Community Living

Comment

Comment by Rev. Meredith Ann Murray on May 12, 2010 at 10:57am

Wow - thanks, Bruce, but I need more than one day's notice for my schedule. Can we schedule these things at least 10 days in advance? I hope to make it to one! Blessings, Meredith

Comment by Bruce Horowitz on May 11, 2010 at 4:05pm

Next Meeting: this Thursday, May 13, 5 pm at the Old Foundry, corner of Maple and Cornwall.

Comment by Rev. Meredith Ann Murray on May 3, 2010 at 1:32pm

Great ideas, Daimon! I like your line of thinking - skills that include interpersonal relationships and communication are as important as physical skills.... and some are stronger and more able-bodied than others. Thanks for your input!

Comment by Daimon Sweeney on April 30, 2010 at 7:47pm

Thanks for the notes, Cindi.

I wasn't able to make it this time. When/where is the next meeting?

The evolving list of skills is very useful. Developing that skill set is probably the most critical element of a successful community, in my experience. Sometimes people assume they can live as they usually do except with a bunch of people around, and it doesn't work. There is something else going on in communities and it takes a different kind of awareness to make it work well.

Another aspect of the skill set is what are the minimum skills needed to be accepted as a participant in a community, if any? Is there an entry level? Admission criteria, so to speak?

That would be up to each community but worth considering. Personally I would like to see a level of communication and conflict management skill and awareness, along with demonstrated willingness and ability to work through issues rather than clam up and go to the reptile brain when something doesn't go as desired.

To the list of skills I would add decision-making. Consensus is one form of decision-making but maybe not the ideal in all situations. The general topic of decision-making would include consensus as one way and identify others with their best uses.

To conflict management I would add conflict prevention as a related topic, meaning ways of communicating that tend to make conflict less likely. That is not suppression but handling issues collaboratively before they turn into conflict, for instance, or turning potential conflicts into collaborative explorations of the best alternatives. Then with conflict management I would include ways to make conflict as productive as possible when it happens. NVC is one method but again, not the only one.

The networking of those who are living in communities with those who want to opens both sides up to learning and raises the general level of community understanding about living together in ego-systems (great word). Such ongoing learning seems like a key to fostering more and more successful community-living. Integrating that across the county-wide ego-system and beyond, if it can be done, would be a very useful accomplishment.

Comment by Cindi Landreth on April 29, 2010 at 9:55pm

Hi Community Folk
Short but sweet notes from the meeting we had today:
Let's start with a bit of humor -
We identified our secret mission: promoting functional 'ego-systems'

Agenda items:
We revisited the sketch of a mission but didn't work on it anymore. Bruce has volunteered to wordsmith it from this point.

1. We talked about the ways in which we might want to network those living in community with those wanting to live in community and how might we share information between us. We came up with several ideas - the one we decided to act on was to contact a few existing communities and see if they would like to host a few guests and share their experiences and knowledge. We would also, then, offer some energy for a project they are working on (many hands make light work). We identified 6 communities and 2 consortium of communities that we will contact.

2. We talked about what is the skill set for living in community. We decided this would likely be an ongoing list. We got it started in the last 5 minutes or so - here are a few:
1. Non-violent communication
2. Organizational models - Acorn/8 Shields Model; Holocracy
3. Consensus Process
4. Conflict Resolution
5. Physical skill sets - a community would do well having diverse skills
6. Taking responsibility
7. Accountability
8. Being present
9. An understanding of Permaculture
10. Ability to collaborate
11. Willingness to process

3. We identified and wanted to share a resource that people might not know about: Diana Leafe Christian has two books out - Finding Your Community and Creating Community. She lives at Earthaven Ecovillage and has a newsletter that some of you might like to receive.

Next meeting agenda items:
1. What sort of 'highly visible' projects might we consider taking on?
2. Come up with questions we would like to discuss with communities when we visit them. (see item 1 above)

If someone else who attended would like to add to this, please feel free.

Comment by Bruce Horowitz on April 29, 2010 at 12:12pm

Hi Folks
I haven't seen Raven's notes from the last meeting so I'm somewhat at a loss to wordsmith a mission statement without them.
See y'all later
Bruce

Comment by Rev. Meredith Ann Murray on April 28, 2010 at 4:31pm

Thanks, Cindi and Rhys. When you plan the next meeting, could you plan it further ahead so we can save the date on our calendars or do a Doodle? Tomorrow is already full. I look forward to coming to a gathering. Smiles, Meredith

Comment by Rhys Faler on April 28, 2010 at 1:53pm

Our second meeting will be Thursday, April 29th at 5pm. We will be meeting at A-1 Builders (3310 Northwest Avenue), and Benjamin is preparing some yummy food for everyone. The Earth Day meeting went well, and we should have notes from that meeting posted soon.

Comment by Cindi Landreth on April 28, 2010 at 1:36pm

Well, we identified ourselves as a Working Group that would like to have a representative step forward, eventually, to become part of the Core of the new leadership for TW. We wanted to focus more on the social structures of living in community rather than the 'housing' part of creating communities. We talked about doing projects at the Individual and Family level; the Community and Transition Initiative level; and the County wide level. I didn't take notes - I believe Raven did. She said she would post them so watch for them.

Comment by Robert Plant on April 27, 2010 at 4:42pm

I am sorry I missed the Meeting. What is the Group working on? Is the group using this site for primary communication? Are there people looking to form a new Ecovillage/ Cooperative? Are there any members that are part of an existing Cooperative(besides the south side co-housing)?

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