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GROUP DETAILS
Created: Feb 23, 2008
Updated: Nov 26, 2009
Membership: Open
Public
Intro to Cascadia Commons
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I am extremely excited to learn that this group is in operation.
My name is Collin Ferguson, and I am working on establishing a new non-profit called Cascadia Commons (www.cascadiacommons.org). We are seeking to be a facilitation group for other non-profits dedicated to bioregional sustainability in the Pacific Northwest. We are also working with a new social networking group called Community Propser, which is currently developing a web 3.0 social networking site. And, we are working with a group in Portland called Community Way, which is developing a bartering system here in the Pacific Northwest and is also a Open Money campaign.
I look forward to having an active dialogue with this group.
Kloshe nanitch,
Collin S. Ferguson
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Flag comment for removal savecascadia17 about 1 year ago
The Cascadia Commons vision quest will be from 6 PM to 9 PM. Join us anytime and put in your two cents.
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Klahowya Cascadians,
Tonight at 5:30 PM, Michael Wisedorf and I met with Claudia Moorad who is an organization consultant in the Portland Metro area. In the two operations meetings she has attended, her presence has been extremely helpful. Cascadia Commons has its most basic purpose: a participatory forum dedicated to bioregional sustainability; however, what that forum will do is still in question. Claudia has advised us to seek our stakeholders, and to break those stakeholders into two groups: 1) stakeholders who in principle, are dedicated to the advancement of Cascadia Commons, and/or who are willing to fund it; 2) organizations that would benefit from our activity. From stakeholder group 1, we need to brainstorm Cascadia Commons and generate a vision. On Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at the Virginia Cafe, 820 SW 10th Ave., Portland, OR 97205, we will have our first of a series of Vision Meetings. At this meeting, we will define a set of questions regarding what work the organization will do, what goals we will advance, and begin developing our desired process. Cascadia Commons looks forward to many of you attending. Let's build this organization together. Kloshe nanitch, Collin S. Ferguson P.S. The Portland Timbers are back in town July 24th, 2008 at PGE Park. Game time is 7 PM. Join Cascadia Commons and wave the Doug Flag in support of the Timbers! P.S.P.S. And, no offense if you are a Sounders or Whitecaps fan. |
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Hi Collin!
That's great you're getting this going. There's already momentum toward this which came out of the Cascadia Convergence. You might want to write directly to Maloom Best (in this group) who's also getting together a Cascadia website besides this WiserEarth portal. If there's a meeting of the Sustainable Cascadia Core Team sometime soon, you should go, in case you're not already in the middle of great activities with these fine Cascadian activists. Best wishes, Janine |
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Klahowya Cascadians,
Here is the latest on Cascadia Commons, Community Prosper and Community Way. First, for those who may not already know, Cascadia Commons is partnered with Community Prosper, whom operates a new social networking tool, and Community Way whom is conducting a new trading platform that utilizes the unused-capacity of local businesses in a beneficial three-way partnership between businesses, non-profits, and consumers. The Cascadia Commons' partnership with Community Prosper and Community Way has changed a lot in the last couple of months, as planning and organizing has become more precise, and as businesses and non-profits join the program. Cascadia Commons has a lot of work to do before the Beta Launch of Community Prosper/Community Way, which will be during the first week of September at the First Unitarian Church in downtown Portland. Community Prosper just recently had its first board meeting on Tuesday, July 15th. As noted above, Community Prosper will operate a new social networking website under the same name, and the site will be catered to non-profit organizations, businesses, and governments. The Community Prosper website provides an innovative approach for networking, coalition building, marketing for non-profits, businesses, and governments and includes functions like chat, email, calendar, video, etc. There is talk about Community Prosper integrating with other social networking websites, but nothing specific has been laid out at this time. However, Community Prosper has announced that it will begin Alpha testing this Sunday (7/20/2008), and volunteers are needed to test the sites functionality. If you would like to participate, and we hope you do, please contact either Katin Imes at