Re: Accountability for doing community work or workshare
From: Dave and Diane (daveanddeeverizon.net)
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 05:25:08 -0700 (PDT)
Hi there, fellow cohousers,

Wow! These responses make me want to rush out and sing a couple of choruses of "everything is beau--ti-ful....in it's own wa-a-a-a-a- yyyyy.."

I think it's great that some cohousing communities can afford a, shall-we say, "laissez-faire" attitude about whether the work gets done or not. At JP Cohousing in Boston, we have a strong affordability platform in our mission statement, and it's a matter of making condo fees for everyone go up if the work does not get done. We have a 4-hour monthly work requirement in our condominium bylaws, and fines are an option if the work requirement is not met. Our board has asked the Community Life committee to look into various options on how to get non-compliant members to contribute and when I have more news on that item, I'll let you all know.

We also have non-mandatory work (in other words, it isn't specifically addressed in the bylaws) regarding work days. On these days we have either an indoor or an outdoor event to which the entire community is invited to participate. We do a lot of gardening and cleanup work on these days, and at the end we all have supper together. People who can't do the physical work are invited to help make the supper.

In short, if you can afford to hire someone to do your work and the community participation is just icing on the cake, great. If you really need people to get out there and work or stuff starts falling apart, then you need to figure out a way to make that happen.

--Diane
outreach facilitator
jp cohousing  617-522-2209
Box 300420 boston ma
http://www.jpcohousing.org
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"The people who surround you define the quality of your life."



On Mon, 26 Mar 2007, at 23:48:49, Martie Weatherly <mhweatherly [at] earthlink.net> wrote:


In Liberty Village, all our work is done totally by volunteering and
trust. We specifically came to agreement that we were not having any
rules about doing the work.

On Tue, 27 Mar 2007, at 18:12:35, "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com> wrote:


At Sharingwood we have ONE mandatory work task...<snip>
We don't worry about accountability, we worry about people being happy. If somebody is unhappy that they are doing too much, we encourage them to let go of some things. The important stuff generally gets done, and we don't
sweat the less important stuff too much, it eventually gets done
also...usually








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