Cohousing Fairs - remember the 90s?
From: Craig Ragland (craigraglandgmail.com)
Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 07:29:32 -0700 (PDT)
In the 1990s, there were annual Cohousing Fairs in the Pacific Northwest,
which were one of Songaia's three most effective recruiting tools... any
guesses about what the other two were for us?

I first learned about Songaia at a 1992 Cohousing Fair - so these have a
special place in my heart. Then I helped as a (future) Songaia member at
tables at a couple of other fairs, where I met other future Songaia members.
I'm not sure why, but forming cohousing groups in the Puget Sound stopped
making them happen in the late 90s. Those of us who helped them happen
earlier were either full or extinct. A number of successful cohousing
projects in Puget Sound gained members from initial connections formed at
these events.

Well, NICA (Northwest Intentional Communities Association) is doing one
again, with a broader focus, but it looks like it will primarily be forming
cohousing groups who will be present (6 so far):

http://www.ic.org/nica/

We are thrilled to have Diana Leafe Christian coming to Seattle. Diana is
the editor of Communities magazine and author of Creating a Life Together and
Finding Community (just published). Check out the website for the full
(public) info on the two incredible events. I'm keeping these descriptions
up-to-date as they come together.

I want to alert all burning souls in all Northwest Communities about the
first of these two NOW...

Finding Community - Community Seekers Fair
Friday, Oct 12 7:30pm
Greenwood Senior Center - this will be INCREDIBLE for cohousing that
welcomes senior members

We hope this event will be a great recruiting opportunity for Cohousing
Groups Seeking New Members. We are promoting this (donation-only) event
heavily and there will be several tables available for Communities to
connect with people looking for community. Please contact
craig@songaia.comASAP if you would like a table for your community. I
have several
communities that have already indicated interest and we're not sure how many
tables will be available... and they will be allocated on a first-come,
first-serve basis.

This event is completely donation-only, including the "cost" of tables. If
you would like to make a contribution to NICA in support for the event, it
would be welcome - but this is not a hidden "table fee" - the tables are
freely available to any Intentional Community Seeking New Members.

I would love to see more Forming Cohousing Groups or Existing Communities
that want new members - either now or in the future. This will be
particularly valuable to those communities that have homes or spaces for
sale or rent now, but its also valuable to help people learn about your
group if it anticipates needing or wanting new members in the future.

If you just want to attend, please come on by - but please do not come to
recruit unless you reserve a table. I am creating a hand out that will be
given to everybody who comes to the event when they walk in the door which
contains contact information and 1 paragraph on any community that has a
table at the event.

Please contact craig [at] songaia.com - now - if you would like a table for your
community. If you want to reserve a space and then have to cancel later,
that's fine as along as I get a few days notice. I'd love to share the web
traffic to the NICA site with your forming group NOW.

P.S. If you know of other "burning souls," - please forward this mail to
them - we at NICA have been discovering that many people who currently live
in communities never hear about our events (this seems to be especially true
for Cohousing Communities) and your help in changing this would be GREATLY
appreciated.

Its interesting how many "former burning souls" we now have out there...
those who no longer participate (much) in the movement... if this describes
you, I invite you to try to pass on your once-flaming cohousing activist
scepter - maybe to another member of your existing community? Some of us
burned when our own groups needed new members. Some of us continue to burn
because of our passion for a future that we see as needing more cohousing. I
believe our planet needs communities with intention, where there is
authentic care for people, for local culture, for a more sustainable world.

Craig Ragland

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