The On Co-op Blog

This morning, I put up a section of the website that I’m quite excited about: the Hire a CIEP Intern page. This page includes brief bios of some of my fellow interns, and will be updated regularly in the weeks to come.

Obviously, I’m glad to put it up for some selfish reasons, since my bio is included among the others. But I’m mostly happy to be working on this because some of my favourite tasks in my job have been collaborations with other interns–the CIEP workshop series and Co-blogeration stand out–and so another chance to work with/for my CIEP colleagues is a boon.

When I think about my own uncertain employment future in isolation, it’s daunting. But when I consider the fact that there are nineteen of us out there, with our variety of talents, interests and aspirations, all asking “What’s next?” it becomes rather exciting. Who knows what we’ll all do, what we’ll all change?

I have a couple of news items to suggest this week too. First, check out the Be Remarkable campaign from the BC Credit Unions, which used Facebook photo tagging to allocate $100,000 in donations to local charities. A pretty cool use of social media.

And the United Communities Credit Union is up to some cool things too; they recently held their fourth annual Farms to Food Banks program, in which they and other donors purchased food from local farmers to give to local food banks. Supporting social assistance and local food at the same time? I’m a huge fan of this.

Apparently, this is my week for becoming tech-savvy. In addition to the social media tutorials on Monday and Tuesday, I’ve been working on wrapping my head (and computer) around the task of creating a series of videos for On Co-op. (Fellow-intern Paul Skinner and I are collaborating on this. You should hear more about it later, I hope…) What that means is figuring out cameras, editing software, and digging into the possibilities of Prezi.

I’d had some experience with Prezi through university, but hadn’t had a lot of time to figure it out. Having explored it a little more fully over the last couple of days, I can say that it’s fantastic. It’s a whole new way to lay out presentations, thus there was a bit of disorientation at first, but it’s so intuitive that I’ve been picking it up quickly.

Between these two tasks–social media and videos–I’ve spent a lot of time recently exploring new programs. It’s fantastic to keep learning new skills through my work here. And since I’m still in the exploratory stage, it feels a bit like playing in the sandbox, figuring out what I want to build next.

Now I’m off to update the website. (For a guy who considers himself anachronistic, I spend a lot of time in the digital realm!)

As usual, I’ll leave you with an interesting item from co-ops in the news. Teeple Architects just won a national Design Exchange award for their work on the 60 Richmond East Housing Co-operative. It’s a pretty incredible design that combines living space with working and learning areas, and even includes gardening plots. You can read about the award at CBC, or find out more about the building itself at Teeple Architects’ website.

After missing my usual Friday posting, I feel like I’ve been negligent in my relationship with the blogosphere. I’m sorry, ‘sphere.  I’ll make it up to you with an extra-long post today, I promise. Also, I’ll buy you some flowers.

My reason for missing the posting was a good one, though: the CIEP workshop series was held from the 10th to the 12th. That means meeting all of my fellow interns, learning a whole lot, tasting delicious (and deliciously ethical!) coffee from Planet Bean and touring one of MEC’s impressive green buildings. It was pretty cool, in other words. It was also another example of how these internships aren’t just a source of cheap labour for the host co-ops–they actually want us to learn something.

There was a telling theme running through a lot of the workshops and presentations: interpersonal relationships. We learned about conflict resolution, networking, emotional intelligence, body language, ingredients for a good meeting… All of this drove home to me that relationships are a crucial component of co-op success. (Apparently I’m alliterative this morning.) You can’t run a co-op alone, so having a good working relationship with the people around you is extremely important. Loose cannons and co-ops don’t seem to mix. Which is good, because I general try to avoid artillery, metaphorical or otherwise.

For today, I’ll be returning my nose to the grindstone back here in the On Co-op office. (God forbid I let my nose get dull and rusty, after all.) The website and the holiday guide, I’m pleased to report, didn’t disappear while I was gone, so I’ll be getting myself back into those tasks.

I’m also learning what went on in the co-op world while I was away from my desk. Major kudos to the Eastern Ontario Christian Seniors Citizens Co-operative, who got some very good news ($8.3 million worth of good news) on the 12th. You can read about it here. I’m a particular fan of this quotation from Wilma Runia: “It’s not about the building, it’s about community and people living together and having purpose in their lives and not living in isolation and loneliness.” I applaud the focus on social change, even in during a time of incredible financial success. These are definitely the kind of people I want to receive government funding.

And for those looking for their own funding, the 2011 application for Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto Scholarships has been posted. These scholarships are for people living in CHFT member housing co-ops, and help people find the money for further education and training. Check out their website for more information.

So, until Friday, happy co-operating!