Cohousing-L Mailing List: Seeking Advice on Membership Outreach

[Margery McIver (hodee]

Fellow Cohousers:

The Hundredfold Farm cohousing project is at a crucial stage in its
development. We are going through an approval process to buy an 80-acre
parcel of land just west of Gettysburg, Pa., and hope to break ground on a
15-home development in June.

Currently, only seven families are invested in the project (although a few
others are considering it seriously). We need to step up our membership
outreach efforts, and are looking for advice from more experienced
cohousers.

Here are my specific queries:

1) Is it possible to tap into the waiting lists of any existing cohousing
communities (could we repay the favor with homegrown vegetables?)? Since we
are on a tight timeline, we¹d like to take a shortcut by seeking out people
who are already interested in cohousing.

2) What outreach methods have been most effective for other groups? We are
looking into print ads in newsletters and small weeklies. We have also done
local presentations (dog-and-pony shows). How effective have these methods
been for other groups? What other methods have you used?

3) Hundredfold plans to initiate a community supported agriculture (CSA)
farm on the 80 acres. How unique is this in cohousing? Are there other CSAs
based in cohousing communities?

If it turns out we will be the first such cohousing community, this would be
a nice thing to mention in our ads. If there are existing CSA/cohousing
projects, we¹d like to seek out their advice.

Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Leo Horrigan
Hundredfold Farm Community
Orrtanna, PA
Website: http://users.supernet.com/rhubarb