The Kola Nut Collaborative

Home
United States
Chicago, IL
The Kola Nut Collaborative

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The Kola Nut Collaborative, Community Organization, Chicago, IL.

The Kola Nut Collaborative (KNC) is a mutual support network of people engaged in reciprocal exchange of services, skills, and goods through a timebank where the currency is an hour of time for everyone.

05/25/2026

🌿 The Time Salon Returns 🌿

The Kola Nut Collaborative is relaunching the Time Salon — a monthly mixer & timebank orientation designed to help us reconnect through reciprocity, mutual aid, and collective care.

📅 Tuesday, May 26th
🕔 5 PM – 6 PM CT
🔁 Every 4th Tuesday of the month

Register here:
https://luma.com/sycem0xr

You can always find upcoming gatherings on our calendar:
https://kolanutcollab.org/calendar/

What is timebanking?
How did communities exchange support before modern money systems?
What happens when we begin valuing people not by income, but by time, skills, care, and presence?

During the Time Salon, we explore:
✨ timebanking & solidarity economy
✨ communal asset mapping
✨ offers & needs exchange
✨ mutual aid & social connection
✨ relationship-centered alternatives to isolation and scarcity

This is not just a lecture — it’s a facilitated social experience where participants interact, reflect, and begin weaving stronger community safety nets together.

Whether you’re new to timebanking, active in organizing, or simply looking for meaningful community, you are welcome here.

Hosted by The Kola Nut Collaborative
Chicago’s community timebank

05/17/2026

Something meaningful happened at Governance for Liberation.

Over the course of the gathering, we explored governance not simply as structure or procedure, but as culture, relationship, responsibility, and practice. We wrestled with the tensions between participation and effectiveness, autonomy and accountability, clarity and emergence. We spoke honestly about power — both the ways it concentrates and the ways it can be redistributed through intentional design.

What stood out most was the willingness of people to bring their lived organizational realities into the room:
✨ burnout and over-functioning
✨ unclear authority and invisible labor
✨ the challenge of feedback and accountability
✨ longing for structures that feel more human, adaptive, and liberatory

There was deep curiosity around consent decision-making, circles, feedback loops, role clarity, and the cultural shifts required to move from “power-over” toward “power-with.” We also named an important truth: governance change is not just structural — it is personal, relational, and developmental work.

A few reflections that landed with the room:
• “Good enough for now, safe enough to try.”
• Feedback as a form of collective care.
• Governance as something living and continually evolving.
• The reminder that we don’t need perfection to begin experimenting together.

Grateful to everyone who showed up with honesty, questions, skepticism, courage, and imagination.

We harnessed the challenge at the outset, which naturally softened as we opened ourselves up to it, to build towards change in real time.

This gathering was not meant to be the end of the conversation. More follow-up opportunities will be coming soon for those who expressed interest in:
🌱 1:1 support
🌱 a community of practice
🌱 additional integration and implementation spaces

We’re just getting started.

And so much gratitude to our values-aligned space host, FEOM Expressions, who helped us to set the culture before our practice event began. Get yourself over to this gem on the southeast side and take in the experience. You will probably decide to buy something, but it won't even be the most interesting part of your journey.

04/26/2026

We’re still feeling the energy from the Shaping Change Facilitator Festival.

What happened wasn’t just a well-run event.

It was something else.

A space where:

* People stepped into facilitation—even if they weren’t sure they were “ready”
* Conversations prioritized listening over performance
* Connection felt real, not transactional

In reflection, people were willing to be in an experiment together.

And that’s what made it work.

The Offers & Needs space flowed.
The keynote conversation felt alive.
And the room held something that’s hard to manufacture—trust, curiosity, and presence.

We’re realizing this is no longer just an event.

It’s an evolving practice.
A format that can travel.
A seed that can spread.

And we’re just getting started 🌱

If you were there, thank you for co-creating it.

If you missed it, there will be another.

Stay tuned to Kola Nut Collaborative for what’s next.

04/17/2026

We’re down to 7 seats left for Saturday.

And I’m really excited about where we’ll be gathering:

FEOM Expressions

A space rooted in culture, creativity, and community—honestly the kind of place that feels aligned with the work we’re doing around governance and collective leadership.

If you’ve been seeing my posts or videos and thinking about it… this is the moment.

🌿 Governance for Liberation: Between Solidarity & Sociocracy
🗓 April 18 | 10am–4pm | Chicago

This training isn’t just about structure.

It’s about:
• how we make decisions without getting stuck
• how we share power without burning out
• how we actually listen to each other in moments of tension

I’ll be bringing tools like:
• consent-based decision making
• roles + circle structures
• generative listening
• feelings + needs work (yes, that’s governance too)

Because when someone says “I object” or “this doesn’t feel right”…
there’s always something underneath.

And if we can’t hear it, we can’t move forward.

7 seats left.

🎟 Register:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/dynamic-governance-through-sociocracy

Sliding scale + timebank options still available.

Would love to have you in the room.

04/09/2026

Most people think governance is about structure.

Agendas.
Roles.
Decision-making frameworks.

And those things matter.

But in my experience, two of the most underestimated skills in governance are:

How we listen
and
How we work with feelings

In this video, I share two facilitation tools I’ve used over the years:
• the Listen For deck (from generative listening practices)
• the Grok deck (from nonviolent communication—feelings + needs)

These aren’t just “soft skills.”

They are core governance skills.

Because when someone says:
“I object”
or
“This doesn’t feel right”

There is always something underneath that.

A need.
A tension.
A signal about the system.

And if we can’t hear that, we can’t govern well.

That’s part of what I’ll be bringing into this upcoming training:

🌿 Governance for Liberation: Between Solidarity & Sociocracy
🗓 April 18 | Chicago | 10am–4pm

This isn’t just about learning sociocracy.

