Category Archives: Co-Operative (COOP)

A Co-Operative or COOP is a legal entity where the company is owned by its users or employees.

Neighborhood Guard going Non-profit!

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Hi Friends of Neighborhood Guard.Neighborhood Guard Logo

We have been doing a lot of soul-searching here lately, and Wednesday evening the Interim Board of Neighborhood Guard unanimously decided to turn Neighborhood Guard into a 501(c)3 Non-profit instead of a COOP as originally planned.

Why this change?

  1. A non-profit is easier to understand when we explain it
  2. Tax deductible donations (Yeah!)
  3. Simpler bylaws, less accounting headaches.
  4. Closer spiritually to our core values of Community, Security and Volunteering.
  5. We had already agreed to stay out of politics (a requirement for 503(c)3 non-profits) Continue reading →

Minutes Nov 19. COOP Founding Meeting

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Founding Meeting, Nov 19, 2012, Redwood Heights Recreation Center.
The founding meeting of the Oakland “Neighborhood Guard Cooperative” was held November 19, 2012 at Redwood Heights Recreation Center, 3883 Aliso Avenue, Oakland, CA between 6 pm and 8:30 pm. The meeting room was full, standing room only, with about 60 people attending. Co-op founder Jesper “JJ” Jurcenoks chaired the meeting, Moderated by Mary Kay Rusell of the Redwood Ridge Neighborhood organization and Max Horowitz, Minutes: Sandra Pohutsky

Oakland City Councilmember Libby Schaaf
Ms. Schaaf expressed her gratitude to the organizers who reacted to a tragic occasion in their neighborhood to make it safer and who are now sharing their experience in finding security solutions for the rest of Oakland. Ms. Schaaf said we are entering an era of crowd sourcing and are on the verge of creating networks that the Oakland Police Department could never accomplish. Ms. Schaaf reported that she knew of at least three cases in 2012 of Oakland Police Department arresting criminals using evidence from private security cameras; all were convicted.

Founding
Neighborhood Guard founder JJ Jurcenoks began with his local neighborhood watch group when one of his neighbors was brutally attacked at home. They vowed that they would work on a method to protect others by reducing the danger of criminals breaking into Oakland homes. For their neighborhood they set the goal that no Criminal would enter or leave their neighborhood undetected. Continue reading →

1 week to Nov 19 meeting and things are heating up.

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This weekend Mayor Jean Quan mentioned us in her Newsletter

Libby Schaaf in front of sign

Libby Schaaf with a Neighbor

Libby Schaaf, Oakland City Council member for District 4  and a strong supporter of all crime reduction initiatives, will be joining us on Nov 19 to share her view on Community Crime reduction. http://libbyforoakland.com

We have been interviewed for the Montclarion so look out for an article by Maya Mirsky in the next edition (Friday Nov 16, 2012) Online version here.

This week we gave additional presentations to both large and small neighborhood ranging from 50 to 300 households.

We have additional presentations lined up for next week.

The list of neighborhood groups who: 1) has already joined, 2) are in the process of joining or 3) who are setting up organizations in preparation to join, contains more than 40 Neighborhoods all over Oakland, this is no longer just a Oakland Hills initiative. We have even more groups joining us every week.

We have received requests to show the Camera Presentation as part of our evening. Some groups have not yet had a chance to see the presentation, others have not seen the latest version. So we will start the evening with a short version of the Neighborhood Camera Presentation.

For the evening itself we need volunteers: We need someone to:

  1. Come a little early to help set up chairs
  2. Make sure everyone gets a name tag, and fills out the information sheet.
  3. But most important we need someone to bring home-baked goods like brownies and cookies to bring us all in a neighborly mood.

Here is the Updated Agenda for Nov 19.

  1. Introduction by Founder Jesper “JJ” Jurcenoks
  2. Importance of Community Action in Oakland, by Libby Schaaf
  3. Neighborhood Guard’s DIY Camera solution, with examples of Real Photos.
  4. What is a COOP and how would it work for us.
  5. Member Benefits
  6. Member Obligations
  7. Fee Structure Feedback round.
  8. Next Steps and Tasks Ahead
  9. Election of Interim Board / Filling of Critical volunteer positions:
    1. Chairperson
    2. Treasurer
    3. Secretary
    4. Members for the Bylasws / “legal” committee
    5. Members for the Pr & Marketing committee
    6. Members for the Web-master committee
    7. Members for the Recruiting committee
    8. Members for the Services committee
    9. Members for the Tech Support committee
    10. Members for the Software Development committee
  10. Open Discussion

Again we cannot wait to see a lot of concerned citizens ready to do something about crime  on Monday.

Coop founding meeting Monday Nov 19th

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Dear Friends.

As we have hinted at in various presentations in the Oakland area, we have great news.

Neighborhood Guard is becoming a COOP of Neighborhood groups.

This means that your neighborhood can become a part of Neighborhood Guard with influence and all benefits.

We are still working out all the details of the bylaws; fee structure and benefits.

This is the concept that we are currently working on (nothing set in stone yet)

  1. There will be a buy-in fee to join the coop to be paid by the joining Neighborhood group, the fee will depend on the size (no. of households) of the group, and will be reasonable for even the smallest cul-de-sac.
  2. There will also be an annual fee which will not depend on number of households but will depend on number of cameras.
  3. Until the COOP decides to change the Bylaws all work in the COOP will be unpaid volunteer work.
  4. Annual Fee will cover online hosting of Images for the neighborhood group; Data exchange services between the groups; state fees etc.
  5. Buy-in fees give ownership in the COOP, free access to software, training materials, discounted cameras, hardware, signs and different value added services to be defined etc.
  6. New member groups will get installation and setup help from a “mentor” neighborhood group.
  7. Once setup; the new member groups becomes a mentor group who will help recruit and setup other new member groups. (this is a requirement)
  8. The Neighborhood Guard Organization will provide training for mentor groups and facilitate a constant improvement process, to ensure that newly learned organizational and neighborhood security relevant information is distributed quickly and efficiently.
  9. All members will have access to a data exchange program between groups that will give us an unprecedented level of neighborhood security.

Meeting time and place

New member Information and sign up meeting Monday November 19th 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm at:

Redwood Height Recreation Center
3883 Aliso Avenue
Oakland, Ca, 94619

Direction to Redwood Heights Recreation Center

Direction to Redwood Heights Recreation Center

 

Meeting Agenda

  1. Introduction
  2. Outline of COOP organization
  3. Outline of Member Benefits
  4. Outline of Member Obligations
  5. Proposed Fee Structure
  6. Description of Tasks Ahead
  7. Election of Interim Board / Filling of Critical Volunteer Positions
  8. Open Discussion

We look forward to see all Neighborhood groups in Oakland concerned with the rising Crime.