 Editor's Note: From all over the U.S. and the world they came to DC. Singles, couples, groups. All stripes and colors. Very young and very old. Women and men. All genders. All faiths. All traditions. They came to march. There are many, many exciting stories out there about The March, the marchers and the message. This is not one of those. This is a story about how cohousing kicks butt when it comes to bringing people together. In particular, this is a story (very short — with photos!) about one community, Takoma Village Cohousing, in northwest Washington, DC that opened its doors and its heart to 27 people coming to DC for the Women’s March on Washington. In addition, seven households welcomed about 19 personal friends and family for the weekend so our community's population increased by more than half! Here’s the tale. In November, we had discussed hosting marchers among ourselves and on our email list. In December, we took the discussion to a membership meeting. Community Team took on the responsibility. A point person networked with local March organizers, who gave tips for advertising ourselves and also directed guests our way. Other point people cooked and organized four meals, and everyone volunteered to clean up. Some stats: Takoma Village Cohousing hosted 27 people (aged 12 to 70) from eight states, with eight people from five cohousing communities making up the cohort. Neighbors took in singes, couples and a group of three. More folks lodged in the Common House spreading pads, sleeping bags in available spaces. As a community we provided:
How were we able to do all this? We were able to do this because cohousing is uniquely positioned to undertake exactly these types of large scale events. Our innovative social structure makes it possible for us to take on BIG projects. This is what cohousing brings to the table:
The physical characteristics standard in cohousing set us apart from a typical condo or co-op:
Several of us stayed home on the day of The March, but we knew that 60 of our neighbors - and our new friends - represented us downtown. We felt "part of The March" because of our contributions. The day of The March may have been gray and foggy in Washington, DC but the exuberant spirits, clever signs and posters and the determination of the participants energized the crowd and the watching world. Things look a lot brighter today. ☯️ Photo Gallery  Joanna Sprout, niece of a TVC member and her friend, Caitryn Byrka from Connecticut  Diana Porter and Leonard Webb came from Cincinnati OH  Arvind Kannan joined us from Boston  Lily was 5 when she moved into Takoma Village. This is her last semester in college!  Welcome and Schedule for meals  Guests at the buffet bar  Dining together  Guests clean up!  Norma Wassel from Cambridge Cohousing said "Here's my photo taken at Takoma Village as I head back to Cambridge after attending the march in DC. I'm leaving with fond memories of my stay here and appreciation of the residents sharing their space and resources of cohousing with others, some total strangers. It's one of the great things about living in cohousing that also happens all year!"  Aggie Crews, Chapel Hill NC said: "...I appreciated the members of Takoma Village Cohousing extending their warm hospitality and great food to those of us visiting over the Inauguration-March weekend. Your location was so convenient to the Metro and comfortably walkable to Takoma Park’s greater community. Also a special thanks to Jen and her cat for letting me stay over in their place. It couldn’t have been better!  Five of the eight folks from Michigan say goodbye! EDITOR'S NOTE: We now publish only the main topic and supporting information from the weekly newsletter to this blog site. To get all the rest of the good stuff everyone else is reading you have to subscribe. On the Home Page click on the large SUBSCRIBE TO THIS NEWSLETTER button. It's PAINLESS! It's FREE!