katin.imes@gmail.com">katin.imes@gmail.com or myself at savepac17@yahoo.com">savepac17@yahoo.com or collin@communityprosper.org">collin@communityprosper.org. All tests will be conducted via Skype conference call (www.skype.com). Community Prosper and Community Way are currently developing their organizational structures, as well as their business plans. Community Prosper has decided to incorporate as a 501 (c) 3 non-profit and will own Community Way, whom will incorporate as a class C-corporation. Community Way inventor and fellow Cascadian, Michael Linton is encouraging those involved in Community Way, to allow "Community Way" to remain a process, and that the current entity operating this process change its name. In other words, everyone please keep in mind that the current Community Way corporation may change its name, and from here on out in this email the entity will be known as CW. Nevertheless, CW will continue conducting the credit trading system that will fund non-profit organizations, provide members with credits that will function as discounts on their purchases at participating businesses, and provide businesses customer loyalty while encouraging them to be socially responsible. The job of Cascadia Commons at this time is to seek and network with local incorporated non-profits and unincorporated community service organizations encouraging them to get involved with the Community Prosper social networking site, and the CW community credit trading program. In order to ensure the success of this program, CW is encouraging all not-for-profit groups to design projects that businesses will fund, and assessments that will test the business' social ethics. The assessments are a critical function to the relationship between Community Prosper and CW. On the Community Prosper website, businesess will sign on and be asked if they would like to take assessments. Each assessment asks questions of the business' practices to measure how dedicated they are to the communities they serve. Each member not-for-profit organization of Community Prosper is to write up their own assessment or via a coalition, write an assessment collectively. If a business takes the asessment and earns a perfect score, they are rewarded with a badge signifying to consumers who use the Community Prosper website that the business is an equitable, sustainable, and/or just entity. However, if they do not earn a perfect score, they are then encouraged to donate their "unused-capacity" via the CW system to the participating not-for-profit organizations whom are conducting projects that upon completiton will up the score of the business. As businesses participate in this process, members/consumers of Community Prosper are made aware of the business' contribution to their organization's project, and they are encouraged to use their "community credits" as discounts towards purchasing that business' service. Thus, Cascadia Commons is required to write assessments for this program. As many of you are aware, bioregionalism is a central theme to us, however, it is a very broad topic and includes many environmental and cultural activities. Our assessments must reflect and encourage the development and advancement of bioregional activities, e.g. a bioregional food program, restoring a local watershed, supporting local sports, arts, and entertainment, etc. Once our assessments are completed, businesses will take our assessments, and if they fail, will be encouraged to support organizations in the Cascadia Commons umbrella, whom are conducting projects that if funded and completed will up the score of that business. Once that business completes several of those projects, they will earn a badge signifying that said business supports, for example a "bioregional food program," or has assisted a charitable program renaming the Puget Sound/Georgia Straight to the Salish Sea, etc. These assessments will allow us to spread the word about bioregionalism, Cascadia, and the kind of activities that will spawn the sustainable world we aspire. Since Cascadia Commons is seeking to develop a coalition organization, and will write assessments collectively, we are actively networking with non-profit corporations, and not-for-profit groups to participate in our coalition, or provide us with projects we can fund. Last Wednesday, I met with Nichole Maher of the Native American Family and Youth Center in Portland, Oregon. During that meeting I introduced Nichole to the practices of Community Prosper, CW and Cascadia Commons and she was intrigued by our program. However, due to NAYA's involvement with past coalitions that failed, she was leery of joining our coalition, and would rather see us up and running before NAYA made any commitments; however, she was willing to accept a dialogue between our two organizations. Also, She informed me that NAYA needs financial and human resources for two projects: an online list-serve program and a new book written by the native population to the non-native