some of the houses have had the people necessary to maintain a healthy cooperative spirit, while others have learned how even just one individualist can tarnish a cooperative atmosphere. This is a chronic issue in co-ops, but the pressures of a deadly pandemic only intensify the interpersonal problems associated. In September 2020, a total of 41 student houses in East Lansing were put under strict mandatory quarantine by the Ingham County Health Department after the return of students led to a surge in COVID-19 cases. These houses were fraternities, sororities, and large rental houses. But not co-ops. Our reputation for responsible decision-making and good citizenship spared the co-op houses from these drastic lockdown orders, which makes me smile. The co-op difference shone through, and the community took notice. And that co-op difference is why we're all here. It's the secret ingredient to how we've survived through the past 50 years, how we've survived through this pandemic, and how we're able to continue growing and expanding into the future. Co-ops have historically been born out of times of community desperation. The first wave of housing co-ops were a consequence of the Great Depression. The first credit unions were created in response to loan sharks and greedy banks. The official Statement on the Cooperative Identity says that co-ops are “based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity 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.” We're all in this together, looking out for each other, and part of a community that's built primarily for us to support each other. The past year has shown yet again how much simple cooperation can accomplish, and how much division can destroy. As always, we still have plenty of ongoing and upcoming problems to contend with, but as always, we'll meet the future with faith and enthusiasm, taking advantage of every known cooperative technique to win through to the brighter years ahead. I'm proud to share this legacy with everyone in the SHC community, and I'm honored to continue this legacy as our collective story carries on into the next 12 months, the next decade, the next 50 years, and beyond. See you all in the future. In cooperation,
Erik Berg SHC President
Vice President of Facilities Nikki Phan, Rivendell I’m sitting here on the front porch at Rivendell, thinking about the last year. It’s been a long, obstinate one, throwing more than its fair share of challenges at everyone. This time last year, I was finishing up my term as SHC president, and trying to navigate a month-old pandemic. By the time May rolled around, and I took over facilities management, we were trying to figure out how to continue getting work done while everyone, including members, worked from home. Not only were facilities workers leery of being exposed to large groups of people in houses, but residents understandably didn’t want other people coming into their houses as well. When the pandemic started, everything else stopped. Staff started working from home, all meetings suddenly became exclusively virtual, and supply lines for just about every product you can imagine ground to a halt. For about a month, all indoor maintenance stopped while the facilities team figured out how to safely work inside houses. During this time, Mike had to go from working full-time to only working two days a week. We hired Dan Tooman as a temporary maintenance coordinator to help out over the summer, but by August, he had left for another job in Texas. Between August and the end of February, almost all of the general maintenance for all of the houses was being done by a single contractor: Josh Shaltry. We did the best we could to stay on top of everything, but between maintenance requests and increasing demands by the city, we started to fall behind. We also discovered over the summer that many of our specialised contractors (plumbers, electricians, etc.) were reluctant to enter student housing during a pandemic, which made it even harder to get work done. Josh frequently worked 7 days a week, doing his best to keep up with maintenance requests. Without his efforts, we would have been in a very bad situation. Thankfully, Dan returned by March of this year, and has been hired as the new permanent maintenance coordinator. With Dan working full time, Josh helping wherever needed, and Mike working part-time on safety upgrades, it finally feels like we have the capacity to keep up with the volume of work our houses need. Last January, just before the pandemic, the facilities committee passed a set of aspirational standards for the houses. Bringing all houses onto the master key system was one of the most critical parts, for safety reasons. The next step will be to make sure that all bedrooms have solid hardwood doors, compared to hollow ones that can easily be broken through. Another goal has been to install dry-in systems in all basements to keep out moisture. Although there is at least one house that needs more work done on their existing basement pumps, we were able to install a new system in the last basement that didn’t have one, bringing us that much closer to dry houses across the board. I am very happy that we’ve gotten closer to achieving the standards we’ve set out to, and am confident that the facilities team will likely reach them by the end of this coming year.
I’ve been involved with SHC operations and leadership in different roles for the last three years, and our co-op means the world to me. Working for the place I live in has been difficult at times, but also infinitely rewarding. I’ve met some of the best friends I’ve ever had here, and the experiences I’ve had have been life-changing. I’m looking forward to the next adventures in my own life, as well as being able to see how our co-op changes and develops in the future. We’re changing our name, considering expansion, and celebrating our 50th anniversary, all in the next year. I'm very excited to see it all happen, and thankful for the part I’ve had the opportunity to play these last few years. I’m planning on living in Rivendell for the foreseeable future, but regardless of where life takes me, the SHC and the memories I’ve made here will always remain close to my heart.