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 Editor's Notes: The following are excerpts of an article written by Karen M. Wyatt, MD for The Huffington Post on June 23, 2015. The information in this article is one source for the presentations Janice Blanchard and Ann Zabaldo will make at the upcoming Aging in Community Collaboratory April 8-10, 2016, Makeover Montgomery 3 May 4-6 2016 and Aging Better Together May 20-21, 2016 Karen M. Wyatt, MD The Huffington Post, June 23,2015 1. Shortage of family caregivers. According to a study reported by AARP Public Policy Institute there will be a severe shortage of family caregivers as the Baby Boom generation ages and faces the end-of-life. While there are currently seven potential family caregivers for every patient, this ratio is expected to drop to 3:1 by 2050. Gabriel's House at Anam Cara is already helping with this issue by recruiting and training volunteers who can give relief to family caregivers as part of the care team. In this way the entire community can serve as a source of potential caregivers for future patients and decrease the need for family members to take on the entire burden of care. 2. Shortage of paid caregivers. In addition, a study published in the Health Affairs journal in June indicates that "at least 2.5 million more long-term care workers will be needed to look after older Americans by 2030." Along with other social model hospice homes, Gabriel's House is also offering certified training with continuing education credits for professional caregivers for the terminally ill. These training programs will increase the number of workers available to meet the long-term care needs of our society. 3. Need for family respite. The Institute of Medicine's 2014 report Dying in America points to a current need for respite and support for family caregivers to help avoid burnout and resulting emergency hospitalizations. Social model hospice homes can provide respite care as well as terminal care, allowing for much-needed rest for exhausted caregivers. 4. Need for home renovation for safety and mobility. The IOM report "Dying in America" also cites a lack of publicly-funded programs for retro-fitting homes for safety features and wheelchair accessibility. Social model hospice homes are already designed to meet safety and mobility standards and can eliminate the need for expensive renovations to family homes. 5. Cultural barriers to hospice care. In an interview for End-of-Life University, Dr. Donald Schumacher, the President and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, stated that cultural barriers to hospice care must be addressed in the future. Some of these barriers include a lack of cultural diversity in hospice staffs, mistrust of the healthcare system, and worry about insurance coverage and cost of care. The community-based social model hospice home has the potential to overcome some of these barriers by utilizing volunteers and caregivers from the patient's own cultural group and neighborhood, by functioning largely outside the health care system, and by eliminating financial concerns through unique funding streams (see #6). 6. Reduction in Medicare payments for hospice and home care. The IOM report mentioned above indicates that hospice payments from Medicare will be reduced by 11.8 percent over the next decade, which will likely create financial stress for smaller hospices and lead to decreased access to care. Under the social model of care for the dying there is no federal or state funding because these homes do not function as medical facilities. In many states they are licensed under the Department of Social Services rather than the Department of Health. Social model hospice homes rely on foundations and grants, community fundraising, and contributions from individual donors for funding. They tend to be cost-effective organizations that provide care for free or at low-cost and on a sliding scale. While there are no perfect solutions to the issues facing end-of-life care in the U.S., the community-based social model seems to offer an important and viable addition to the current system of hospice care. This model encourages communities to take responsibility for the needs of their own citizens and provides an opportunity for creative involvement in end-of-life care for everyone. In addition, existing houses can be utilized for the social model care homes, eliminating construction costs for new facilities and reducing the barriers to starting such a project. The flexibility of this model and the lack of Medicare regulation allows for adaptation to the unique requirements of each community. ### What can YOU do? Download the flyer on the first ever AIC Collaboratory. Contact Ann Zabaldo, 202.546.4654 or email: zabaldo@earthlink.net Attend the three sessions being presented by Janice and Ann at the upcoming Aging Better Together conference in Salt Lake City May, 20-21, 2016. Haven’t quite made up your mind to attend this conference? Make it easy. Attend. It will be transformational for you, your community whether forming or completed, for all of us everywhere who are seniors and those of us likely to become seniors cohousing or not. * Collaboratory: an inclusive learning environment where action learning and action research meet. Participants continue to acquire subject knowledge outside the collaboratory – both through experimental application and developing channels (such as online or blended learning). The collaboratory’s primary aim is to foster collective creativity to address complex issues.  The Cohousing Toolbox When what you need are TOOLS to get on with it! For your weekend reading ... The Dicey Retirement Game The Changing Definition of a Full Life Brother, Sister, Roommate, Neighbor The Other 2016 Campaign: Reframing Aging EDITOR'S NOTE: We now publish only the main topic and supporting information from the weekly newsletter to this blog site. To get all the rest of the good stuff everyone else is reading you have to subscribe. Click on the large SUBSCRIBE TO THIS NEWSLETTER button. It's PAINLESS! It's FREE!
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Medicare does not pay for long term care. The only nationally publicly supported long-term care available to people is Medicaid for which you have to qualify based on income. For those of you whose plan it is to simply “go on Medicaid” … think again. You’re in a very long line of people who think this is a solution. It is NOT. Given the statistics, the demographics, the expense of our health care and the way our health care is delivered, the middle class will be sliding en masse into Medicaid fracturing the already slim supports of the Medicaid program. This is the Elephant in the Room: no where in the US, in no program, is anyone dealing with how to keep the middle class from sliding into Medicaid and poverty. Big Elephant. Big Solution Needed. We have one. Mid Atlantic Cohousing is sponsoring a year long Aging in Community Collaboratory*designed to guide cohousers in devising a customized program for their respective community that will allow seniors to age in place right in their cohousing neighborhood. Led by Janice Blanchard, a nationally known expert on Aging in Community (she coined the phrase with Bill Thomas. She literally wrote the book “Aging in Community”!) we are going to “crack the nut” of what it takes for cohousing to become a national model for aging in place in community. Why cohousing?
