Cohousing-L Mailing List: Community Within in MN seeks members

[stro0091 (stro0091]

We are the 'Community Within' cooperative housing group, a newly formed
retrofit cohousing group in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.  We are looking
to settle in homes within a one block distance in the Twin Cities (location as
yet undecided).  This proximity will allow our community to evolve over time
and space.  Currently our group consists of approximately half dozen commited
families, with several other families attending meetings regularly.
 
Our vision of community includes time spent in play, in work, and simply
together throughout the intersecting paths of our lives.  Our values emphasize
interpersonal and intergenerational connections.  We hope to start cultivating
individual and group peace, well-being, and joy by sharing evening meals and
other group activities.
 
Community meals will be prepared in peoples homes on a rotating basis,
although as the community grows and evolves we know other arrangments may
be required.  We plan to share bulk purchases of food and food preparation.
We also hope to devise methods for sharing tools and other material things
used on a periodic basis.  In addition, a number of us are parents who wish
our children to grow up in a context of intergenerational interaction and
respect.  We hope to diffuse the burdens and share the joys of parenthood by
sharing responsiblities of childcare with other willing adults.  Many of us
are also children who want our parents to have a safe place to grow old, a
place where their knowledge and skills are used and appreciated by a larger
social group.
 
Our group has decided that we want to live in a neighborhood of older homes
with a range of housing prices between $60,000 and $100,000.  Our preferred
location is along the river corridor between Minneapolis and St. Paul.  We
have started preliminary neighborhood evaluations on the basis of safety,
affordability, access to transportation without heavy traffic in the immediate
neighborhood, nearby greenspace, pollution, and school systems.  The first
members will be ready to move into a chosen neighborhood in approximately one
year (June 1996, sooner if fortuitous circumstances converge).
 
If these ideas appeal to you, we encourage you to attend our one of our
monthly potluck  meetings.  Contact Jan Raven or Ted Hodapp at 612-489-0205
(email:  thodapp [at] piper.hamline.edu) to find out the time and place of our 
next
meeting (Friday July 7).  We hope to see you there.