Cohousing-L Mailing List: Associate Membership

[David Entin (davidentin]

I am chair of the Membership Committee at Rocky Hill Cohousing.  We would like 
to know how other communities handle Associate Members.  We are particularly 
interested in individuals or families who live outside the cohousing community 
but would like to participate in it's life, and possibly decision making.  Do 
you charge a fee, do they come to regular meetings, are they voted in by the 
group, do you have an application process, or recruitment strategy, benefits 
for both parties, etc.

In addition to these questions, we would like to know how you deal with 
resident Associate Members. We have several renters and also five households 
who are Associate Members by the fact that they live on the road coming up to 
our community.  These five households do pay a monthly fee for the use of our 
Common House, and most of them and the renters participate as much as our 
regular members.  However we have no clear-cut rule for their participation in 
our voting process.

Any information of the above subject would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Dorothy Riehm,
Rocky Hill Cohousing
Northampton, MA