What can YOU do? Download the flyer on the first ever AIC Collaboratory. Contact Ann Zabaldo, 202.546.4654 or email: zabaldo@earthlink.net Attend the three sessions being presented by Janice and Ann at the upcoming Aging Better Together conference in Salt Lake City May, 20-21, 2016. Haven’t quite made up your mind to attend this conference? Make it easy. Attend. It will be transformational for you, your community whether forming or completed, for all of us everywhere who are seniors and those of us likely to become seniors cohousing or not. * Collaboratory: an inclusive learning environment where action learning and action research meet. Participants continue to acquire subject knowledge outside the collaboratory – both through experimental application and developing channels (such as online or blended learning). The collaboratory’s primary aim is to foster collective creativity to address complex issues.  Janice Blanchard is an Aging in Community expert residing in Denver, COContact Janice BlanchardEmail: janicecsa@comcast.net HUH?   Editor's Rather Long Note: In the beginning of April, Mid Atlantic Cohousing will launch the first ever Collaboratory* on "Aging in Community." The Participatory Action Research** project led by aging in community expert, Janice Blanchard founder of Aging Better Together, will follow 12 cohousing communities. Six of the communities will participate in a year long collaboratory, a new model for assisting communities to custom-craft aging care plans that build on the strengths and address the needs of their aging members. During the same time period, Aging Better Together and MAC will gather information from six additional cohousing communities that are each following their own path around aging in community. *A collaboratory is an inclusive learning environment where action learning and action research meet. The collaboratory's primary aim is to foster collective creativity to address complex issues. **"Participatory research attempts to break down the distinction between the researchers and the researched." (Gaventa 1988:19) The following Aging in Community Values, Beliefs and Assumptions form the basis for this year long inquiry. Compiled by Blanchard, McCarthy, Thomas and Stambolian (2011) and then published in a paper by Janice Blanchard "Reweaving the Social Fabric" in Aging in Community (2013) This will be the first of a series of posts that will follow the work of Janice Blanchard and the Aging in Community Collaboratory. Stay tuned! Table 1. Aging-In-Community Beliefs, Values, and Assumptions The following beliefs are integral to creating aging-in-community projects: 1 Aging is a normal part of life; it is not a problem. 2 Most people prefer and benefit from living in intergenerational neighborhoods (senior housing can be part of the larger neighborhood). 3 Good neighbors balance independence and interdependence. 4 Being good neighbors enhances the feeling of belonging to a community. 5 Everyone in a community has something to give and benefits from receiving from others. Good neighbors value reciprocity because giving and receiving strengthens social ties and provides meaning and purpose. 6 Informal relationships over time build trust, connectedness, and social capital which, like financial capital, can be intentionally earned, stored, and expended to meet our needs. 7 Most of the help people need can be provided by good neighbors, friends, and family. 8 Not everyone works full time away from home; therefore, help is often available when needed, especially when planned in advance. 9 The opportunity to get to know and help others can be enhanced with periodic community get-togethers where information and resources can be shared and planning can occur. 10 There is leadership and a core group who are willing to take action to support neighbors aging in their homes and staying connected to their communities. 11 Providing a broad range of care options as well as senior-friendly services (e.g., plumbing and electrical) can be enhanced by partnering with organizations within the larger community. 12 Each community (and individual) will have to address the threshold of the level of care that they are willing and able to provide to neighbors with physical, mental or cognitive impairment. (Blanchard, McCarthy, Thomas, and Stambolian, 2011. Unpublished manuscript. Later published in Aging in Community, 2013)  Janice Blanchard, MSPH, is President of Aging Better, Together and editor of the recently published book, Aging in Community (2013). For the past 25 years Blanchard has worked in academic, government and non-profit organizations to promote a positive culture of aging and to shift the paradigm from aging in place, to aging in community. She has been a chief social architect with numerous aging initiatives, including strategic plans such as the Age Matters Initiative for City and County of Denver and Silverprint for the State of Colorado. Her professional practice is rooted in her personal experience – Blanchard has been a caregiver for the length of her career in Gerontology for her grandmother, mother, and for the past 8 years, her father and stepmother. janicecsa@comcast.net The Cohousing Toolbox  Sometimes you just need TOOLS to help you on your way. Whether you are a newly forming group or a well established community, here's some stuff designed to grease the skids of cohousing. Aging in Community Reweaving the Social Fabric of Our Communities Aging in Community: The Communitarian Alternative to Aging in Place, Alone Connecting Generations Housing Opportunity 2014-Intergenerational Living: Housing and Communities for all Ages Changing Choices -- Aging in Place in the 21st Century HUH?  An Intimate Dinner Date Another Editor's Note: Starting with this upload to the MAC blog we will no longer reproduce the entire contents of the weekly newsletter. We will publish the main article and when appropriate The Toolbox.