Vice President of Education Emily Tyler, Vesta Part One: Contemplations About five months ago, I wrote a mid-term report on how VPE was going for me so far, which was never published. The writing of that report allowed me to reflect on what I’d accomplished so far, and look ahead to the remainder of my term and ponder what I’d like to do by the end of April. What you are now reading is a full contemplation of my first term serving our co-op as Vice President of Education; within you will find brief descriptions of various things I was able to make happen or contribute to since last May, as well as my thoughts on some co-op stuff I think about. I’ve read a few end of term executive reports from the SHC’s past (though surely not as many as Erik has pored through), and there’s one sentence from Leslie Donaldson, the VPE 1993-95, that has stuck with me since I read it months ago: “it’s pretty interesting how each year it seems that each officer must ‘reinvent the wheel’ for our membership, due to a lack of continuity in history and education.” At this point, the phrase “reinvent the wheel” is a running joke to me, as there are so many instances where I (and others) have felt this exact dilemma in the co-op realm. An area for improvement in our co-op is the preservation of institutional memory, as well as the deliberate sharing of that knowledge with the incoming executive officers, and of course members. Erik has done important work this past year in archiving SHC historical documents and sharing an abundance of information and perspective regarding our co-op’s past, the understanding of which is crucial to our co-op’s long term health. When I wrote my mid-term report, I felt disgruntled with the extent to which I had to learn as I went along, wondering if I as doing everything that was expected of me, wondering why the Code of
Operations has so much room for improvement, etc, but now that I’ve gained another five months or so of experience, I’m starting to get it. Our co-op is in perpetual evolution, characterized by frequent turnover of membership and executive officers, with the greatest human continuity being our staff members; of course this leads to our staff having a more in-depth understanding of how stuff works here compared to what the executive officers are able to grasp with their relatively short-term involvement in the governance and operations of this organization. This seems to be a universal co-op issue, or at least an issue to many student-dominant co-ops. Turnover of membership is inevitable. Myself, I’ve been around about twice as long as the average generation of co-opers, and I’ve been able to learn and see a lot, but it’s only a snapshot of the past 3 ½ years. I don’t have a solid answer for addressing this issue, as in some ways it’s inevitable, but I do have a recommendation. I think a good place to start is by ensuring the creation and publication of documents such as this one, which provide not only the opportunity for members to glimpse what it means and feels like to be an executive officer of the SHC, but also preserves a particular year’s issues and ideas for future co-opers to read and learn from. Documentation is important to me, as you might be able to tell by the amount of effort that goes into the Pine Press each month, as well as other printed materials I’ve created for the co-op during my time; even if no one were to read this, it is still a beneficial exercise for me to express my thoughts and evaluate the past year of my service to the co-op. Another way to address the discontinuity of executive officers’ levels of knowledge would be to maintain the expectation that the previous executive officer will assist in the transition and orientation of their successor. In my understanding, the extent to which this happens varies wildly from year to year and position to position; this is due to the human factor, with some individuals going above and beyond to train the newbie, and others peacing out and dropping off their responsibilities when the end of their term approaches. A way to promote continuity in knowledge on an officer-to-officer level might be to make an addition to the Code of Operations sections describing each executive officer that their responsibilities include the assistance in the transition of their successor. But we need staff support too. Our staff are treasure troves of memory and information pertaining to our co-op’s functioning, and executive officers are able to thrive when we gain that perspective through staff support of our work. One more issue that I'd like to address is the all-too-familiar subject of member apathy. If you’re actually reading this report, you’re probably a relatively engaged co-oper, so I’m preaching to the choir in expressing this here, but it bears contemplation in this document that will hopefully turn up in someone’s hands 20 years down the line. Member engagement is something that I’ve struggled to garner during my first term as VPE, and something I’m hoping will improve with the coming year and the tentative ability to eventually return to in-person interactions post-pandemic. Doing everything virtually just plain sucks. A zoom call is nothing like actually being in the same room as folks from different houses, sharing experiences and ideas, benefiting from building relationships house to house. I’m heartened by the folks who came to my virtual events, and the folks I know are reading the Pine Press when it shows up on their doorstep, but generating more cooperative engagement amongst members is definitely a big aspiration for my coming term. Speaking as someone who lived and loved the co-op experience pre-COVID, it ROCKS and I’m so excited for the prospect of safely
