Re: Orienting New Members to the Values
From: Jerry McIntire (jerry.mcintiregmail.com)
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2015 07:52:29 -0800 (PST)
Hi Emilie,

Cohousing communities by definition include everyone in the
decision-making, especially the foundational vision. While we don't have a
requirement that members come to meetings, they do:  everyone, to nearly
every meeting.

Having a core group or committees draft policies can be efficient, but I
don't think it can substitute for a few meetings with everyone present to
give input and make the final decisions. At those, you could affirm your
vision (sounds like you've completed that part, but want to make it widely
known and agreed to).

Jerry

Jerry McIntire
Stone's Throw Ecovillage, in the heart of Wisconsin's beautiful Driftless
region
http://stonesthrowcommunity.wordpress.com/
1-608-637-6620

On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 9:16 AM, Emilie Parker <emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> Do we need to DO something to make sure people who are committing to
> Louisville Artists Cohousing really support the values and vision?  We have
> approved values and vision but not everyone who is now a member worked on
> them.  We go over them at our monthly meeting/orientations but not everyone
> attends those.
>
> In Louisville Artists Cohousing we are in the process of getting our
> members more deeply financially committed.  We have property identified and
> are working on figuring out how to finance it.  Values and vision is before
> or concurrent with commitment.
>
> Do any communities use a questionnaire on their values to get a signature
> from members before they commit larger sums of money?  I was thinking of
> putting our values into a questionnaire so people could think hard ahead of
> time what our shared values are and sign it or comment.  I'd like to know
> if other communities have had any success with doing that.  What processes
> and what else besides values goes into that questionnaire?   We don't have
> policies yet -- like pets and parking.  We have a few draft policies on our
> website but they have not been vetted/voted on.
>
> We have a big party dinner coming up next Wednesday (Mar. 4) that is
> exclusively for core member households.  We are making a slide show with
> member pictures and some other fun stuff -- pictures of the property.  I
> will include a bunch of slides with the vision and each value on it.
> That's not enough.
>
> Has your community had success with this in the earliest formative times?
> We want to get our group to all be sharing the same vision/values before we
> get a ton of money involved.
>
> What kind of things should we understand, do, or sign in terms of our shred
> values before or when we commit money?
>
> Emilie Parker
> Louisville Artists Cohousing, Colorado
> www.meetup.com/artists-housing-community, www.synergy-arts.org
> -----------------
> Emilie Parker
> emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com
> 303-317-4558 main
> 240-350-8533 cell
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