Cohousing and Sociocracy
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 07:49:48 -0800 (PST)
So if sociocracy is so great, how do we learn about it? To this end I will be offering a workshop on sociocracy for anyone in the DC area or who can get here from out there. Date to be determined but February 17 is tentatively scheduled.

The primary aim of this workshop is to design models for using sociocracy in cohousing and most importantly to form a study group that will be ongoing, face-to-face, and online to discuss application in communities.

The Aim: To establish a study group, face to face and online, to design sociocratic models for residential communities. The focus will be primarily cohousing but the models will be useful for ecovillages, condos, coops, and neighborhoods so participants from these communities are welcome to particpate.

Sociocracy is a governance method, a set of principles that can be applied in a variety of models, each suitable for a different kind of organization. Residential communities are concerned with managing both community life and cooperatively owned property. They must balance a wide range of social, political, and economic needs. As such they have more complex aims that most businesses or non-profit organizations.

How can sociocracy meet these needs more effectively than current methods?

We will have an initial four-hour workshop to review the basic governing principles and identify issues of common concern and then monthly meetings with participation in a dedicated email list to discuss ideas and experiences.

As some of you know I started a newsletter two (?) years ago that was intended to focus on facilities issues as well as sociocracy but my interests quickly turned to sociocracy alone (and to avoiding the marketing and production issues of a newsletter). The mail list and website has since lain dormant while I finished the book . The book is finally in the final stages of completion (April publication is planned) and I'm ready to focus more specifically on models for cohousing.
 
I will conduct the first workshop and serve as group leader for the first three months when a sociocratic election will be held for group leader and for any other functions and tasks the study group decides are necessary.

Please let me know if you are interested in the workshop or study group.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Coauthor with John Buck of the forthcoming
We the People: Consenting to a Deeper Democracy
The Complete Guide to Sociocratic Principles and Methods
http://www.sociocracy.info

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