Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Membership Requirements

[Mark Frauenglass (WORKGROUP/MAILDATA/Mark%Acquilano_Leslie_Inc+p]

>Ginger ...
> What specific steps does your group have folks take in order
>to "join" the group?   How do you make sure that people know
>about and understand cohousing?  Do you have any kind of "selection"
>process?  ...

One of the steps at Highline Crossing is a financial commitment.  We have
 several levels of membership - observer, reserved, full.  Observers pay low
monthly dues low which keeps them on the mailing list of our sporadic
newsletter and attendance at our meetings.  A unit can be Reserved for $500
in 2 categories - refundable (while you check out your monetary
qualifications) and non-refundable, in which you ante up or at least commit
to payments to get there.  Full membership requires 2 1/2% of the unit cost
to reserve a unit and loan or other financing pre-qualification.  By this
time they've figured out what cohousing is about.

Rod or Debbie or Dan of Highline (I know your lurking out there) can tell
about the membership fees better. I haven't worked the PR/sales side of
things for a long time.  In the Old Days each of us was on at least 4 Teams
(we didn't do committees) and gluttons for punishment tried to do
everything.  Team participation was a requirement by the way.

When we were doing our site and unit design prototypes, we had a lot of
people in the group at the $500 level who influenced the design.  Now they
aren't here - it turned out too expensive, they moved, they died.  It
happens.   I won't go on about some of my disappointments in I what we got
or didn't get.  It pales in the richness and aliveness of the commons on a
warm summer evening, and it's getting better.

However, I think that is not enough $$ of commitment to be able to have a
say in the manifestation of the community's mission, goals, standards and
criteria, brainstorming, prioritizing, programming and designing of our
neighborhood.

Do(did) other groups set monetary or other criteria of who can and can't
participate in the consensus or other process of a Decision to be made by
the Community?

As far as 'selection', Highline has strived mightily to get anyone and
everyone we can.  Reference Sales/Marketing.  We still have 3 and 4 bedroom
vacancies.  Our efforts at including multiple ethnic groups is a whole
'nother thread, as well as our experience with the mentally disabled.

Mark Frauenglass
Highline Crossing
Where the new sod is squishy, it takes really a lot of
recycled-ground-up-tree mulch to cover the mud, and my cat brings mice gifts
to me.