Vetting Process for membership, etc.

Some of my thoughts currently, as I've been asked to offer my opinion on this needed element for the Cooperative:

Visitor and Guest and New Membership to Cooperative - Vetting Process

(after such date if and when approved by consensus, these rules should be implemented through signing by all full, founding members and circulated to those interested, who are potentially visitors, guests and future members)

VISITORS:  Wherever the cooperative at the Solidarity Farm and other locations does function, visitors can be allowed entry during posted, designated hours.  Visitors are defined as any human person(s) who arrive unnannounced, finding the cooperative ramdomly or by other means of knowledge, and who have not been invited nor have acquaintance with anybody in the cooperative.  Visitors are able to be supervised during their short visit by a member operating as public facilitator. The visitor must sign the guest log and provide ID.  The facilitating member shall be responsible towards the visitor(s) and may provide information, goods, or services as the cooperative is formally offering. This member also has the power to expel the visitor for any unfavorable interactions, whether it be verbal or physical, wherefore that member is responsible for justifying the implementation of such extreme precautions. A formal record must be recorded of any visitor incidences, whether it be a favorable visit or an expulsion.

GUESTS:  Full members of the cooperative shall be able to host their guests within the cooperative, by providing a one day notice to the office of space management.  The member who is hosting shall be responsible for the guest's action and conduct.  The guest shall be able to remain within the cooperative for up to 6 days or until such a time that there is a need to make room for other members, by vacating the limited accomodations/rooms.  The exception is campers who are in the open fields or forests, in that these guests are not occupying any of the limited indoor spaces.  Upon the completion of the 6th day the guest agrees to finish their stay and depart on good terms, or request an extension for reasons of gaining membership. At any such time, during the stay of the guest, that a member is disturbed by their presence, that member must lodge a formal complaint to space management and there will be a decision amongst a minimum of three full members to discipline the guest or implement their expulsion, thereby overriding the initial host.  Thereafter, a formal record of such incidence will be presented to the entire cooperative and justification should be provided.  If justified, the host will incur a strike against their membership-standing, because of their guest. If during the time of discipline and requesting their departure, if the disagreement escalates, there can be a decision by at least two full members to call upon a civil-assist involving law enforcement officers, but only as a last desperate measure.  It is to be emphasized that the involvement of outside authority is not the modus operandis of the cooperative nor of any sustainable community.  As a group, the cooperative shall empower itself with soverignty and the abilty to create solutions internally.  Obviously, in any unforseen violent situation, the criminal force should be dealt with immediately.  This entire process will require training of the full members on how to deal with issues effectively and only when necessary.  Preventative measures will be used first and foremost. The promotion, circulation and study of our community's shared values is required and shall be continuously available.

NEW MEMBERS:  Full members in good standing shall be able to initiate new membership into the expanding cooperative-population.  The vetting process for each new member shall be either an initial guest-stay or bypassing that status and the individual shall start a new membership induction.  They may begin by expressing a sincere interest to the group, lodged formally into the record book.  This will be sponsored by at least one full member in good standing and another member who shall second the motion.  The new person will state three goals wherein they can express/prove their intentions to belong within the cooperative harmoniously and in a positive manner.  The sponsoring member shall be responsible and supervising the new person during the entire trial period.  Their trial period shall be from two weeks minimum and up to four weeks (not longer), when they will be approved and initiated as a new member, by unanimous consensus of the other members. The new person, intending to become a new member is under the same restrictions as the GUEST category. 

DISCIPLINE OF MEMBERS:

EXPLULSION OF MEMBERS:

STATUS OF MEMBERS, DEFINITIONS, CATEGORIES: 

(to be continued)

please give feedback...

Steering Committee for Establishing the COOPERATIVE

The current status of the cooperative is that it's forming.  We are in a formative phase or it's embryonic.  We are holding a basic, rough idea and working model of the cooperative, yes.  But it is neither developed nor specified enough to be an actual cooperative.  It needs to be developed and sharpened and formed to a more clear and concise structure, in order to be truly established.  So as of this date, 2018 June 6, the cooperative is still in the process of being born and it will not be born until we do lots of work, mental effort is required. 

How are we going to create the cooperative in a meaningful and tangible way?  What is the purpose of the cooperative and what will it do, what will members do within it?  How will the cooperative operate, the protocols, the functions, and the rules and regulations?

