Re: Orienting New Members to the Values
From: Laura Fitch (lfitchkrausfitch.com)
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2015 04:35:11 -0800 (PST)
Hi Emilie,

This does not specifically address your question, but I recommend
purchasing and regularly using The Group Works cards.  I use them for every
forming group i work with.  We just read and reflect on the message of each
card before each agenda item in a meeting.  Pairing them with some
reflection and discussion on one of your values might be fun.  I also
recommend a yearly retreat starting now.  Twenty years later our community
has a weekend long retreat every year with nearly complete attendance.  It
has gotten us through the lulls of low attendance.  Sometimes we revisit
previously stated values during these retreats, but mostly we just
reconnect by sharing stories that reveal our personal convictions.

http://groupworksdeck.org/deck

Laura Fitch
Pioneer Valley Cohousing
Kraus Fitch Architects


On Friday, February 27, 2015, Emilie Parker <emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> Thanks so much Jerry.  We don't have good attendance at meetings our
> regular monthly meetings.  We have new-person orientation for the first 15
> minutes of the meetings and generally have quite a few new people attending
> and the orientation goes on for a while with lots of questions and
> discussion about out building an art village oddesy.
>
> Our core group is our group of members who are committed with a small
> membership fee.  It's not clear how many of them will be in our artists
> cohousing community when it's finally built but they've all signed up with
> the intention to be in it.  We will be having a mandatory workshop in a
> couple of months and will know the truly committed after that -- end of
> April.  I will recommend that we can include the values discussion on the
> agenda for that. The vision was created by the board. It's a very simple 10
> word statement.  It can be part of the discussion too.
>
> When you take in new members do you have values education or have them sign
> something that includes the values?
>
>
>
> -----------------
> Emilie Parker
> emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com <javascript:;>
> 303-317-4558 main
> 240-350-8533 cell
>
> On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 8:52 AM, Jerry McIntire <jerry.mcintire [at] gmail.com
> <javascript:;>>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > 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 <javascript:;>>
> > 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 <javascript:;>
> > > 303-317-4558 main
> > > 240-350-8533 cell
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
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> >
> >
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>

-- 
Laura Fitch, AIA, LEED-BD+C
Kraus-Fitch Architects
110 Pulpit Hill Rd.
Amherst, MA  01002
lfitch [at] krausfitch.com

Board Member, Cohousing Association of US
www.cohousing.org

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