OUR WORK & PROGRAMS
GOVERN OURSELVES
We practice and advance liberatory self-governance at many scales across the network and in our communities.
CURRENT WORK
2023 FOCUS
We’re strengthening internal governance systems, particularly involving members. We will increase our internal collaboration to boost our governance abilities, overhaul and collect our policies and resources around governance to share with members, and initiate more procedures around community agreements and co-learning.
WORKER SELF DIRECTION
Since 2020, we’ve been a worker self-directed nonprofit, a governance structure that melds aspects of worker cooperativism into the 501(c)(3) structure. In this system, we’ve got a General Circle (consisting of 5 elected staff members and 2 member-elected board members), that holds key governance power. We’ve also got semi-autonomous “Circles” and member working groups, each of which have their own governance charters.
MEMBER-ELECTED BOARD
We strive to have a Board of Directors that represents and is accountable to our membership base. Since 2014, NEC has held regular board elections where all coalition members can directly vote for their top candidates.
MEMBER GATHERINGS & GOVERNANCE
We are in an ongoing process to shift more governance and decision-making power to our member organizations, and to explicitly center grassroots organizations led by Black, Indigenous, and working class communities in our membership structure.
We regularly create opportunities for our members to come together for peer-to-peer learning, collective decision making, and relationship building. We hold monthly virtual calls, and an Annual Member Meeting (historically in-person, now virtual) each year.
Caregivers Connect Working Group
This is an emergent, come-as-you-are, welcoming, brave, and non-judgmental space for caregivers in NEC. If you are intrigued by this group or looking for some ways to build your community as a caregiver, join us to be in community, share space, laughs, tears, recipes for liberation as caregivers.