Definition from wiki pedia:  Steering Committee

A steering committee is a body within an enterprise that supports the steering of its actions. Its main concern is making strategic decisions concerning future realization of the enterprise’s investment projects. It makes decisions about which of the presented projects will be realized, and which will not. It is responsible for the management and monitoring of a long-term project, which means that it controls the realization of the project at the strategic level, verifies the project’s coherence with established aims, and keeps established frames such as range, costs and deadlines. Should any changes in the project happen, they must be first presented and accepted by a member of the steering committee. Only in the case of acceptance are the changes introduced to the project. The steering committee assesses and accepts the changes by means of consensus. It deals also with coordination and coherence with other realized projects. The steering committee creates working groups and chooses experts, with whom the enterprise will work to realize the project. The manager of a project is accountable for a project in front of the committee.

How long will it take for the steering committee to actually codify the cooperative?  That depends on who is doing the work and what communication is going on.  It could go at a slow pace or the pace could be quickened if we wish.  We decide.  It could take 6 months or take a year!  It could take a week, or a month!  Let's find out.  Can we set a deadline?  To give some sort of schedule and to set the pace, a goal to accomplish this within a set amount of time.  Do we not need this cooperative as soon as possible?  Reasons for this, in a separate post.

Let's use this post as the thread for comments and work of the steering committe.  I can think of no better function for it...........

What Is the Function of a Steering Committee?

Quick Answer reference.com

The function of a steering committee is to provide support, advocacy and enablement for the projects which they oversee. A steering committee is not designed to actually manage or run a project, and should be kept from doing so. Rather, the steering committee should facilitate the project manager's ability to plan and direct a given project, giving advice and support along the way.

Full Answer

Steering committees function best when the scope of their responsibilities and purposes are clearly defined. They often function as a decision-making body, determining the budgets, time lines and personnel for the projects they oversee. A steering committee should not be loaded up with members who are not needed; instead, every member on the committee should have a specific function tied to oversight, recording of decisions, budgeting or other specific skills needed depending on the project.
At times, steering committees have been known to get too involved with the projects they are supposed to be providing oversight for, and they begin to take an overly active role in the management of the project. When this occurs, someone on or off the committee must remind the steering committee of its advisory role in the project, directing the focus back onto the project itself and what needs to be done to bring it to a successful conclusion.

Shout-out to Bilbo over at the community where he resides

This is a shout-out to Bilbo, member of another community on the continent, which also incorporates agriculture in its purposes.  I should know, because I brought him there and resurrected the farming at the wonderful garden spot along Bear Creek.  This is something to share one day around a campfire.  Michelle, Heyvazealia, can also tell all about it.  That garden and land is an important place to myself, Ahgamen, and Heyvazealia and Arajah, as well as Zenairoh.  Why?  Because he was BORN there.

Bilbo and I caught up on life stories and pertinent info over a phone conversation on 2018, June 1.  We had been playing phone-tag for a few months since the Winter.  You know how that is with phone tag players, we just love to waste time pressing those buttons as we fry our brain cells!

Anyhow, Bilbo has an open invite from me to come visit and meet all the other folks in this new cooperative/community in formation. Bilbo, thanks for keeping track of things in my other stepping stone locations, as you are aware of the longterm goals, networking and forming an expansive tribe.

About Ahgamen and why I created this virtual place for discussion on the cooperative

I'm Ahgamen Keyboa, an individual who intends to be a member of the cooperative, intending to fit harmoniously into the group. I've shown interest in it, I'm participating and doing "sweat equity". Although, Ahgamen is not perfect and is a work in progress.  I am learning and trying new things.  it's an experiment and this is the real life. this is revolution. this is truth.  (facts: my legal name is Peter Tasciotti, I was born in New York state, in the weeks before the Summer of Love) I am a lover, not a fighter. About 3 years old.

