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Introduction 

• On tonights show we have:
  • Recurring Segments – CHFBC – w/ Thom Armstrong from CHFBC

  • Catherine McCreary (BCCA board member); We’re trying out some new educational segments which we’re calling our pearls of wisdom (until we find a better name) Tonight we have Catherine McCreary sharing her wisdom on effective member-organization boards and what it means to be a board member.
    
  • http://www.chf.bc.ca/   
    Co-operative Housing Federation of British Columbia

• Thom Armstrong, Executive Director of the Co‑operative Housing Federation of BC, has a long history with co‑op housing. Thom developed co‑ops in Saskatchewan and Ontario. He has also served on the Board of CHF Canada and of the Co‑operative Housing Association of Ontario. Thom spent 10 years as CHF Canada’s Director of Corporate Affairs, before joining CHF BC in 2000. Thom also served on the board of the BC Co-op Association for 10 years.    
  • CHFBC    The Co-operative Housing Federation of BC (CHF BC) is a co-operative association made up of member housing co-ops and related organizations in British Columbia.   
    
• Catherine McCreary, She specializes in mediation and arbitration—working with employers, unions and their members to resolve grievances and disputes. Catherine McCreary is a director at the BC Co-op Association and has served as director of the Vancity Board of Directors and a Director at Central 1 Credit Union. In the rest of her time she works as a governance coach.

Topics include:

CHFBC

• Biggest threat to co-op communities today: the pending expiry of federal program agreements and resulting loss of subsidy for low-income members

• Challenges facing co-ops today:  renewal (aging stock, aging members), reinvestment, redevelopment, scale of operations, deferred maintenance, sub-optimal unit mix, growth

• Opportunities: partnerships (Vancity, municipalities), community land trust, new co-op development on city land

• Next weeks show:

  • Guests are: Marty Frost, renowned co-op developer

Music included in show:

Talking Heads – Don’t Worry About The Government

Madness – Our House

Crosby, Stills and Nash – Our House

Links

http://www.chf.bc.ca/

http://www.coopradio.org/each-for-all

http://eachforall.coop/