resuming human interaction amongst the seventeen homes of our community. All my hopes and dreams for increasing the number of events and opportunities for co-op wide connections were thwarted by COVID, and I can promise that once it’s safe I’ll be thrilled to make in-person events a reality again. That was a roundabout way to address member apathy. What I mean by “member apathy” is the unfortunate phenomenon of people signing up to live in an intentional community, then proceeding to demonstrate zero interest in being a part of it, or failing to uphold the responsibilities and pleasures of cooperative home ownership. I’m sure my attempts at member education will be more effective at in-person events, where there will be free food and more than three people will show up to hang out and learn and share. My analysis of member apathy concludes that there are two main contributing factors: (1) an insufficient education or provision of information about what co-ops are and what it means to be a part of one; and (2) getting the right people in the co-op in the first place. By “right people” I simply mean individuals who are excited about cooperative living, interested in contributing to something bigger than themselves, and, to be frank, know what they’re getting themselves into. This can be accomplished through membership officers stepping up their game in providing prospective members with information about what it’s actually like to live in a co-op and what it means (which I’ve put effort into as membership officer of Vesta), as well as continually provided opportunities for members to learn about co-ops, the way the SHC works, what your member rights and responsibilities include, and more. This latter point is my job, and I’m eager to do it more effectively with the prospect of a safe return to in-person events. There’s so much more that I could discuss and contemplate within this space; I am happy to blabber on about co-op stuff any time, but I’ll move into the next section of my report. Part Two: Accomplishments The following are highlights of some things I was able to accomplish or contribute to making happen in the past year of my term as VPE: ➔ Buff and regular Pine Press - this was one of my biggest aspirations for my term as VPE; I was the formatter of most of the Pine Presses during my predecessor Cassie’s term, and I always wanted to grow the PP into something more reliably published and containing a greater amount of content. One thing I realized was that the work of producing a rad and regular PP would be effective only if people actually read it. Starting in September I returned to producing and distributing hard-copy issues of the Pine Press, as well as emailing it to all members, uploading it to Issuu (the online publication platform we use), and linking it in the SHC facebook group. ➔ Anti-Oppression Book Exchange/Blind Date with a Book - The pandemic really threw a wrench in my goal of having more events. So while the education committee is expected to put on an educational event each semester, for the summer and spring I organized an anti-oppression book exchange, whereby the education committee spent $500 of its budget on purchasing books related to race studies, feminism, history, criminal justice, poverty and wealth inequality, and other topics related to anti-oppression. I want to recognize here that reading a book about racism doesn’t make you suddenly not part of the structurally fucked
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society we must call our own. My goal with this project was to provide educational resources to members who might be interested in learning about these topics. Over the summer book exchange, there were a total of 28 books delivered to participants, some of whom participated for more than one round, and 15 books were lent out during the springtime. Donations/Monetary Support- last summer the education committee offered to match up to 3,000$ in donations to various groups and organizations doing work to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Several houses made their own donations totalling $2,040.07, all of which was matched by the SHC. These funds went to groups including MI Liberation, National Lawyers Guild, Marsha P Johnson Institute, ERACCE, Detroit Justice Center, Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund, and several others. Then toward the end of 2020, the education committee facilitated a donation drive for Haven House, a local shelter/service provider for homeless families, raising $822.58 of donations from SHC members. Obviously this is not a personal accomplishment of my own; I am simply happy to document the efforts that our community made in providing tangible support to things our members have demonstrated that they care about. NASCO Institute, Pre and Post Events - NASCO Cooperative Education and Training Institute happened virtually this past November, and I was able to organize the registration of 17 participants from SHC to this rad co-op conference. I also hosted a pre-conference virtual meet and greet for those registered, as well as a post-conference virtual share-out event where we gave informal reports on what we learned and chatted about what we enjoyed. House Constitutions - over basically my entire term, I attempted with varying levels of success to have education officers update their house constitutions. I can happily say that my own house's