Ahgamen is a name for why a man went on a spiritual quest, it's for living life more fully, to find the meaning of it all.  I happened to link up with the group and the land by a set of circumstances, as I guess each of us has their own story.  The specifics are not as important as the idealogical principles of continuing this association.  I find myself in an interesting flow of experiences.  Here is a place to live. With others, as neighbors, as co-workers in solidarity. Here is a challenging prospect, filled with many other people who are joing together for a reason.  and we are wanting to do something great together. Or is it good?  Is it fair?  Is it justice?  Is it urgent? Is it peaceful?  Is it sustainable?  Is it revolutionary?  Is it practical?  I believe it's ultimately about being more spiritually aware of the self and everything surrounding us in the world.  Slowly, gradually.

As part of all this, the challenging prospect is the fact that many indviduals are already meeting here at this geographical place.  The talking is happening, but also the doing. We are also joining within this virtual concept.  It's a concept of community, of cooperative, of Solidarity Farm.  There a wealth of information around this idea, an ongoing flow of communication.  But I was thinking that a stream of emails was not sufficient.  Email is good for peer to peer correspondence and it is private, secret, used on a need-to-know basis.  Yet where is the transparency?  Where is the public record?  Where can we have a more open, shared source of info?

I am offering this cooperativeadmin.blog as a tool for our discussions.  I know there is a pre-existing face b o o k.  This could then be an alternative, additional source.  This is a sort of forum. I'm just going to do this and invite others to participate, if it seems useful.  I will adminster the info herein.  I don't know how active this will become or how long it will be of any active use.  I can predict that it will decrease in its usefulness after awhile, but it can remain online for any newbies that come along later, wanting to study the historical background of the movement.

This has been kind of an intro to the blog website.  Thanks for reading and feel free to join the discussion.

Attorney for legal needs of cooperative formation

The attorney has been added to the players who are involved with creating this movement.  Her name is Valeria Gheorghiu and she facilitated a launch meeting on Sunday afternoon, 27th May 2018.  There were about 15 attendees, with Nadette doing secretarial function.  The particulars and essence should be posted in this blog, when possible.  A steering commitee is to proceed.  Valeria has legally advised of the structure to form a holding company LLC (the land owners, headed by Dominick initially) and to associate it with a cooperative LLC, which encompasses official members of the group cooperative.

Herein, is included some background info about the attorney:

from https://elightenlaw.wordpress.com/about/ Valeria Gheorghiu is an environmental and civil rights attorney integrating restorative justice into the practice of law.  She currently practices cooperative, environmental and civil rights law at her office in Kingston, New York.  Her more notable cases include representing the Ramapough Nation, Occupy New Paltz and advancing pagan rights in the Matter of Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, Inc. v. McCoy et al. As a multi-lingual contract attorney, Valeria co-founded United Contract Attorneys drawing from her prior work as a global justice organizer, and as a workers’ rights attorney at NGOs such as South Jersey Legal Services.  She also serves on the Taskforce for the Ulster County Restorative Justice and Community Empowerment Center, the  National Lawyers Guild NYC Chapter Executive Committee, for which she co-founded the Restorative Justice Committee, and the Center for World Indigenous Studies.

At Vermont Law School, she was an Albert Schweitzer Fellow related to her summer internship with Alburnus Maior’s efforts to stop a gold mine in Rosia Monta, Romania.  Her 3L summer policy work on farmers’ rights at Gene Campaign in India as a Fellow for the Center for World Indigenous Studies resulted in a publication in the Fourth World Journal.  She also initiated a legal text drive to several developing country law school libraries worldwide as Co-Chair of the International Law Society.

Valeria also holds certificates in Ecovillage and Permaculture Design, as well as Restorative Justice and Kundalini Yoga.  She is in Year Two of the Priestess Path, a woman’s leadership development path mostly rooted in indigenous european traditions.  She is currently founding the Sacred FireSchoolhouse Collective through which she hopes to teach Ecovillage Design and Restorative Justice and facilitate collective intentional community cocreative design for more sustainable living, integrating land use law as needed.  She owns land in High Woods, Saugerties, New York, where she is experimenting in creating a forest farm and teaches ginseng and goldenseal growing workshops.  As a Master Gardener trainee, she founded the Sojourner Truth Memorial Community Garden at the Ulster County Family Courthouse.

