Cohousing-L Mailing List: Coho Contributions to Society

[Dan Suchman (71756.2661]

Dear Readers,

Since my post of 8/18, I've received several examples of contributions made to
the wider community by cohousing groups and the people living in them.  I share
a few of them with you here:

        *  Coho communities that have set aside several units to be sold or
rented at
             below-market rates, thereby improving local availability of
affordable housing

        *  A coho member that is running for city council on a platform of
creating more
            and better housing alternatives

        *  A coho community that maintains a standing Concerned Citizens group
which
            attends local government planning meetings, hearing and other events

        *  Two coho communities that obtained extra bus routes serving not only
the coho
            community but also their neighbors

Thank you for these examples.   For those of you that missed it, I've reposted
here my 8/18 request.  Please take a minute to think about and share with me
contributions from your own communities, or others that you may know about. . .

[The following is a repost of the 8/18 message:]

Dear Cohousing-L Readers:

I recently visited Katie McCamant and Chuck Durrett at their home in Emeryville,
CA.  Chuck is attempting to gather some data for his presentation at the North
American Cohousing Conference in Boulder, scheduled for late September.  He has
asked me to inquire of Cohousing-L subscribers  how they see cohousing
contributing directly to the greater community, outside of cohousing.  Chuck
seeks examples of contribution beyond the modeling of such virtues as
cooperation and reduced environmental impact.  He would like examples of more
direct and active contributions to the greater community, such as lobbying for
progressive legislation and service in local government and non-profit
organizations.  These activities may be undertaken by or on behalf of the
cohousing community (such as a bake sale or cleaning up a park), or it may be
something that an individual cohousing resident has chosen to do.  For example,
in my community one resident serves on the board of a local non-profit
organization that provides low-cost housing.  Another serves on a local land
planning council.

I am attempting to compile for Chuck a list of examples of such contributions
and would greatly appreciate any examples that any of you could share with me.
If you are willing to provide me with actual names of individuals and
communities, that would be great.  If not, could you please provide me with some
demographic information about the contributing individual(s) (e.g., age,
occupation, marital status, with or without children at home).  Please include
in your responses only examples from substantially constructed, occupied
cohousing communities.

I would also appreciate any correlations that contributors feel exist between
their lives in cohousing and their contributions to the greater community (e.g.,
they have more free time as a result of living in cohousing, or cohousing values
reinforce participation in the greater community). 

I would further appreciate the assistance of any Cohousing-L subscribers who
would be willing to poll other members of their groups to help ferret out
examples that might not come easily to mind.  Please share this information (or
at least a copy of same) with me by private email, since I do not always take
the time to go through all of the cohousing-l postings.  If you feel that other
subscribers could benefit from the information, you can always post a copy of
your private message to Cohousing-L.
 
I hope that compiling this information will further the development of new
cohousing communities.  Thank you for your assistance!

Dan Suchman (Winslow Cohousing Group)
P.O. Box 11378
Bainbridge Island, WA  98110-5378
email:  71756.2661 [at] compuserve.com
telephone & fax:  (206) 842-9700