It’s about:
• listening differently
• relating differently
• making decisions in a way that actually works for people

🎟 Register:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/dynamic-governance-through-sociocracy

Sliding scale + timebank options available.

If your group is struggling with decision-making, conflict, or communication… this is for you.

04/08/2026

🌺 Shaping Change 2026 is a wrap. Long live Shaping Change! Plus, we're preparing for the inaugural Governance for Liberation workshop, which is not your average Sociocracy training. We have already heard of cousins from Georgia and Michigan making their way to Chicago to explore learning together. - https://mailchi.mp/kolanutcollab/shape-change-recap-2026

04/01/2026

Over the years, I’ve come to governance work through a lot of different doors.

I started with formal consensus.
I studied Robert’s Rules.
I worked with co-ops, boards, and networks trying to figure out how to make decisions together without burning out or reproducing hierarchy.

Eventually, I came to sociocracy.

But I don’t approach sociocracy as something to “apply” wholesale.

I approach governance as something we design.

In this video, I share a bit more about my facilitation journey—and how frameworks like Liberatory Design have shaped the way I think about governance work today.

👉 Watch here:

What I want folks to understand is:

This isn’t just a training about sociocracy.

It’s a space to:
• examine how your group currently makes decisions
• reflect on what’s working and what’s not
• design something more aligned with your values

Because you already have a system.
The question is whether it’s one you chose intentionally.

On April 18, I’m hosting:

🌿 Governance for Liberation: Between Solidarity & Sociocracy
🗓 10am–4pm | Chicago

We’ll practice real tools—consent, roles, circles—but we’ll also zoom out and ask:

What kind of governance actually serves our work?

🎟 Register:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/dynamic-governance-through-sociocracy

Sliding scale + timebank options available.

If you’re navigating decision-making, power, or structure in your group… this is for you.

03/30/2026

We’ve been wanting to bring this training to Chicago for a long time.

Back in 2022, we invited Ted Rau to come to Chicago to offer an in-person training on sociocracy. Unfortunately, we had to shift everything online as we approached the training date.

Since then, we’ve been sitting with the question:

What would it look like to create a strong, in-person space for people in Chicago to learn democratic governance together?

On April 18, we're finally making that happen.

We're hosting a full-day training:

🌿 Governance for Liberation: Between Solidarity & Sociocracy
🗓 April 18 | 10am–4pm | Chicago

This is for folks working in:
• worker cooperatives
• collectives
• nonprofits
• mutual aid networks
• grassroots organizations

We’ll be working through real questions like:

• How do we make decisions without getting stuck?
• How do we share power without chaos?
• How do we build structure without recreating hierarchy?

We’ll practice tools like:
• consent-based decision making
• circle structures & roles
• facilitation and meeting design
• governance that actually supports the work

This is a participatory training — not just theory.

You’ll also be in the room with other folks across Chicago who are grappling with these same questions.

👉 Register here:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/dynamic-governance-through-sociocracy

Sliding scale + timebank options available.

If you’ve been feeling the tension between your values and how your group actually operates… this is for you.

02/23/2026

🌿 2nd Annual Shaping Change Facilitator Festival
📅 March 21, 2026 | 9 AM – 2 PM
📍 Experimental Station | Chicago

Last year, over 60 of us gathered to practice radical hospitality and real exchange. People left saying:

✨ “I made so many new connections.”
✨ “It was energizing and healing.”
✨ “Simple in structure, but deep and powerful.”

This year we’re bringing it back — with:

✔️ 2-hour Offers & Needs Market
✔️ Keynote conversation on facilitation & transformation
✔️ Rotating Credit Club (live project support + real commitments)
✔️ Lunch + intentional connection time

This event is free, because access matters. Optional support tiers help sustain future ecosystem work.

If you’re building cooperative futures, practicing facilitation, or weaving networks in Chicago — this is your room.

👉 Register here: https://bit.ly/shape-change-2026

06/17/2025

🎲 Tomorrow’s Community Peace Circle is unlike any other…

We’re bringing The Dodecahedron to Mama Africa’s Marketplace—a three-round experience using a curated set of conversational card decks that have inspired deep reflection, healing, and connection in my work as a facilitator and circlekeeper.

Each round invites us to:
🔹 Spark dialogue
🔹 Share stories
🔹 Deepen understanding

Whether you’re a seasoned circle-goer or new to community dialogue, this is an opportunity to play your way into presence with others.

🗓 Wednesday | 5:30–7:30 PM
📍 2100 E. 71st St. | Mama Africa’s Marketplace
🔍 Learn more about the Dodecahedron: https://bit.ly/the-dodecahedron

05/25/2025

📚✨ The Little Red Book Box Is Officially Activated! ✨📚

We’re celebrating a magical new chapter in Jeffery Manor!

The Little Red Book Box on 97th Street between Chappel and Merrill, right across from Merrill Park, has just been activated with a special collection inspired by TNT’s The Librarians: Next Chapter courtesy of and !

Stop by to grab:

🔖 Exclusive Librarians bookmarks

📖 Tie-in novels from the new series

📚 Plus browse a refreshed selection of children’s books, personal development titles (like What Would Martin Say?), and community reads!

This is the only mapped Little Free Library in the neighborhood, and it's here to inspire learning, imagination, and connection—one book at a time. ✨

Interested in hosting a Little Free Library on your block? Come share your idea at the next South Deering Manor Community Association meeting!

📍 Location: 97th St. between Chappel & Merrill
🕰 Open anytime — take a book, leave a book, or just say hi!

Address

Chicago, IL
60615

Telephone

+17733697400

Website

http://www.kolanutcollab.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Kola Nut Collaborative posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to The Kola Nut Collaborative:

Shortcuts

Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Chicago?