Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Moving, affordability, outreach

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Aug 7, 2013, at 7:50 AM, johnrichmond50 <johnrichmond50 [at] hotmail.com> 
wrote:

> On a related note, how does one attract people to a forming community? We're 
> getting good people with our outreach efforts,  but not enough of them.

It's been over 10 years since I worked on forming a community but I doubt that 
that this has changed -- Flyers. Flyers everywhere but especially in coops, 
chiropractor's offices, Unitarian churches, college campuses. We just rented a 
unit because someone walking their dog saw a flyer on our kiosk and sent the 
info to a friend.

Ads in any form of media don't work. Typically, you get lots of responses but 
no takers. Articles in local press may or may not work. 

Largely its the person to person contact that sparks the interest and the trust 
to "try this." It seems to work like endorsements on the back of a book. Flyers 
seem to be more personal and one-to-one than ads anywhere.

Focus on moving forward, not waiting until you have enough people. Determine 
your basic strategy and stick to it. Infill, low cost, small houses in the 
wilderness, rehab office building or closed public school. Adjust when it seems 
advisable but waffling about what your heart wants will deplete your energy and 
split the group you have 20 different ways. 

People will always approach you saying if you do this or that, I'll join. 
Figure out what it is you want to work for and make the commitment. People will 
be attracted to that too.

Flyers, flyers, flyers.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org