Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: Frustration in Forming Community

[Jeanne Goodman (GoodmanJ]

Steven,

I am extremely fortunate that our founders were so persistent (love you Dee
& Dave!) I believe this is the third (and final) incarnation of Jamaica
Plain Cohousing (the first cohousing project in Boston, proper.)

I believe there were four critical pieces that separated the first two
incarnations from this successful one.

1. The founders can't be the only ones putting in all the work, but at least
some of the rest of core group have to really work HARD
2. Put in CASH, but make it reasonable. I believe that a non-refundable
investment of $1,000 is enough to make people get much more serious that
this is an INVESTMENT that they don't feel comfortable walking away from.
3. Attitude is everything -- early in our project we adapted the motto,
"Failure is not an option." (This was partially because we weren't about to
lose the cash we had invested.)
4. Hire a professional. When we hired Cohousing Resources everything started
to move. It made the difference between this "possibility" to our future.

Hope that helps.

Jeanne Goodman
JP Cohousing