AGM

Thanks for a great AGM!

The 2013 Annual General Meeting took place on May 19, from 6-8pm right here at the Riverwest Public House Cooperative.

Congratulations to the following people who were elected:

AVERY EDENFIELD
MONIQUE LISTON
SETH SCHUSTER

And a big thanks to all those who ran! For more info on our Board of Directors, check out the Structure page.

Avery Edenfield

RWPH since: Worker’s Collective since January 2012

Born and raised in South Carolina, I moved to Milwaukee in 2007 upon graduation from Lee University in TN. In 2010 I graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a MA in professional writing. I’m currently attending UW-Milwaukee for a PhD in professional writing. I’m a Graduate Teaching Assistant there, currently teaching a communications course in material science.

Volunteerism has been a part of my life since high school. Early experience volunteering with my parents and with school has engrained in me the importance of being involved in doing kindness in my community. Early experiences included volunteering in shelters, rehab centers, youth jails and prisons, and also neighborhood clean-up efforts. In college I was involved with an HIV/AIDS awareness group (which, in TN, was quite an interesting experience!) and weekly visits to a nursing home to spend time doing crosswords and hanging out with some of the patients there.

Moving to Milwaukee, my first job was at Broad Vocabulary. After the store closed, I worked a weekly shift at Cream City Collectives. After about a year off from volunteering, I began to get involved at the Riverwest Public House. This is my first time being involved at a cooperative, but I’ve really enjoyed the work and the challenge of working cooperatively and democratically within the community. 

What attracts you to run for the board?

I’m interested in running because I want to contribute something to the cooperative.  I also want to be involved at different sites of the Public House because I want to be involved in being a part of cooperatives in the future, perhaps in other cities and states. I feel like working in different places in the cooperative structure could give me a broader perspective on the daily running of the cooperative as well as the business, management, administration, and long-term planning and structure of the cooperative.

 What skills, talents, experience and qualities will you bring to the governance of the RWPH?

I’ve been an active member of the Worker’s Collective for over a year. My primary positions are as a door checker on weekends and on big event days, and as a contributor in meetings, including meetings where policies are democratically decided.

I’m a third year PhD in professional writing at UWM with an emphasis on rhetoric of technology and professional and business communication. I also have studied management and organizational practices with an emphasis on being critical of current, traditional practices. I’ve studied professional communication (business communication, grant writing, web writing, information archiving, management practices, etc.) for five years, receiving a MA from UWM in 2010 in Professional Writing. I’m the recent recipient of the James Sappenfield Fellowship and a Service-Learning Award.  

As an undergraduate, I led the school literary magazine as Managing Editor, a position that required a large time commitment and bottom-lining managerial tasks like handling the printers and the printing budget, organizing layouts and distribution, and managing a large student staff with varying degrees of commitment and availability. I was also president of a ministerial group that focused on volunteering and community actions.

Favorite event attended at/thing about the RWPH?

I really enjoyed last year’s Locust Street Day. I worked the door most of the day and night, but I got to interact with so many interesting people and at the end of the day, everyone came inside and had a great time with the Squeezettes.

Monique Liston

RWPH member since: 2013

Monique Liston (Modupe) is co-­founder of All Black Everything (ABE), an organization committed to the reclamation, liberation, preservation, protection, progression of Black culture, Black power, Black love, and Black people. Through this organization she works closely to create a healthy community culture in Black Milwaukee, bettering the health of Black families, and strengthening the women and women. This summer ABE is launching its Communiversity offering youth summer camps and adult education classes. She is a third year doctoral student in the Urban Education Doctoral Program at UW-­‐Milwaukee. She is also a lecturer in Women’s Studies at UW-­‐Whitewater. Her research interests are community education, independent education, and responses to structural violence.

What attracts you to run for the board?

I have been back in the city for almost two years and I have had a healthy relationship with building with friends in the Riverwest community. Over the last few months, I see the opportunity to build stronger relationships that enhance the diversity of these cooperative organizations. In addition, I believe that I can be an asset to increase inclusivity within the organizations with the area community.

What skills, talents, experience and qualities will you bring to the governance of the RWPH?

I have a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership that trained me in board management. Since founding ABE, I have studied extensively the roles of coops in the community as economic and cultural institutions. I have grant writing and reviewing experience. I have strong connections to the greater Milwaukee community and have a sincere passion for understanding how we can improve the cooperative model!

Favorite event attended at/thing about the RWPH? 

I have attended several happy hours at RWPH and I love the special infused liquors the various local brews on tap and most of all the atmosphere…. Friendly and fun!

Seth Schuster

Lifetime Member

I moved to the Milwaukee area from Green Bay after working in a local television news outlet for 4 years.  I became involved with People’s Books Cooperative in the summer of 2008.  Not soon after I took on the role of Volunteer Coordinator until granted the position as Operations Director in 2010, where I manage inventory, oversees the facilities, and handles the book buying responsibilities.  Outside of People’s Books Cooperative, I volunteer at an inter-generational care center working with kids ages 5 to 12.

What attracts you to run for the board?

Cooperative models allow direct participation in the economic functioning of a community, something I believe everyone should have part in.  The work done in community cooperatives has shown us that we have the ability to transform capitalism on a large scale.  I wish to participation in order to share, to educate, to learn, and to further develop and sustain the cooperative model, and to further develop participatory modes of thought.

What skills, talents, experience and qualities will you bring to the governance of the RWPH?

I have sat on the People’s Book s Cooperative Board of Directors since late 2008.  In these four years, I have gained a working knowledge of the cooperative process, which I feel will help bring positive momentum to the RWPH and its membership.  I have also worked as the PBC’s part time employee since April of 2010.  The work completed and experience gained in that respect makes me an apt member for any number of committees already established within the Public house.

Favorite event attended at/thing about the RWPH?
A favorite aspect of the Public House is that of the public square; a place of communal assembly to discuss community issues.  It is a space where people of varying political ideologies or those free from, commune, discuss, and participate in agaonism, enabling a process that is both direct and participatory.