population. I informed her that Community Prosper could easily meet NAYA's needs for a list-serve program, and that Cascadia Commons could help fund the printing costs of the book, which was authored by a coalition that included NAYA and 22 Pacific Northwest tribes. Nichole Maher accepted Cascadia Commons' offer as they are always looking for funding sources, especially for printing the book, which is expected to cost $4,000. If Cascadia Commons were to assist in the printing of this book, not only would we begin networking with the Native American population of Cascadia, but we would also provide a service that advances sustainable Cascadian culture. Thus, Cascadia Commons now needs to write an assessment that links to the NAYA book. However, to expand the reach of this opportunity, I mentioned this book to Rod Pitman of Virtuscape and Executive Director of the new documentary "Hempsters, The Movie" (www.hempstersthemovie.com) that, with the permission of NAYA, have the book printed on hemp paper. Therefore, the assessment would ask a business questions like "Does your business use sustainable paper materials such as hemp?" "Does your business support Native American youth and family development?" If the business' score does not exceed the standards of the assessment, they will be encouraged to support programs such as NAYA's new book printed on hemp to up their score. The completion of this project would earn them a badge that says this business supports local Native American youth and family development, or this business support using hemp as a sustainable paper material, thus earning them the customer loyalty of consumers that support such practices. Additionally, today I met with Midge Purcel of the Urban League of Portland. Like Nichole Maher of NAYA, she was intrigued with our program, but wanted to see the program work before joining. I then asked her if the Urban League of Portland had any simple projects we could fund that would further the aims of their organization. While she was not able to provide any specifics, she did mention that the UL of PDX is currently offering their PULSE (Portland Urban League Success in Education) program where African-American students are provided hands-on education, cultural, artistic, and recreational activities to encourage learning during the summer months. PULSE focuses on teaching youth how to better manage natural resources, provide field trips exposing youth to projects conducted by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, and outdoor experiences such as caving, white water rafting, kayaking, hiking, etc. Again, here is another opportunity for Cascadia Commons to encourage businesses to support helping the African-American youth restore a local watershed, work on a local farm community such at Zenger Farms and Tyron Community Farm, participate in trail clearing program, or educate them about local watersheds. Again, Cascadia Commons will have to write an assessment to encourage businesses to support these programs. Last night, I attended this month's Art Spark hosted by the City of Portland Arts and Culture Council. At the event, I met representatives from the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) and Portland Center Stage. If you have any interest in joining me at one of these meetings, please send me an email: savepac17@yahoo.com">savepac17@yahoo.com or collin@communityprosper.org">collin@communityprosper.org. Wednesday, Cascadia Commons had our Community Outreach committee meeting and discussed writing these assessments. Please read the attached example assessement written by Sarah Noyes of Community Prosper and CW. This assessment will give us an idea about what we need to write to address the concerns of bioregionalism, the use of sustainable materials, educating the local population, including ethnic and racial minorities of sustainable practices, and supporting cultural events such as local sports, theater, and art. Also, on Wednesday before our Community Outreach committee meeting, I met with Claudia Moorad who is an organizational consultant in the Portland Metropolitan area. During our meeting, I introduced her to the Community Prosper, CW and Cascadia Commons program. I also informed her that Cascadia Commons is seeking a holacratic structure that would function similar to what is outlined in Robert K. Greenleaf's "The Power of Servant Leadership" and Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom's "The Starfish and the Spider." I also informed her that Cascadia Commons would utilize "pervasive computing" technology and in conjunction with Community Prosper, develop a web 3.0 social networking website. Claudia knew exactly what we were talking about and she is willing provide some hours to our development in exchange for community credits. She also in an email said that her organization consulting business is interested in participating. Claudia is also presenting us connections to local lawyers and to her husband, Joel Moore who is a small business management coach. Claudia and Joel will likely help us speed up the writing of our articles of incorporation, bylaws, and our business plan. Claudia asked us some important questions that we need to consider: 1) Significant purpose: what business are you in? 2) A picture of the future: what will the future look like if you are successful? 