Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: intro/creating CoH

[Judy (BAXTER%EPIHUB]

From: "Bob M. LKG1-3/A11 226-7570" <morrison [at] took.enet.dec.com>
Bob Morrison wrote:
<  I first heard of cohousing four years ago when I read an article in the 
<Boston Globe about New View, and immediately got excited about it. This seemed
<like just the solution I was looking for. In 1991, through a stroke of good
<luck, I transferred to a workplace six miles from New View's proposed site.
<In 1992, I began pursuing membership in New View. After I had attended meetings
<and social events for nine months, they decided not to offer me me a member-
<ship. Since then I have looked into several other cohousing groups, but these
<attempts fell through for various reasons. Last year I began attending meet-
<ings of The Cohousing Network (TCN) (Formerly Cohousing Clearinghouse of
<Greater Boston). I also subscribe to CoHousing journal.
        <I don't have a lot
<of cohousing groups to choose from within what I consider a reasonable commute
<(20 miles) of my work. So about all I can do at this point is to continue
<keeping up with what is happening with cohousing both locally and nationally
<and hope that another opportunity will present itself.
<  I actually thought of the idea of cohousing ten years ago. I even drew up
<Yes, I know it's not just a matter of "waiting" for cohousing to appear, but
<not everyone who wants to live in cohousing is the kind of person who can 
<start a group from scratch.

I want to echo the last respondant - thanks,Bob, for your post.  It sounds like 
it has been really hard.

I think you are doing the right things - we in the Twin Cities have found that
coops, Quakers, and Unitarians, non-traditional churches,  seem to be the most
fertile grounds for recruiting - don't get me wrong, we have all kinds of
religions and non-religions, but in terms of our efforts to contact groups,
these have been helpful.

I hate to say it, but my experience says that most of the people who are more
than a little interested in cohousing are people who are looking for it -
thought of something similar, etc.  Many of the rest of those interested find
lots of good reasons why now, or this site, or whatever, isn't right.  It has
been harder for us to find new members, once we had our site, than we thought
it would be.  And God knows I think all of us involved wish it were easier to
make this happen for everyone who wants it.  But it's worth it. Monterey was my
3rd core group, as a member - and one for of our stalwarts, it was her 4th.

I hope you are getting active in the Boston Cohousing Network,
Good luck.

Judy

Judy Baxter, Monterey Cohousing Community, (MoCoCo)
Twin Cities Area, Minneapolis/St.Paul Minnesota
e-mail: baxter [at] epivax.epi.umn.edu