Re: Orienting New Members to the Values
From: Emilie Parker (emilie.v.parkergmail.com)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2015 07:01:20 -0800 (PST)
Thanks so much Katie for that great list.  Wow.  Lots of questions.  We
have discussed some of these questions.  We will inevitable have to answer
a lot more of them.  i'm thinking of the values as something people should
use to make sure they want to join us.

We have not all gotten together and defined how we will implement all the
values, just a few.  We have decided that we will use sample policies from
cohousing.org as a draft or reference for most of our policies to get us
started.  I like one of the things they do things at Nomad.  I went on a
tour of Nomad at the Cohousing conference last year in Boulder Colorado.
One long time member who gave the tour said they don't try to make policies
until it's pretty clear they need one to solve a problem they've
identified.  He said they tried to make them when they first moved in and
spent many hours in meetings.  Now they take up things as they came up and
meet....I think he said once per month.

Do you just hand values out to new people.  Post them on the website or
something else.  I've seen values on a sign on the dining room wall at
Nyland.  Our core group is still forming and we are moving ahead to get it
built at the same time we are recruiting new members.

I hope our core people would only commit to them if they were their own
values.  The values would create a starting point to address all the
questions, balance possibilities, make decisions and create policies.

We have to be doing a lot of things at once -- building our membership,
values, governance, financial and the physical structures before we even
know which of us will go the distance and move in.

I wanted to know how other communities use their values to help people
determine for themselves if they want to be part of the community before
they make a major commitment.   I grew up going to church on Sundays and
the values are really big in keeping that community functioning -- every
Sunday from the pulpit the pastor reinforced and elucidated, but cohousing
is not about that.  That way of governance didn't involve a whole lot of
discussion by a lotta people.

I wanted to know how other communities use their values to help potential
members determine for themselves if they want to be part of the community
before they move in.

-----------------
Emilie Parker
emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com
303-317-4558 main
240-350-8533 cell


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