The Tri Co-operatives (more commonly known as the Tri Co-ops) are an on-campus student housing association providing affordable, cooperative housing to low-income students as well as students seeking housing that fosters educational and personal growth as instrumental components of safe and comfortable living. The community is comprised of three houses: Davis Student Co-op (DSC), Pierce, and Agrarian Effort (Ag), each of which houses 11-14 students. The houses operate by consensus and collective action as independent entities as well as a community.
Learn more on this Tri Co-ops information sheet about member responsibilities.
Together, we stand by four community agreements:
- At the Tri Co-ops we are actively working to create a space where we feel physically and emotionally comfortable, respected, and safe from oppressive forces.
- This is a learning space: We are working together to unlearn oppressive behaviors; we embrace some level of discomfort in this process but are creating a space for everyone to take initiative to learn.
- We strive to improve our community and uphold the community agreements in the form of conversations, workshops, or community projects.
- These community agreements are yours; re-agree upon them at the first Tri Co-op meeting of the year. Change and modify them as needed via the consensus process.
All this being said, the experience of living at the Tri Co-operatives changes with each generation, shifts with each new quarter. Our community agreements are subject to change, but the basis of our community relies on acceptance rather than tolerance, as well as continuous communication and interest in living cooperatively. The expectations of communication and acceptance are meant to help us in unlearning our oppressive behaviors and foster community-building.
It is important to note that cooperatives are an alternative housing arrangement. We acknowledge it may be unusual or challenging at first, we expect an interest or commitment in cooperative living from applicants. this is more than simply a place to sleep. We want to stress this part. We like to see applicants who are committed to being a part of, and working with, a community. One of the systems we operate under is consensus, which entails weekly meetings with your house and monthly meetings with all three houses. In these meetings, we discuss and vote on matters that might have any effects on our housemates or community members, such as workshops, anti-oppression conflict resolution, gardening, altering community spaces, and so on.
Who lives here?
Individuals of diverse races, ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds, gender identities, faiths, sexualities, survivor statuses, ability levels, and ages compose the population at the Coops. Although we do embrace some level of discomfort in unlearning oppressive behaviors (please see community agreements), this is not a space for prejudices, stereotypes, violence, and/or oppressive language or behavior towards any one race, ethnicity, gender identity, sex, sexuality, ability (social, mental, physical), socioeconomic class, age, size, religion, or citizenship status.
We acknowledge that not everyone has been exposed to this terminology; however, we seek to cultivate a culture of self-education in this community. Additionally, not everyone has the same connotations with these terms and we encourage people to recognize the existence of multiple experiences. Click links for various definitions of these terms:
• cultural appropriation
• Islamophobia
• ableism
• sizeism
• misogyny
• multiple “isms”
Rent
Find the current rent rates here: schadavis.org/affordability. This covers:
- all utilities (internet, water, trash, electrical, etc.)
- garden supplies (shovels, rakes, seeds, etc.)
Board varies depending on the house, but is typically between $30 and $80. This covers:
- basic foods (veggies, spices, flour, rice, beans, milk, and miscellaneous)
- cleaning supplies/household necessities (brooms, rags, soap, detergent, etc.)
- social fund (food for house dinners, party supplies)
Additionally, the houses have accumulated tools (wrenches, hammers, nails, etc.) and common space furniture, so incoming residents need not worry about having these things. Bedroom furniture is also often passed on, but not guaranteed.