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The Kola Nut Collaborative

The Kola Nut Collaborative fosters solidarity and cooperation among community leaders in Chicago, enhancing the solidarity economy through facilitation, collaboration, and resource sharing to drive social transformation and empower local initiatives.

🌱 About This Training The goal of governance is simple: improve our connection and our clarity.Who decides what? How do we share power? What do we do when we don&rsquo;t agree? Sociocracy (also called Dynamic Governance) offers a practical, proven set of tools that distribute decision-making so that everyone becomes a decision-maker. It provides a clear, inclusive process for consent-based governance&mdash;where every voice matters from beginning to end. This training is a repeat and evolution of the <a fr-original-style="" href="https://opencollective.com/kolanutcollab/events/dynamic-governance-through-sociocracy-1bb99c61" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">widely attended virtual session originally facilitated by Ted Rau of Sociocracy for All</a>&mdash;now facilitated locally by Mike Tekh Strode as the first 6-hour public-facing, in-person Sociocracy training of its kind in Chicago. If you are part of a worker cooperative, grassroots collective, nonprofit board, mutual aid network, or community initiative seeking a more equitable and effective governance model&mdash;this training is for you. 🧭 What You&rsquo;ll Learn Over six participatory hours, we will explore: Part 1 &ndash; Foundations of Sociocracy<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">How to decentralize and distribute power in your organization</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The principles of consent-based decision-making</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The role of circles, double-linking, and clearly defined domains</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Practical facilitation tools for inclusive meetings</li></ul>Part 2 &ndash; Practice &amp; Application<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Running a real consent decision-making process</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">What to do when someone objects</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Clarifying roles (facilitator, delegate, operations lead, etc.)</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Mapping sociocracy onto your current organizational structure</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">First steps for implementation</li></ul>You will leave with concrete tools you can apply immediately&mdash;not just theory. 👥 Who Should Attend<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Worker cooperative members and founders</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Collective leaders and circle facilitators</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Nonprofit staff and board members</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Mutual aid organizers</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Network weavers and movement builders</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Anyone tired of &ldquo;consensus confusion&rdquo; and looking for a clearer way</li></ul>Whether you are brand new to sociocracy or have experimented with it before, this training will ground you in shared language and lived practice. 🛠 Training Format This is a highly participatory workshop. Expect movement, small group work, practice rounds, and real-time facilitation exercises. We will:<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Sit in circles</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Practice real decision-making</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Experience rounds and consent</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Design example circle structures</li></ul>Lunch break included (bring your own or explore local options). 🎤 About the Facilitator Mike Tekh Strode is a Chicago-based cooperative developer, governance designer, and facilitator working across worker-owned cooperatives, solidarity economy networks, and community-based organizations. Through the Kola Nut Collaborative, he advances timebanking, cooperative development, and decentralized governance in Chicago&rsquo;s frontline neighborhoods. He is active within the VOLTS ecosystem and has supported numerous organizations in transitioning toward sociocratic and consent-based models. This offering builds on training lineage from <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.sociocracyforall.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Sociocracy for All</a> while rooting the work in Chicago&rsquo;s cooperative and solidarity economy context. 🤝 About the Host and Sponsor Orgs <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.kolanutcollab.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Kola Nut Collaborative</a> supports solidarity economy infrastructure through timebanking, cooperative development, and community resilience practices. <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.voltschi.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: initial; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">VOLTS (Village of Leaders Thriving in Solidarity)</a> is a cooperative ecosystem cultivating shared leadership, mutual accountability, and democratic governance across member organizations. 🎟 Tickets Sliding scale options available. Please reach out if the ticket options offered still present a barrier. 🌍 Why Now? Chicago&rsquo;s cooperative ecosystem has grown. More collectives are experimenting with horizontal leadership. And many groups are discovering that traditional consensus processes can stall momentum. Sociocracy offers a structured yet flexible way to:<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Share power without chaos</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Make decisions without burnout</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Build clarity without hierarchy</li></ul> Join us and help strengthen Chicago&rsquo;s infrastructure for collective self-governance.