constitution, thanks to Vesta’s education officer, has been fully reviewed with updated language worked into the SHC Policy Wiki site. I’ll try bugging everyone again this next time around to continue this work. SHC History Event - a couple of education officers helped me plan a virtual event about the history of the SHC, entitled “50 Years of Cooperative Resilience”. Of all my attempts to host virtual events, this one was the most successful both in content and attendance. Erik Berg, prez and resident co-op historian, was a speaker for this event, along with Jim Jones, a founding member and first staff person of the SHC. Wind through the Pines - The Wind through the Pines is a publication for alumni and friends of the SHC. There was an edition of it that was ready to go around the end of 2019, but the soon-thereafter start of the pandemic made distribution of it at that time not happen. Shout out to Jim Jones for both producing and formatting content for this. It also contained presidential letters from Erik, and his predecessor Nikki Phan. After trying hard to figure out how to send this to our alumni via snail mail, complications led me to using MailChimp to send it out virtually to the alumni for whom we had email addresses on file. Alumni relations and coordination is an area for improvement in the SHC; at this time we don’t really have the human capacity to put any focus or real time into it. However, this may change with a prospective Americorps VISTA position focusing on this area. Skillshare - after planning out 2020’s Skillshare just for it to be cancelled due to the emergence of the pandemic, I wanted to make sure we had some semblance of one for spring 2021. It was all virtual, except for a masked outdoor tree identification walk. Turnout
to the various sessions (of which there were 12) was small compared to past years’ in-person iterations of the event I’d been to, but it seemed that everyone who attended really enjoyed themselves. There’s more stuff I did, but this is what I thought was worth highlighting. As a footnote I guess I should also mention that I was elected to the NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation) Board of Directors, and as of the first Board meeting, I was elected to be the Secretary of the Board, making me a voting member of the NASCO executive committee. We’ll see where that takes me! Part Three: Conclusion Well well well. Here we are at the conclusion of my report. It’s been a great ride since last May. I would like to thank everyone on the executive committee, everyone who spent time on the education committee, the whole Board of Directors, and all our fabulous staff. The beauty of cooperation is that an organization like this is truly greater than the sum of its parts; all of us, including every member, contribute to the perpetuation of this cool and unique thing we call home. “The people in the houses must remember that they are SHC. If they don't like SHC the way it is, they have both the duty and the power to change it.” Jim Jones, 1973
Vice President of Membership Leah Rogers, Vesta Writing a “year in review” is a difficult task for someone who doesn’t remember things or write them down. I can tell you with certainty that I am not the same person or co-oper that I was a year ago. My term as your Vice President of Membership has been full of struggles, victories, and personal growth. Thankfully, I’ve had the support of our amazing Executive Committee and staff to guide me through it—BIG thanks to you all! Below you, dear reader, will find a list of some of the things I did, things I wish I had done differently, and maybe some sage VPM wisdom. Let’s get into it, shall we? ●
Virtual Housing Fair: o Hopefully the “virtual” part of this won’t apply to my successors’ terms. The virtual housing fair was interesting. MSU was actually very accommodating in making the Housing Fair happen, regardless of the pandemic. For the SHC, I was able to set up a virtual booth, which visitors to the fair could log into and download informational materials about the co-op. There was also a private
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chat feature, which I used to attempt to engage with visitors who were online at the same time as me. Advice for a future housing fair? Everyone loves prize wheels and drawings. Engage with absolutely EVERYONE who passes your booth. Virtual Conflict Resolution Workshop: o I actually genuinely enjoyed the virtual conflict resolution workshop. I think that the material transferred well to an online environment, and in the future, it could be successfully held both online and in-person. Due to Zoom fatigue, Emily Tyler and I decided to split the workshop (which is generally held over an entire afternoon) into two sessions on consecutive weekends. VPE/EVP Emily and I hired Emily Small, SHC and VPM alum, to host this training. Emily Small is highly recommended for future workshops if she is available—she’s actually been hosting our fall Conflict Res for a couple of years now! Emily created a whole virtual program using Class Flow, which allows for users to complete short online activities during the Zoom meeting and creates more engagement in an online setting. There were also short assignments that were optional to complete in-between the two workshops. All in all, Conflict Res was a successful event! Virtual Office Hours and MemComm Meetings: o Office Hours: Holding regular office hours significantly helped me to structure my work week. Aside from temporary shutdowns due to the pandemic, I did work about 30 hours