3) Clear Values: What guides your behavior and decisions on a daily basis? She also encouraged us to check out Nolo Press (http://www.nolo.com/) for resources on how to start a non-profit corporation. A very important task Cascadia Commons needs to accomplish before we write our business plan, and before the Beta Launch of Community Prosper and CW, is to write an organizational summary. This organizational summary will reference the answers to the questions Claudia provided, as well as help us develop our message that we will deliver to developing partners. Essentially, our partners are our customers. Yes, Cascadia Commons will have a general membership, but as a coalition, we need the support of non-profits and not-for-profit community service organizations. They will develop the programs and projects, and we will write assessments for and find the funds that will allow those organizations to complete their projects. Thus, we need the services that will draw their attention, such as The Cascadian News-wire, or what Claudia suggested "The Cascadian Netwire." Additionally, in considering the Cascadia Commons expo at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., we will need this organizational summary to define what it is we are seeking, the story we are trying to tell in order to best represent the Cascadian Bioregion. The expo cannot only be about "sustainable technologies." The expo needs to be about sustainable culture, dialogue, integration, and collaboration too. Next week, Cascadia Commons will have its next Community Outreach committee meeting. We need everyone to attend to advance this discussion. Today, Cascadia Commons will have its next tech meeting to discuss the "skin" that we will operate over the Community Prosper program. Last Friday, Alan Rosenblith of CW and Cascadia Commons, Katin Imes of Community Prosper, and I met with Virtuscape representatives John Hartman and Rod Pitman. It was a very exciting meeting, and both John and Rod were very excited to learn about our program. John and Rod are willing to connect us with people who can help us build the Cascadia Commons news wire service and John is going to join the Community Prosper and CW advisory board. We are very proud and thankful to have the services of John Hartman and Rod Pitman. If you have not taken the time to view the Virtuscape website, please visit www.virtuscape.com. Also, be sure to check out Rod Pitman's new documentary "Hempsters, The Movie" at www.hempstersthemovie.com. Please come to Cascadia Commons tech meeting, today (7/18/2008) at the Old Town Pizza, Old Town Pizza, 226 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 at 5:30 PM. Last, but not least, please SPREAD THE WORD! It is unbelievable folks, but we have a working campaign and we need your help. We have meetings and events in the coming weeks and we absolutely need your attendance. Next week, on Monday starting at 5:30 PM at the Midland Branch of the Multnomah County Library, 805 SE 122nd Ave., Portland, OR 97233 we will have our next Operations Committee Meeting. There we will discuss Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and Organizational Structure. Next Wednesday will be our next Community Outreach meeting and there we will discuss writing the assessments and planning for the second annual Doug Honours Ceremony. Today and next Friday will be our next Tech meeting. ON AUGUST 4TH, 2008, we will be preparing for the Doug Honours Ceremony by painting Doug Flags. We are hoping to do this event at Tryon Life Community Farm. And, on AUGUST 8TH, 2008 we will be the 2ND ANNUAL DOUG HONOURS CEREMONY at Peace Arch Park in Blaine, WA. Next Monday, I will be placing a reservation for a camping site at Birch Bay Park a couple miles south of Peace Arch Park. PLEASE RSVP if you'd like to attend. Each camping site holds eight. Please RSVP ASAP! I look forward to corresponding and meeting all of you in the future. If you have any thoughts, concerns or need to RSVP for the DOUG HONOURS CEREMONY, please email me individually at savepac17@yahoo.com">savepac17@yahoo.com or collin@communityprosper.org">collin@communityprosper.org. Kloshe Nanitch, Collin S. Ferguson Cascadia Commons Co-founder |
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Tonight (7/16/08) at 7 PM at the Virginia Cafe, 820 SW 10th Ave., Portland, OR (across from the Multnomah County Library) is our Community Outreach Committee meeting. There we will discuss the Doug Honours Ceremony, networking via social networking sites, as well as our "pitch", mission statement, and declaration.
Join us!
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