🌿 Governance for Liberation: Between Solidarity & Sociocracy

The Shaping Change Facilitator Festival returns for its second year as a gathering for facilitators, organizers, cooperative builders, and community leaders committed to strengthening Chicago&rsquo;s solidarity economy ecosystem. Last year, more than 60 participants came together for a powerful day of exchange and relationship-building. Participants described the experience as:<ul fr-original-style="margin-left: 20px " style="margin-left: 20px; box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">&ldquo;A tangible way to connect and build solidarity.&rdquo;</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">&ldquo;Welcoming and accessible in a way that fostered closeness and care.&rdquo;</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">&ldquo;Simple in structure, but deep and powerful.&rdquo;</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">&ldquo;Energizing, inspiring, and healing in times that feel isolating.&rdquo;</li></ul>Dozens of new collaborations were sparked. Skills were exchanged. Resources moved. People left not just inspired&mdash;but connected. In 2026, we build on that momentum. This full-day experience centers the art and practice of facilitation as infrastructure for social transformation. The day begins with a 2-hour Offers and Needs Market (OANM)&mdash;a structured exchange that helps participants surface skills, articulate needs, and form meaningful collaborations. We will then gather for a keynote conversation exploring facilitation as a critical tool for movement-building, democratic culture, and cooperative economic development. In the afternoon, we will host a Rotating Credit Club (RCC)&mdash;a dynamic format learned from Eric Liu during the Chicago Civic Collaboratory&mdash;in which selected participants present a 5&ndash;7 minute overview of a project they are developing, followed by structured commitments of support from the room. The RCC provides concrete offers of social, intellectual, institutional, and, at times, financial capital to move projects forward. Whether you are an experienced facilitator or an emerging community host, this festival offers an opportunity to:<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Strengthen your facilitation practice</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Build reciprocal relationships across Chicago&rsquo;s ecosystem</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Move real projects forward through collective support</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Experience tools that grow solidarity beyond rhetoric</li></ul>Come ready to share, ask, commit, and build. Parking&nbsp;There is off-street parking around Experimental Station. Please allow a few extra minutes to find parking and walk over.<p dir="ltr" fr-original-style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; line-height: 1.38; margin: 0pt 0px; width: 100%; box-sizing: inherit;"> Public Transportation&nbsp; CTA Bus<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">#59, #171, #172 all stop at 61st and Dorchester, which is 1 block west of Experimental Station.</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">#2 stops at 60th and Blackstone, which is 1 block north of Experimental Station&nbsp;</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">#6, #15, #28, and #63 all stop at 59th and Stony Island, which is 2 blocks east of Experimental Station.&nbsp;</li></ul>Metra Rail&nbsp;The Metra Electric has a stop at 59th and University, which is 2 blocks north of Experimental Station.&nbsp; Festival Schedule 8:45 AM &ndash; Doors Open 9:00 &ndash; 9:20 AM &ndash; Welcome &amp; Grounding<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Grounding, context setting, and overview of the day</li></ul>9:20 &ndash; 11:20 AM &ndash; Offers and Needs Market (OANM)<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Structured exchange of skills, resources, and commitments</li></ul>11:20 &ndash; 11:30 AM &ndash; Break 11:30 AM &ndash; 12:15 PM &ndash; Keynote Conversation<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Facilitation as infrastructure for solidarity and systemic change</li></ul>12:15 &ndash; 1:00 PM &ndash; Lunch &amp; Unstructured Connection 1:00 &ndash; 1:50 PM &ndash; Rotating Credit Club (RCC)<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Live project pitches and structured call for commitments of support</li></ul>1:50 &ndash; 2:00 PM &ndash; Closing Circle<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Harvest, reflections, and next steps</li></ul>

The 2nd Annual Shaping Change Facilitator Festival

Your contribution keeps timebanking active in Chicago. You help neighbors trade skills, host Offers and Needs Markets, and hold space for honest conversations about cooperation and care. 🌿 Every donation strengthens the web of mutual support behind facilitator gatherings, rotating credit clubs, and collaborative projects that move ideas into practice. Give what feels right and help sustain a shared economy rooted in trust, reciprocity, and community learning.

Your contribution keeps timebanking active in Chicago. You help neighbors trade skills, host Offers and Needs Markets, and hold space for honest conversations about cooperation and care. 🌿Every donation strengthens the web of mutual support behind facilitator gatherings, rotating credit clubs, and collaborative projects that move ideas into practice. Give what feels right and help sustain a shared economy rooted in trust, reciprocity, and community learning.

