Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Seeking to attract households with children

Gloria,
   We had this problem too, moving into an area where the public schools
were questionable.  We started with only one family with toddlers. Now we
have about 14 kids of various ages, and few if any are going to be in the
public schools.  I think the best thing you can do is make some contacts
with local independent, progressive schools and/or home-schooling support
groups (if there is such a thing.)  The Waldorf Schools in particular have
a philosophy that makes cohousing very attractive. We have two adolescents
who have been home-schooled - they are terrific and will flourish in our
community. Some of our members are also teachers at these schools. 
    Certainly in the long run I hope our people will get involved in the
public schools and help inprove them, but few parents are going to bet
their kids future on that. We will be doing educational outreach activities
with the local public schools related to our organic garden and
water-management systems, etc.      There's also the possiblity of
appealing to couples who are just about to start families, who will think
they have a few years before they have to face the school decision and will
love the idea of all the social support.    

Good luck!  Once you get the first four or five kids lined up, it starts to
look much more appealing to other parents.

Ginny Moreland
East Lake Commons, Atlanta
Where the first move-ins are just a few weeks away!

At 12:15 PM 3/4/99 -0600, Gloria Gordon wrote:
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>Greetings -
>
>Here in St Louis our Village in the City organizing group now has enough
>committed households to secure an urban site that interests us, but we still
>dont have among us any households with children still living at home. It is
>important to us to be mult-generational.  We realize we are not alone with
>this challenge for communities locating within cities, where public schools,
>personal safety and green space are more of an issue than in the suburbs. We
>expect to be within a mile of both Washington University and a major medical
>center.
>
>We would appreciate your advice, experiences, copies of articles you wrote
>that attracted parents, talking points you have used successfully, promising
>groups you have reached out to. Has anyone found that offering one or more
>rental units helped to attract  young families?
>
>Many thanks,
>
>Gloria Gordon
>Village in the City
>St Louis MO
>
>
>
>
>
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>   
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><TITLE>Seeking to attract households with children</TITLE>
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><TT>Greetings -<BR>
><BR>
>Here in St Louis our Village in the City organizing group now has enough co=
>mmitted households to secure an urban site that interests us, but we still d=
>ont have among us any households with children still living at home. It is i=
>mportant to us to be mult-generational.  We realize we are not alone with th=
>is challenge for communities locating within cities, where public schools, p=
>ersonal safety and green space are more of an issue than in the suburbs. We =
>expect to be within a mile of both Washington University and a major medical=
> center.<BR>
><BR>
>We would appreciate your advice, experiences, copies of articles you wrote =
>that attracted parents, talking points you have used successfully, promising=
> groups you have reached out to. Has anyone found that offering one or more =
>rental units helped to attract  young families?<BR>
><BR>
>Many thanks,<BR>
><BR>
>Gloria Gordon<BR>
>Village in the City<BR>
>St Louis MO<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
><BR>
><BR>
><BR>
><BR>
>   </TT>
></BODY>
></HTML>
>
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>

Re: Seeking to attract households with children	<– Date –> <– Thread –>
From: Virginia Moreland (vmorelandmindspring.com)
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 07:26:57 -0600