per week at a restaurant for the entirety of my term. Dedicating consistent hours to SHC work helped me to stay on top of my VPM duties without stressing about co-op stuff at my other job. If you have other employment outside of being VPM, I highly recommend building your availability around regular office hours. In addition to giving structure, holding office hours gave me many opportunities to connect with both membership officers and members. Particularly if you can hold your office hours in the actual office, you’ll find that they can be not only a work opportunity, but an opportunity to connect with and learn about our community! o MemComm: I believe that it is really important to hold regular Membership Committee meetings. Something that I probably should have done at MemComm is having regular trainings or educational aspects for Membership Officers. For example, at Finance Committee, they go over one section of the Code related to Finance at each meeting. Regular meetings allow for discussion around membership-related topics, but also allow you and your committee to check in with each other. Regular presence or absences at MemComm can also indicate house health or alternatively a decline in house health. I would highly encourage any VPM to implement an attendance policy for meetings. The one I used was this: any unexcused absence at a regularly scheduled Membership Committee meeting will be $15 if we do not meet quorum. Any reason for absence will be accepted if it is communicated within 24 hours of the end of the meeting. Advertising and Outreach Fellowship Program o I wouldn’t have this section in my report if it weren’t for Emily (shout-out to Emily)! I was honestly hesitant to get involved when Emily asked me to co-pilot this program, but I think that fellowships and involvement opportunities for members are infinitely valuable. As VPM, I regrettably did not spend as much time on advertising and outreach as I had initially
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intended to. This was, in part, due to the pandemic, but also, I had a lot on my plate otherwise, with member conflict and committee duties, that advertising was just the lowest priority and tended to fall to the wayside. Our current Fellow is, at this time, working to create graphics that we can use both on social media and in print, as well as fostering relationships with local organizations to share information about the SHC with potential members. Creating strong community ties, both in Lansing and East Lansing will be something that will benefit the SHC for years to come. Writing Code o Accommodation Request Code: Despite being someone who doesn’t write much, I didn’t actually mind writing Code. Having never written any content for a governing document, I was lucky to have the infinite knowledge and resources that Holly Jo Sparks seems able to conjure up at a moment’s notice. Her insight and experience helped to make this project much less intimidating. The Accommodation Request Code has been a long time coming. I’m sure some of you have heard of the Accommodation Request, a process that may allow a member to have an ESA, substance-free living space, or other living accommodation where applicable. Well, there was no codified language about what an Accommodation Request really is, or how to go about making one. Hopefully my version can hold us over for now, and probably be improved in the future! o ESA Code: The Emotional Support Animal and Accommodation Request Code really go hand-in-hand. I have to thank Ashley Kimmel from Shire for doing most of the heavy lifting on this Code proposal. Being a vet med student and cat mom definitely made her more qualified than I to be the champion of this policy. Ashley, I thank you for your passion and dedication to this project! And on both of these proposals, I am thankful for the Membership Officers who read, vetted, and asked questions about these policies to create a polished finished product. Miscellaneous o Don’t be afraid to lean on your committee members for help! They’re usually more than willing, and they will have different skills and knowledge than you that may be more applicable. We are all better together! o Ask for help when you need it! Communicate when you need a break! Take time to check in with yourself often! Being VPM can be a lot of work, and often take up a lot of emotional energy. Don’t feel bad for taking a step back. Don’t drop off of the face of the earth because you’re feeling overwhelmed. You have an awesome team and co-op behind you! o You won’t have all of the answers and you won’t be perfect. You probably won’t be able to resolve every conflict or project at your very best 100% of the time. Sometimes being fair and just means disappointing someone else. You can’t fix everything, and that isn’t a shortcoming on your part. o View this as a learning opportunity. Ask questions. Read old co-op documents and history. Stay curious about how we work as an organization and how that came to be. I was able to learn a lot by reading reports and reflections from past VPMs. o Be yourself and have fun (duh ☺)
Well, that’s all for now. Pretty good for not being a writer. I hope you found some of this useful or enlightening. Thanks for reading!
Yours in cooperation, Leah Rogers
We were not able to procure an end of term report from the 2020-2021 Corporate Treasurer, Shyla Crump of Harambee. It was her second year in leadership for finance, and we thank her for her service to the co-op.
Spartan Housing Cooperative 541 E Grand River Ave Ste 6,East Lansing MI 48823