The question “who are we?” has a few different answers, and for good reasons. The simplest answer is “regular people who want to live democratically and control their own lives.” However, there some groups who should be mentioned.
Our mission: To create a cooperative housing community that values and strives to support affordability, equality, empowerment, education and the promotion of the fundamental principles of cooperation, both within the collective and among the wider community. We are a CHEA house (see below).
La Reunion is a reference to a settlement of the same name that existed near Dallas in the late 1800s. It is a tie to cooperative history in Texas as well as a word that connotes community, unity, and a return to the cooperative growth of the 70s (we hope!).
CHEA is a non-profit organization which helps to create and maintain cooperative houses. It was founded in 2002 along with its first house, Sasona. Many of us are members of Sasona who want to spread cooperation by creating a new house.
NASCO is a bi-national organization with three main objectives handled by three different sub-groups: education about cooperatives (NASCO Education), financial assistance to cooperatives (NASCO Properties), and new cooperative development support (NASCO Development Services). There are multitudes of houses across the United States and Canada who participate in NASCO, including at the yearly NASCO Institute conference held in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
CHEA is a member of NASCO and elects a representative to the NASCO Properties Board of Directors. NASCO Properties has been instrumental in helping us afford the new house.