Millstone Cooperative

 

Creativity * Open Communication * Environmental Sustainability

Social Justice * Communal Ownership

 

October 1, 2001

Dear OSCA: 

Hello. I'm Micha Josephy, OC '98 and an alumnus of Kosher-Halal Co-op. I'm writing regarding a project I'm involved with, Millstone Cooperative. Millstone is an eleven-member cooperative in Somerville, MA valuing creativity, open communication, environmental sustainability, social justice and communal ownership.|

Millstone is currently raising money to finance the purchase of a house, and I request your help. I have included an OSCA Board Proposal for OSCA to loan Boston Community Cooperatives, Inc. $12,000 at 8% interest for 10 years. Boston Community Cooperatives is a Massachusetts Non-Profit Corporation, similar to OSCA in many ways, which we have established to acquire and manage real estate for housing cooperatives. Your loan will be crucial in allowing us to fill a gap of about $120,000 in our financing plan to purchase a building for the Millstone Cooperative. Your loan, and this first property, will launch our campaign to bring collectively owned cooperative housing to Greater Boston.|

I included the following Supplementary Documents to help you make an informed decision:|

A.                 A Business Prospectus explaining the Millstone project targeting potential investors

B.                 A Member Prospectus explaining the Millstone project targeting potential members

C.                 Three Pro-forma Financial Statements showing our expected financial performance over the next five years, our monthly room charge, and our development financing

D.                 Project Timeline for purchasing a house for Millstone

E.                  BCC's Board of Directors list

F.                  BCC's Articles of Incorporation (with attachment) and By-laws for Boston Community Cooperatives, which will be the legal owner of a house for the Millstone Cooperative

G.                 Millstone's Financial Statements showing the financial history for the co-op's first two years, and an operational budget for the next financial quarter.

H.                 Letters of Support from the community gathered to apply for NASCO's Kagawa loan

I.                    A sample Letter to Other Coops requesting loans to help finance this property

J.                   A Sample Property Listing as an example property of interest to the Millstone Co-op which we have used to set the numbers in our Pro-forma

 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me by phone (617.718.9285) or e-mail (mjosephy@hotmail.com). Thank you for considering this proposal!

 

In Cooperation,

 

Micha Josephy

Boston Community Cooperatives Board member and Millstone Co-op resident