Cohousing-L Mailing List: How do you build a group?

[Bob Trachtenberg (BOBT]

HELP!

We had our second real (i.e., after newspaper articles appeared about 
our timey - 3 families- core group) co-housing meeting last night. 11 
others showed up.

We invited newcomers to come an hour before and we explained 
co-housing, ourselves, played one brief ice breaking game and took 
questions. Nine chose to stay for our regular meeting. The agenda 
wwas to make a flow chart to determine what tasks needed to be done 
now to achieve co-housing in the future.

When it came time to volunteer for tasks, one of the new people 
offered to work on an information sheet with me. Others suggested a 
picnic so we could get to know each other less formally.

At that point, one of the core members (H.) felt things were moving 
too fast. We had decided that new people would comet to three 
meetings before they could become members. After threemeetings, they 
would be voted on by our membership committee (the original 6 of us), 
sign a statement of principles and pay 100 NIS (about $33) as an 
annual membership fee.

H. had been iunder the impreswsion that new people who wanted to stay 
behyond the first introductory hour would simply watch the six of us 
have our meeting. there had obviously been a lack of communication 
when we palnned the meeeting. We then got into a discussion about 
this with the new people. How could we get to know new people without 
working with them? But if they put in work and then it's decided 
they're not appropriate for the group, won't that be even more 
difficult for them?

We resolved it for the time being but decided the six of us needed to 
meet again to talk. We are seeking input from the list as follows:

1. How do you build a group?

2. What sort of activities help build a group beside business 
meetings?

3. What kind of thisngs do you build into meetings that allow people 
to get to know each other better (specifics please)?

4. What written resources are available to help us with all this? I 
saw nothing in the book that was useful.

5. Are 3 meetings really enough to get to know someone? If not, are 
there other suggestions for candidacy or associate membership?

We are a brand new group. Our task right now is to find other 
committed members. We are not going to begin looking for a site until 
we have at least 5 member units (as suggested in the literature we 
have seen).

We greatly appreciate suggestions you may have.

Thanks.

Ruth Mason 
for Jerusalem Co-Housing