Monthly News

Welcome to ChiCommons

In November of 2018, at a Community Technology event sponsored in partnership with Chi Hack Night and the Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network, a participant in one of the breakout sessions raised a question. "I grew too many tomatoes and want to tell my neighbors I have extra tomatoes to share. How would I go about doing that?" This question formed the catalyst for what has now become Chicommons and within it the concept for Blockshare and our other sharing platforms. 

Since then, we have been building ChiCommons, a Limited Worker Cooperative Association. As the title of the famous book about the Spanish Mondragon  Cooperative states, “We build the road as we travel.” You’re getting this email because you’ve attended one of our breakout groups at Chi Hack Night, requested more information from one of our members, or are associated with the cooperative/solidarity sector in Chicago. You, along with us, are building the road as we travel.  

Our vision is empowered, integrated, equitable, cooperative/solidarity economies across the Chicago region; connected globally, with ChiCommons-provided tools, services, and strategies. We realize that the Chicago area has been beset with longstanding issues of inequality and access. We, the ChiCommons cooperative, hope to be part of the solutions!

Our Story So Far

Welcome to our second edition of the Chicommons Newsletter. While things always seem to move slowly in the midst of the work, looking backwards reveals significant progress.

• Deanna Franklin of Attuned Design has helped us create a complete design system for our branding.  You can see (“sorta”, this platform is somewhat limited) the results in this newsletter.  We met Deanna through Chi Hack Night, where she designed a great logo for another breakout group.

• ChiCommons is now headlining a Chi Hack Night pre-party every Tuesday, where you can join us and share any thoughts, project ideas or burning issues you want to get off your chest. Join our Zoom call on Tuesdays from 6:30-7:30pm
• We are working on a new round for our website, expect to see something soon.  We could use some help from UX people and website gurus. Email us about your interest.

We are people with technical and non-technical expertise, so don’t feel apprehensive if you’re not savvy with technology. Our intent is to co-build communities from the ground up using technology as one of those tools so if you have non-technical tools in your tool box we welcome the opportunity to provide a space where you can put those tools to use.

   

We are always looking to grow and expand our membership and in order to do that we are calling on all who have a passion for building communities at the neighborhood level to join us, especially women and non-binary gendered individuals. We are looking to recruit  people with all sorts of skills, skills that can be applied to build communities of all types. If you would like to join us, please fill out this skills survey and we’ll get in touch.  We have work, both volunteer and paid.

ChiCommons acts in support of our mission and vision.  We actively support other cooperative and solidarity organizations.  

• We’re working with Chicago Market, a food cooperative, to explore their options for supporting the Uptown neighborhood with some grocery services until they can open the brick and mortar store.  
• Nationally/internationally, ChiCommons supports DataCommons Cooperative with web hosting services, and our local cooperative map fills in their national map for the Chicago region.  Data Commons Cooperative is the organization behind find.coop, a site that documents cooperatives and solidarity entities around the world. 
• Some of us are involved in developing the cooperative ecosystem in Chicago via the Chicago Cooperative Ecosystem Coalition, a coalition of other worker cooperatives.

You can read about the origins of the map on our website page. Until recently, the data was stored and managed in a Google Sheet. To prepare for our next steps, we’ve migrated our underlying data to mySQL. We’re now developing interactive Python/React capabilities so entities can manage their own records. The following skills would help us expedite this project (and we'll add you to our commercial jobs resource pool, see below):

• Backend: Python
• Frontend: React, Javascript
• Design: UX/CSS

BlockShare: Internet Access/Community Internet

We are also embedding ourselves in our South Shore pilot by connecting with churches, businesses, and community-based non profit organizations. We are using these community assets as the bridges to connect the skills and services being offered at the neighbor to neighbor level. Our intent to provide the tools so that each resident can thrive.  Our partners such as Windsor Park Evangelical Lutheran Church is forming a cornerstone for that with its neighborhood Wi-Fi accessibility hub.

We’re on the verge of implementing our first technology proof of concept pilot program around the Windsor Park Evangelical Lutheran Church.  We plan to start deployment of wifi transceivers for buildings within immediate wifi range of the church so that those neighbors can take advantage of the church’s Internet Service.  Once we successfully pilot this capability, we believe that we’ll capture the neighborhood’s attention and be able to start rolling out BlockShare.  Of course, we need the help with GIS expertise (QGIS/Leaflet), wifi networking (Mikrotik/Ubiquiti), and applications developers (mobile/desktop/web-based).
 

As we published before, we started a consulting agency with our talented worker-owners to subsidize operations and internal projects. Between our worker-owner skills and expertise and our connections with organizations like Chi Hack Night, ChiCommons can offer significant resources for any project from strategic planning services and conflict resolution to total IT outsourcing and website design.  We'd all be better off if you joined us.

It’s another month into our consulting services startup, and we’ve picked up some more customers.  Our free-lancers are seeing the benefit of working with a larger, more diverse team and starting to bring their existing clients into the agency.  

A broad selection of deep skills and expertise will ensure that ChiCommons continues to grow and become self-sustaining.  You can add to our service catalog and get business by joining us. Start by telling us about your skills.