PUBLIC SERVICE

• City of Kingston Conservation Advisory Council, Commissioner, June 2009 – June 2011
• Ulster County Bar Association, Secretary, June 2010 – June 2011: Won grant for and founded Sojourner Truth Community Garden at Ulster County Family Courthouse with Cornell Cooperative Extension

BAR ADMISSIONS, PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, LANGUAGE SKILLS, CITIZENSHIP

• Admitted to New York Bar, June, 2009, Southern District Court of New York, June  2017 and New Jersey State Bar and District Court, December 2007
• Associate Scholar and Board Member, Center for World Indigenous Studies
• Member of the Executive Committee and Chair and Co-Founder of the Restorative Justice Committee of the NYC Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
• American Immigration Lawyers Association Member
• Restorative Justice Certificate, Simon Fraser University, December ‘16
• Kundalini Yoga Level 1, Kundalini Research Institute, June ‘13
• Ecovillage Design Education certificate, Gaia Education, June ‘14 – team lead for “Living Justice” case study
• Permaculture Design Course, Center for Bioregional Living, July 2016
• Land Use Leadership Alliance Training Program graduate, Pace Law School, November 2010
• Languages: Fluent Romanian, French and Spanish; Reading Italian
• Dual U.S. / Romanian citizenship

Valeria A. Gheorghiu‎ to Occupy Poughkeepsie

https://www.facebook.com/occupypk/posts/337283226310663

*PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY*
Greetings Occupiers, supporters, and lovers of liberty,
Join the National Lawyer's Guild and Occupy Poughkeepsie for a Know Your Rights Training with Valeria Gheorghiu, Esq.
Sunday, February 19th
5:30 - 7:00 pm (right before General Assembly)
Christ Episcopal Church
20 Carroll Street, Poughkeepsie NY, 12601
RSVP: Andrew at (401) 338-6219 or andrewsawtelle@riseup.net
About Know Your Rights Trainings
Learn about your Constitutionally-protected rights to free speech and lawful assembly, and your protections against undue search and seizure and self-incrimination. Understand the procedures that police and federal agents are obligated to follow, and how to conduct yourself if you encounter law enforcement or become the subject of a investigation. Learn about the expansion of government procedures and powers under the PATRIOT Act and subsequent legislation.
Donations are requested for Valeria, Christ Episcopal, and the NLG Legal Observers Fund. Please help us support our fellow workers for justice. NLG's pamphlet "You Have the Right to Remain Silent: A Know Your Rights Guide for Law Enforcement Encounters" will be available. Download it and other resources are online at www.nlg.org/resources/know-your-rights/.
About the Trainer -**Valeria Gheorghiu, Esq.
Valeria Gheorghiu practiced immigration, non-profit, environmental and criminal defense law out of her office in Kingston, New York. She formerly worked as a workers’ rights attorney at the Worker's Rights Law Center of NY, Inc. and South Jersey Legal Services, Inc. She is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and has organized and served as a legal observer for the Occupiers. She has spoken and led workshops at the U.S. Social Forum, the Left Forum, Folk Seeds, and for the Chatham Peace Initiative. She is published in the Fourth World Journal on her work in India as a Fellow for the Center for World Indigenous Studies with Gene Campaign. In 2011, as Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Ulster County Bar Association, she founded the Sojourner Truth Community Garden at the Ulster County Family Courthouse with the Relatives as Parents Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension. She also served as Commissioner of the Conservation Advisory Council of the City of Kingston, and is a Master Gardener volunteer.
Gheorghiu graduated from Vermont Law School in ’06 with a Juris Doctor and a Masters’ of Studies in Environmental Law. While in law school, she served as co-chair of the International Law Society, creating the annual legal book drive, which shipped donated new and used legal texts to universities of lesser developed countries such as Guatemala, Romania and India. As an Albert Schweitzer fellow at Vermont Law School, she taught international environmental justice to high school students, using Rosia Montana as a case study. In Rosia Montana, Romania, with Alburnus Maior, she helped their campaign to save Rosia Montana from a proposed cyanide leachate gold mine during the summer of 2004. She also researched the feasibility of a River keeper as a George Perkins Marsh Fellow in 2003.
Gheorghiu is a founder of Occupy Kingston, and ran for County Executive of Ulster County as a write-in candidate, promising Occupy-inspired General Assemblies if elected.

Joining a community and cooperative

Hello friends and fans of Solidarity Farm at Maybrook Lodge,

Seeds are in the ground!