Support a Thriving Timebanking Presence in Chicago

🌱 About This Training We build cooperatives, community organizations, mutual aid networks, grassroots projects, nonprofits, collectives, and movement spaces because we believe another way of working together is possible.And then we have to decide things together. Who gets a voice? Who gets to decide? What happens when we disagree? How do we move without leaving people behind? How do we share power without making every decision everyone&rsquo;s decision? How do we build structures that support both participation and action? Power of the Circle: Practicing Shared Power in Our Groups is a three-hour, public-facing introduction to democratic governance and sociocracy for people working together toward shared purpose. Together, we will explore practical approaches to distributing power, making decisions, gathering feedback, and creating greater clarity about how collective work gets done. This is not a three-hour lecture. Through dialogue, reflection, and participatory exercises, we will practice ways of working together that can help groups become more responsive, transparent, and capable of learning. 🧭&nbsp;What We&rsquo;ll ExploreDuring our time together, we will engage questions such as:<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">What do we mean by governance&mdash;and where is governance already happening in our groups?</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">What makes democratic decision-making difficult in practice?</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">How can we distinguish participation from everyone deciding everything?</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">What does consent decision-making offer beyond majority vote or full consensus?</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">How can objections and tensions become useful information rather than automatic roadblocks?</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">How might clearer roles, responsibilities, and decision-making authority support collective work?</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">What small practices can groups begin experimenting with right away?</li></ul>Participants will be introduced to foundational ideas and practices from sociocracy, including consent, rounds, feedback, distributed authority, and learning through experimentation. 👥&nbsp;Who Is This For?This gathering may be especially useful for people involved in:<ul fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">cooperatives and worker-owned businesses</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">grassroots and community organizations</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">mutual aid projects</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">nonprofits and associations</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">neighborhood groups</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">organizing formations and movement spaces</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">collectives and collaborative projects</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">faith communities</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">intentional communities</li><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: inherit;">emerging groups trying to determine how they will work together</li></ul>You do not need previous experience with sociocracy. You also do not need to arrive convinced that sociocracy is the answer. Bring your questions, your experience, and the real challenges your group is navigating. Come on your own, with a collaborator, or with several members of your organization or project. Groups attending together may find the session especially useful because you will leave with shared language and practices you can continue exploring. 🎤&nbsp;About the Facilitator Mike Strode is a facilitator, cooperative developer, circle keeper, and collaborative governance practitioner whose work sits at the intersections of solidarity economy, democratic organizations, mutual aid, timebanking, and community resilience. Through Kola Community Solutions and his work across cooperative and movement ecosystems, Mike supports groups in building governance practices that distribute power while maintaining enough clarity to act. His approach draws from sociocracy, circle practice, participatory facilitation, cooperative governance, and years of experience working alongside organizations navigating the real tensions of collective work. 🤝&nbsp;About the Hosts <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.kolanutcollab.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">The Kola Nut Collaborative</a> is a Chicago-based timebank and mutual support network exploring how communities can build relationships, exchange skills, recognize abundance, and strengthen solidarity beyond purely monetary exchange. <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.joybomb.social/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Joy Bomb Social Center</a> is helping anchor this gathering in Northwest Indiana and create space for local people, projects, and organizations to deepen relationships and strengthen their capacity for collective action. Accessibility Through Shared Support We are offering this gathering through a sliding-scale model because we want cost to be less of a barrier to participation. Choose the registration level that best reflects your current access to resources. Some participants may pay less than the actual cost of producing the gathering; others may choose a higher tier that helps make those seats possible. A hybrid dollars + timebank credits option is also available through the local Northwest Indiana timebank. No one needs to prove financial hardship. We ask participants to choose with care for both their own circumstances and the sustainability of community-rooted learning spaces. Space is limited. Advance registration is required.

The Kola Nut Collaborative

The Kola Nut Collaborative

Events

Events

🌿 Power of the Circle: Practicing Shared Power in Groups

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🌿 Governance for Liberation: Making Decisions, Sharing Power, and Agreeing Online

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