Cohousing-L Mailing List: Getting Media Coverage of Your Community

[Zpaiss (Zpaiss]

Dear Cohousers,

The national transition team and I have prepared this press release to help
get the word out about Cohousing and the formation of our new umbrella
organization:  The Cohousing Network.  As you know, the media is a powerful
tool and your grassroots efforts will surely make a difference.

I suggest the following steps in contacting your local newspaper or other
media outlets you wish to approach.  Telephone the newspaper and ask for
editorial.  Then ask for the news assignment desk.  You should then be
connected to the news assignment editor (or whomever is sitting at the desk
at that time.).  

Indicate that you're calling with news about the Cohousing movement.  You may
want to pause and ask if the person is familiar with the concept.  Most
likely, youill need to say a few lines of explaination:  e.g. resident
created neighborhoods and we're developing one here in _______ (your town).  
Indicate you have a press release you'd like to fax. Pause and ask if they're
interested in seeing it.
If yes, get their fax #, send ASAP, and followup with a phone call, perhaps
an hour or two later to:
 1) find out if they received the release; and 2) would they like to cover
the story.

The press release may stimulate the news dept.to assign a reporter to do a
full feature story on your community and on cohousing in general.  

In your cover note for the fax, suggest you indicate that the national media
has recently been reporting on the cohousing movement, with recent articles
in USA Today (July 15), The New York Times (Sept. 7), plus recent broadcasts
on CNN (Sept. 13) and upcoming programs scheduled for "Sunday Good Morning
America" on ABC-TV and "Dateline" on NBC-TV.  (The press is often more
interested in a story if other media outlets have covered it first.)

It would be helpful for your local press if you supply them with other
articles that have been written and you put together a press kit.  Suggest
you include the following stories which were distributed at the Seattle
conference: Metropolitan Home (Jan/Feb '97), Vegetarian Times (July '96),
Mothering (Winter '94), and the growth of cohousing in the U.S. chart. Please
feel free to delete my name on the following press release and type in your
own name and number, or add your name and keep me as a backup contact.

I am willing to make myself available as a resource if you want help or
guidance in the media contact process.  I am designating Wednesday nights
from 7-9 pm (Colorado time) to take calls at (303) 543-9482.  I'm suggesting
half hour blocks of time per person, and would appreciate if you would call
or e-mail me by Tuesday morning the day before to schedule a time (e.g.
7-7:30 pm or 8:30-9 pm).  Iill call or e-mail you back to confirm.  

The CoHousing Company is volunteering to collect, organize and maintain a
resource library of media coverage of cohousing.  If you have any stories,
videotapes or audiotapes of cohousing reports-both current or in the past-
please mail them to them at:

The Cohousing Compnay
1250 Addison Street #113
Berkeley  CA 94702
510-549-9980

Best of luck in all your efforts.
Kay 
(e-mail: kayruth [at] aol.com).
(303) 543-9482

*********************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     

CONTACT:  Kay Abrahams, 303-554-1799
Abrahams & Associates

  First Umbrella Cohousing Organization Formed at North American Conference
in Seattle; Cohousing Neighborhoods Predicted to Double

    SEATTLE, Sept. 24 / -- Members of the cohousing movement announced today
that consensus has been reached for the formation of a North American
organization to be called The Cohousing Network.  Among the slated purpose of
the new organization is "... to support individuals and groups who seek to
create cohousing neighborhoods ..." and to serve as "... a tool to
communicate the philosophy of cohousing, and facilitate access to information
and resources about cohousing."
    The announcement was made at the third North American Cohousing
Conference held Sept. 19-21, 1997, at University of Washington in Seattle.
 The new group will be the result of a merger between the non-profit Rocky
Mountain CoHousing Association (RMCA) based in Colorado, and several North
American cohousing activities, including "CoHousing:  The Journal of the
CoHousing Network," a quarterly publication that supplies news from eight
regional editors in the U.S. and Canada.
    Existing activities that will take place under the new non-profit central
organization will include:  a Website (www.cohousing.org), CoHousing-L, a
subscriber only e-mail list serve, and upcoming cohousing conferences.
 Future projects being discussed by the transition planning team include a
centralized telephone number, a North American speakers bureau, a central
repository for resources and information, and a designated media contact.
    Cohousing, a housing concept of resident-created neighborhoods that is
widely used in Europe, was first brought to the U.S. in 1988 with the
publication of "Cohousing:  A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves" by
Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett, a husband and wife architectural design
team based in Berkeley, Calif.  Muir Commons, the first U.S. cohousing
community, was built in Davis, Calif., in 1990.  Today, there are 28
completed communities in North America, 26 under construction, and over 150
groups in varying stages of the development process.  McCamant predicts that
the number of completed cohousing neighborhoods in North America will double
by the first quarter of 1998.
    Cohousing is increasingly becoming a mainstream housing option and is
receiving more and more attention from development professionals.  An
international seminar for professional builders and developers, "Developing
CoHousing Communities:  The Keys to Success," is being held at the Nyland
Cohousing Community in Lafayette, Colo., Oct. 15-17, 1997.
    Speakers will include architects McCamant and Durrett, Jim Leach,
president of Wonderland Hill Development Company, Boulder, Colo., the
country's leading developer of cohousing neighborhoods, Zev Paiss, managing
editor of "Cohousing: The Journal of The Cohousing Network" and organizer of
the developer seminar, and Chris Hanson, a cohousing development
professional.
    Professionals and the media interested in attending the seminar should
call 303-499-8189.  People seeking to learn of a U.S. cohousing neighborhood
in their area can call The Cohousing Network at 510-486-2656 or in Canada at
604-882-5337.

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