Cohousing-L Mailing List: seeking information about how cohousing communities organize tasks to be done

[S. Kashdan (skashdan]

Hi all,

The questions in this message are addressed to all current and former
cohousing community participants.

My name is Sylvie Kashdan.  I am a member of the Jackson Place Cohousing
community, in Seattle, Washington.

The Jackson Place cohousing homes and common house are now being built.  We
think they will be finished later this year. Some of us will begin to move
in to our new homes in September, and the rest of us will finish moving in
December, hopefully.  So, we are now discussing and developing ideas for how
we will organize our work together once we have moved in.  We have some
ideas we want to try, but, we would very much appreciate hearing from people
who are currently living in cohousing communities or who have lived in
cohousing communities in the past. We would like to know about the
experiences and challenges folks have actually had organizing necessary and
optional work together.

As a member of the Jackson Place community-building team, I have taken on
the task of collecting as many accounts as I can get of cohousing
experiences in getting work done.

We want to know how folks actually organize and schedule work, what has
proven successful, what challenges folks have found in organizing and
accomplishing cohousing work, how they deal with challenges when they arise,
what processes they have found to be best for overcoming difficult
situations, what challenges remain unresolved, and anything else that might
be useful for us to know.

I hope that you can give me some details.

For example, so that we can benefit from your successes and possibly avoid
some problems, we would very much appreciate knowing the specifics of such
things as the following:

What are the specifics of how you organize working on any joint meals?

What are the specifics of how you organize working on cleaning the common
house? How does it get done?

What are the specifics of how you organize working on any joint landscaping
and other grounds maintenance?

What are the specifics of how you organize working on any joint parties?

What are the specifics of how you organize working on any joint management
tasks? Are any or all of these things done by volunteer community members?

Do you post requests for volunteers to do specific meals, or parts of meals,
or specific landscaping tasks, etc.?

Do people volunteer beforehand to do tasks that are sure to come up?

Are people simply on a list as having to take their turn doing a task and
assigned specific tasks by committees or team leaders?

Do you draw straws, or choose by some other chance method?

Do you have a work credit system?  If so, how are the credits allocated?

Is there a minimum amount of work each community member is expected to do?
If there is, what is it?

What are the best ways you have found to deal with accomplishing community
work?

What challenges have come up in accomplishing community work?  How have you
solved them?

Do you think that the community work is shared fairly?

Are there many voiced complaints about getting community work done?

Are you having any discussions about improvements in getting community work
done which you think would be helpful for us to consider also?

What processes have you found to be best for overcoming difficult
situations?

And anything else that might be useful for us to know.

Since we understand that different people might experience the community in
different ways, I would appreciate hearing from as many people in your
cohousing community as want to respond to my inquiry.  So, please pass this
message on to all.

Whoever wishes to help us out with this information can call me at (206)
784-5619.  or contact me at skashdan [at] scn.org

Hoping to hear from you soon,

Thank you in advance for any help you may give.

Sincerely,

Sylvie Kashdan


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