SHC Policy Wiki
Mission: Our cooperative principles promote quality housing and services. As individuals, we are empowered through democratic participation to create a community equally accessible to all. As an organization, we are committed to expand the Cooperative movement.
This document represents our relationship and defines our “identity” as a non-profit cooperative with the State of Michigan. Changing these documents would represent a major shift in the nature and mission of the SHC, and would require approval from the State.
This document is our highest-level policy document, which lays down the fundamentals of our cooperative and how it functions. By-Laws do things like lay out what powers board and executive officers have, and define the way that our all-member meetings, elections, and referenda work. These also don’t change very often, and are designed to be relatively constant and somewhat abstract.
These documents distinguish the role of board governance from the management & day-to-day operations done by house officers & staff. Based on a Policy Governance model, these policies lay out our common goals & values, intended outcomes/results, how to monitor progress, and acceptable means to achieving them.
This is where the bulk of our operational policies are, and these are the ones that we typically change or add to in committees. If you are creating a new practice or procedure, chances are it belongs in one of the sections of the Code of Operations. The operational code directory is divided into sections, enumerated 1-10.
Each of our Houses also create and manage their own sets of policies and procedures. Since the SHC does not impose any formats or standards on Houses' governing documents, many are organized differently from one another, or focus on different types of policies. Reading a House's constitution can give insight into how it operates apart from other Houses.