Announcements in the newsletter will be posted on the Home Page.. Just scroll down a wee bit ... Don't wanna miss out on anything? You can get the newsletter FREE and get ALL the fun stuff every week right in your In-Box. It's FREE. Just subscribe via the home page of this website. Click on the BIG BUTTON in the middle of the screen that says: SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER.  Book Review by Ann Zabaldo Probably fewer subjects in the world engender as many heart palpitations, flop sweats and as much downright dread as does the subject of money. People would rather talk about intimate details about their sex lives than money. It's hard enough trying to talk with your partner, your children or your spouse. But what happens when you have to talk to your whole cohousing community? Whether your are just forming a new cohousing group or living in a well-established community ... at some point you will find you need to talk about money. Can you successfully navigate the many eddies, whitewater and rapids that frequently accompanies a conversation about money? Eris Weaver has written a guide that will surely make these conversations so much easier. From her website: Many communities find themselves in conflict over financial and budget issues… and the current economic situation doesn’t help! Conflicts about money are really conflicts about values. This workbook is designed to help your community have useful conversations about your financial values - conversations that lead to greater understanding and connection as well as more effective financial decision- making. The book is an INQUIRY into values. Once firmly on the path of seeking to understand values much of the tension can fall away as the individual and group seek to understand which values they SHARE and on which values they DIFFER. Focusing on values obviates the stereotyping around labels such as miser or spendthrift. Focusing on values reduces conflict. Through a series of exercises, case studies and tools, Weaver converts what could be tense talks into pathways for gaining insight. These practices ferret out information about money and values we hold as individuals and as a group. Who would have thought, In this slim, little book, Weaver could make talking about money ... FUN? Whether you are involved in a forming group trying to figure out how much money the group can manifest to buy that piece of property or a well-established group wrangling over hiring work done vs. the good ol' DIY ... you will find this book a very handy guide to knotty conversations. This book unknots the knots! You can learn a lot about yourself, your neighbors and your community ... and have fun doing it! Let's Talk About Money $10.00 plus S&H  Eris Weaver is a facilitator, consultant, trainer, and public speaker known for her clarity, forthrightness, and humor.Contact Eris Phone: 707-338-8589 Email: eris@erisweaver.info The Cohousing Toolbox Sometimes you just need TOOLS to help you on your way. Whether you are a newly forming group or a well established community, here's some stuff designed to grease the skids of cohousing.  Talking About Money  The Money Talk You and Your Partner Can't Avoid. How Should I talk to My Spouse About Our Different Financial Habits? How to Talk About Money With Your Aging Parents How to Talk To Your Children About Money Do you have a tool to share? Send your thoughts, comments and suggestions to   March 28, 2016-November 18, 2016 The Age of Disruption Tour "Dr. Bill Thomas has given up practicing in favor of proselytizing. For the past two years, he has traveled the country on a mission to raise public consciousness — strumming a guitar and presenting a stage show that touts a “post-adulthood” period when age and experience are associated with enrichment rather than decrepitude." Saturday, April 16, 2016 the Living Well, Aging Well Summit will be held at the Fairfax County Government Center from 9am-3pm. The mission of the summit is to collaborate, present knowledge and provide a forum for individuals, family members, general community members and industry professionals to explore multiple aspects of living and aging well. The Summit will feature multiple opportunities to learn and grow:
