Cohousing-L Mailing List: From: "Residents are Directors" to: "Vision/Mission"

["Residents are Directors" to: "Vision/Mission" <– Date –> <– Thread –>]

>From: Doug Huston <ldrnmsw [at] earthlink.net>
>Subject: Re: [C-L]_ All Residents (homeowners) are HOA Directors

>This line of thinking has always intrigued me as well. <clipped> I like
>these deeper explorations.

Me too...

>It seems to me that cohousing is broad and vague. That's the good news
>and the bad news. Good because different communities create different
>traditions and physical surroundings and ways of relating, etc. Each
>community can have a different flavor/culture that is reflective of
>individuals who helped create it.

I strongly support lots of different flavors. It makes it exciting to
visit most communities and to talk about what matters to the
community. Its kind of sad, to me, when all that matters is living
together. Such a self-serving mission is just so limited.

It seems to me that a lot of this really does stem from your vision
and mission. From talking with residents of built cohousing
communities, it seems that many cohousing communities have a vision or
set of values that were largely talking points during formation - but
then essentially set aside after construction.

At Songaia, we regularly revisit our values statement:

http://songaia.com/why/default.htm
(these work authored in 1991)

and look at our decisions through this lens. This year, we are
focusing 7 of our monthly circles on the 7 higher level values. The
sustainability workshop earlier this year was really something as we
work shopped on ideas about ways to increase our "sustainability."
Similarly, the diversity discussion and a related workshop revealed
some deep insights around the dynamics of power in our community.

That being said, while Songaia did do an excellent job of defining our
values and vision, we were less clear about our mission. This meant
that our core, implicit community mission was "creating a cohousing
community that is consistent with our values."

Certainly not a bad mission, but one that is easy to assume comes to
an end... that is, you are done onces you've finished construction and
set up the various operational processes and structures for
relationship.

Like most built cohousing communities I've visited, there is not a
strong sense of common mission at Songaia, other than to live together
harmoniously - which we're doing quite well (IMHO).

Songaia now hosts many different missions, but few, if any, are truly
embraced by us as a community. Some are supported by multiple members,
but many are one person (or one couple) endeavors.

One current, related question on Songaia's table is deeply defining
our ongoing relationship with a non-profit program that we've hosted
for 20 years... is the work of that non-profit part of our mission?
We've provided it with subsidized rental rates and allowed it a lot of
freedom with how it impacts our lives for many years... yet, we've
always held it somewhat at arms length, even though many community
members have participated in its programs individually... its hard to
know we have a relationship from our respective websites... even now,
I notice I've not named it here...

> Cohousing can incorporate a wider
> breadth of people because the door through which people enter is not
> narrow. The down side of that is that what defines one as in the
> group, or not in the group, is somewhat unclear beyond the simple
> fact that one lives in a home in cohousing.

While I continue to live and thrive at Songaia, I'm now involved in
the formation of New Earth Song Cohousing

http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=21298

We've done some excellent vision work. We have a strong vision
statement (see link) and are about to come to consensus on our first
Vision and Values Document. We got to our Vision Statement with the
help of Raines Cohen, who consulted with us to design a day-long
Visioning Workshop. Raines worked with another facilitation master to
lead us through a series of carefully crafted exercises that
culminated in our vision statement - and a wondrous sense of community
and accomplishment.

What we do not have, yet, is clear mission - beyond the same implicit
mission of Songaia. I'm very excited about having Diana Leafe
Christian, author of Creating a Life Together, and editor of
Communities magazine from 1994-2007 as our consultant for this work.
Diana is joining us this coming Thursday to help us look from vision
to mission.

In case you've noticed a trend here, re: using consultants, we've
decided to leverage strong, existing resources, rather than do it all
ourselves... been there, done that... and while I treasure the
learnings and experience of Songaia's 10 year self-development path, I
choose a more senior-friendly project timeline - I've simply got too
much other stuff to do to spend too much time developing real estate.

I believe that creating community housing is just a part of the New
Earth Song mission. I hope we end up adopting the point of view that
our housing and common spaces are a platform that empowers what really
matters to us... and that this is not primarily about creating good
housing for our friends and families... we'll see. For me, while this
is a VERY good thing, it is just not good enough given the power of
community to effect change and spread goodness beyond the confines of
a healthy little virtually-gated community.

> I appreciate these thoughtful discussions on the list serve.

> Doug Huston (Bear Grass Village Cohousing - Ashland, Oregon)

Thanks Doug, you triggered some thought I've found useful this
morning... there really is nothing quite like writing stuff out!

Craig Ragland
Songaia Cohousing - where its time for Sat breakfast, my favorite common meal
New Earth Song Cohousing