We are growing vegetables AND creating a partnership/cooperative with Dominik (the exisiting owner) working towards taking title ownership of the property by July. To this end, we had a successful first meeting with Dominik, Kevin and lawyer, Valeria A. Gheorghui, on May 11th. Kevin and Nadette connected with our beloved Jim Johnson (a friend of Ganas with expertise with cooperatives) and we look forward to consulting with him again, after a second meeting with Dominik and Valeria, where we plan to invite potential stake holders to the table.

According to Kevin:

“We need to find the right legal structure(s) that allows us to:

1) Own the land in partnership with the current owner in a democratic way - something that allows for his majority ownership stake (for now) while giving all shareholders equal voting, regardless of percentage of ownership.

2) Create sweat equity ownership opportunity

Some people involved will be equity owners but not workers, others will be equity owners and workers, and some will be workers but not necessarily equity owners at first, but maybe over time as the worker ownership share grows.”

If you liked us on Facebook - THANK YOU! Today we reached 100 likes - WOO HOO!

If you haven’t liked us on Facebook, please do!

https://www.facebook.com/SolidarityFarmatMaybrook/

Also follow us on Instagram: solidarity_farm

and most importantly

JOIN US!  COME TO THE MEETINGS!  VISIT THE FARM!

NEXT UP

1) NEXT FARM MEETING:

MONDAY EVENING  MAY 21, 2018

7 PM

Thank you to ELLERY HOUSE, an intentional community in North Bed-Stuy, for hosting the meeting!

ELLERY HOUSE

197 Ellery St, Brooklyn, NY 11206-5205

Agenda (TBD)

PLEASE RSVP

2) MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND OPEN HOUSE/CELEBRATION/POTLUCK AND BBQ

FRIDAY MAY 25 - MONDAY MAY 28, 2018

FACEBOOK INVITE: https://www.facebook.com/events/221352528641884/?active_tab=about

Share invite liberally!

People should feel free to come anytime, work, play, eat, mingle, bring food to share, bring drinks to share, bring friends or just bring yourself - WE WILL WELCOME YOU!

Saturday - Work Day

Sunday  - Potluck and BBQ

Informational Meetings - TBA

Potential Stake Holders Meeting - TBA

Tours - TBA

Spontaneous Dance Parties - TBA

Campfires - TBA

Music Jams - TBA

Carpools to Water holes - TBA

Solidarity Farm at Maybrook Lodge

5728 Route 209

Kerhonkson, NY 12446

Kevin: 347-820-2947

This will be a great weekend to visit and get involved, PLEASE JOIN US!

If you plan to make the trip up from the NYC area and do at least 2 hours of work, please note that Dominik has graciously offered to sponsor anyone coming up by bus, in order to support the use of public transportation. That means you will be reimbursed for your bus ticket.

There are buses from Port Authority via ShortLine: www.shortlinebus.com that go directly to Kerhonkson. One way fare is $32 and RT is $64. The "official" stop in Kerhonkson in the Sunoco Mart 6337 Rt 209. We had previously written that you can request that the bus driver drop you off at Maybrook Lodge, 5728 Route 209, THIS IS UNFORTUNATELY NOT CORRECT!

However, if you call Kevin, we can get someone to pick you up at the Sunoco Mart.

If anyone is planning to drive up, keep Nadette in the loop. So she can coordinate car pools and such!

If you want to spend the night at the farm, you are welcome! Let Kevin or Nadette know. There are rooms available or you can bring a tent.

We look forward to seeing you at the farm!

with gratitude and in solidarity,

Nadette and Kevin

Nadette Staša: nadette.stasa@gmail.com or 917-535-1989

or Kevin Skvorak: k.skvorak@gmail.com or 347-820-2947

Joining a community.  What's it all about?  It's usually more formally called an "intentional community"; but what does that mean?  Let's roll this back to the more general, the inherent need for basic community, for all human beings (if indeed it is a need, a required-necessity).

Community also semantically seems to be a word comprised of two words: common and unity. What do we have in common which unifies us as a group?

The academic etymology would be important to touch upon.  Let's start with the popular wikipedia source, although not to rest on its purported authority.  "A community is a small or large social unit (a group of living things) who have something in common, such as norms, religion, values, or identity. (and) ...a community is a group of people living near one another who interact socially." 

read more at the dedicated page, entitled the same...