Please stay tuned for more information about how to register! Heathcote Community, a 50-year old intentional community and permaculture demonstration farm, is seeking proposals from families or groups who would like to be Associate Members of Heathcote and rent Heathcote’s farmhouse for a year.  Saturday, April 30, 2016 Have you registered for the unique opportunity to promote your community along with others around the country through the National Cohousing Open House Day ? This will be a great way to strengthen the bonds within and between communities while lengthening your waiting lists and filling openings. It will help generate new interest nationwide as well, thus more communities can emerge over time. Sign up using this form.  Aging Better Together: May 20-21, 2016 Salt Lake City, UtahDiscover how you can live a powerful purposeful life in cohousing!The conference holds the keys to creating a highly functioning senior friendly cohousing community. You will learn how to get started, meet the people who can help make it happen, and discover best practices from others who have already made the journey. There is something for everyone - those exploring the idea, newly forming groups or existing communities with aging members. Do you have an announcement? Send your Bits
 "Solar cells aren’t just big dark panels any more. Professor Richard Lunt, of Michigan State University, has developed transparent solar cells, which could allow the windows in buildings to be turned into a solar harvesting surface. These transparent solar cells can be integrated during the window manufacturing process, but older buildings can also be retrofitted by placing a laminate version of the cell on existing windows. The cells work by guiding the light it receives to the edge of the glass, where it meets thin strips of solar cells, that then convert the energy into electricity. The goal is to have skyscrapers covered in the cells, essentially turning them into solar farms, allowing enough energy to be captured to power the entire building." HUH?  Editor's Note: Consensus decision-making or some form of collaborative decision-making is used by virtually every cohousing community in the U.S. (and maybe Canada!) Yet, for all its widespread adoption, it is one of the most contentious aspects of living in cohousing. Perhaps it is because it is often misunderstood and misused. In this guest blog by Martie Weatherly of Liberty Village Cohousing in Libertytown, Maryland, she identifies five common areas upon which groups having difficulty stumble. You can download a pdf of this blog post from the MAC website.  Martie Weatherly Life Coach and Consensus/Facilitation Trainer
Here are the top five pitfalls to consensus:
Consensus is not good for deciding matters of taste such as choosing colors of paint or for urgent decisions. Delegate those decisions to a team.
Having well-trained facilitators who can keep the discussion on topic is key to having consensus decision-making work. Budget money for facilitation training.
More on blocking in future blog posts. Here is to great consensus decision-making and having it work as well you know it can! [Download a pdf of this blog post.] Martie Weatherly is a personal life coach and a trainer of consensus and facilitation. She has given seminars for Mid Atlantic Cohousing and has consulted with several local cohousing communities on both these topics. One of her biggest passions in life is supporting cohousing communities in having their consensus process and facilitation work seamlessly. In 2016, Martie will be offering two consensus workshops through Mid Atlantic Cohousing. We will be announcing the dates and details via our newsletter and blog. Stay tuned!  The Cohousing Toolbox Sometimes you just need TOOLS to help you on your way. Whether you are a newly forming group or a well established community, here's some stuff designed to grease the skids of cohousing. Consensus Resources  Seeds for Change -- check out the resources of this UK based organization. According to their website, you are invited to use their materials as long as you do not copyright any of their work. Good Group Tips -- sign up for Craig Freshly's weekly email containing a tip which can surely improve your group dynamics and decision-making. Group Works -- play cards with this card deck created by Group Works which is designed to for bring life to meetings and other gatherings. Do you have a tool to share? Send your thoughts, comments and suggestions to  Wednesday, March 2, 2016 7-8:30 p.m. DC Home Buyer Seminar Steps to finding a home you like.
