Cooperative principle #7 is Concern for Community, and we have an opportunity now to put it into action. 

The Outreach and Inclusion team did some work a while back on a discounted Ownership level that would allow more access to Ownership for those in our community. Their research, including what similar things other co-ops do, and proposal came before the Board:

In June the Board discussed it and came to the agreement we would offer a one-time $25 All are Welcome level; that we would not be in the business of vetting anyone but would simply trust them when they join; and that we would ask them to fill out a check box when joining so we'd have a little bit of categorization around who is taking these Ownerships. The team was tasked with creating those categories then the Board was to vote and move this forward. 

We all got busy with other things, unfortunately, but because of a recent experience at an Info Session, I felt it was time to ask the O&I team to finalize this so we could vote and put it into place. We had a potential Owner question our commitment to including the diverse voices in our community and it was clear all Dana and I could do was talk about "plans and intentions for the future" and not express any actual ACTIONS the Board was taking now. 

I urge us to take action now. Both to include more people than we do now AND to demonstrate that to folks like this guy at the Info Session who show concerns for others. 

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The program looks like this:

All are Welcome Ownership