Register here. Presented by GPN Title, Long & Foster, 1st Portfolio Saturday, March 5, 2016, tour Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC. Sign up via Washington DC Area Meetup. Saturday, April 16, 2016 the Living Well, Aging Well Summit will be held at the Fairfax County Government Center from 9am-3pm. The mission of the summit is to collaborate, present knowledge and provide a forum for individuals, family members, general community members and industry professionals to explore multiple aspects of living and aging well. The Summit will feature multiple opportunities to learn and grow:
Please stay tuned for more information about how to register! Heathcote Community, a 50-year old intentional community and permaculture demonstration farm, is seeking proposals from families or groups who would like to be Associate Members of Heathcote and rent Heathcote’s farmhouse for a year.  Saturday, April 30, 2016 Have you registered for the unique opportunity to promote your community along with others around the country through the National Cohousing Open House Day ? This will be a great way to strengthen the bonds within and between communities while lengthening your waiting lists and filling openings. It will help generate new interest nationwide as well, thus more communities can emerge over time. Sign up using this form.  Aging Better Together: May 20-21, 2016 Salt Lake City, UtahDiscover how you can live a powerful purposeful life in cohousing!The conference holds the keys to creating a highly functioning senior friendly cohousing community. You will learn how to get started, meet the people who can help make it happen, and discover best practices from others who have already made the journey. There is something for everyone - those exploring the idea, newly forming groups or existing communities with aging members. Do you have an announcement? Send your info to Ann using the standard 5-Ws: Who, What, Where, When, Why + contact info! Bits When what you need is a rainforest in a desert ... build one in Dubai ...  "Dubai has unveiled plans for a luxury hotel with an indoor jungle, the latest in a long line of flamboyant developments taking place in the city.designed by ZAS architects, the rosemont hotel & residences will house a 75,000 square foot (6,968 square meter) indoor rainforest — a feature developers claim to be the world’s first. however, the list of lavish amenities doesn’t end there. spread across two 47-storey towers in dubai’s al thanyah district, the elevated jungle is contained within a super-sized terrarium, complete with a man-made beach and a splash pool that uses recycled water. the complex will also boast an infinity pool with a glass bottom overlooking the gulf, and robotic handlers to transport luggage to guests’ rooms." Designboom Some Day Will We Each Have One of These?  Olaf Mooij built his own moveable artist studio from upcycled materials and found objects. It's a carpenter's workshop, laboratory, theatre stage, cinema, transportation vehicle, etc. It's also really tiny. Could this be a solution for an individual living space? All 6.5 billion of us could have our own living space? Be sure to see all the other photos. You'll be surprised to see what this tiny space contains. HUH?   Terrifying: to fill with terror or alarm; to make greatly afraid. Yup. That dictionary definition pretty well sums up the dread I felt buying my first home. If I only knew then what I know now … If only there had been an internet (dating myself here), if only I had someone to talk to about the process, if only I hadn’t had the mistaken idea that the real estate agent would handle everything … To this day, I remember in great detail the trauma around buying my first home. Just one detail to illustrate: settlement took more than four hours of intensive negotiation via my settlement attorney, the seller’s two real estate agents and the seller — all at the table — as the seller balked at items in the contract that he had to fulfill as required by law. It didn’t go well. Since there’s no time like your first time buying a house … make it a first time to remember as an adventure instead of trauma. What causes all this stress? Safe to say that with the possible exception of having and raising children, buying a house will be the single biggest monetary investment the majority of us make in our lifetime. When you add to that the emotional aspect of that purchase being buying a HOME you can see how the stress can spark. The mechanics of buying a home are the same whether you are choosing to live in cohousing, a typical urban, suburban, rural community development; buying a condo, co-op. single family detached, duplex, quad, or multi-family home; married, single, young or old — everyone marches through the same hoops to get to settlement, get the keys and move-in. While buying in cohousing can offer some relief in reducing the suspicion of being “ripped-off” if you’re not prepared you can be just as surprised in buying a cohousing home as any other house. The process follows these general steps whether using an agent or buying a home For Sale By Owner:
Mostly, the home buying process is a LOT of clerical, administrivia work. If you don’t like details … the process can be a bear. But it is totally doable. In the Cohousing Toolbox below you will find some references to get you started on your way. It is NOT exhaustive. Educate your self by conducting your own research. Don’t overlook taking advantage of any home buying seminars in your area. There is lots of free or low cost workshops available for home buyers. Make your first home buying experience fun to remember!  The Cohousing Toolbox Sometimes you just need TOOLS to help you on your way. Whether you are a newly forming group or a well established community, here's some stuff designed to grease the skids of cohousing.  Jargon, jargon, jargon. You gotta know the rap to play the game. Don't try to cram the information like you are studying for a test. Give the references below a once over and then use them when you need to understand or define a term of art in buying your home! New York State -- applies to us all! The Motley Fool The Definitive Guide for Homebuyers A Mortgage Glossary HUD Steps for Buying a Home    Financing Your Home Affordability Calculator -- how much can you afford? Mortgage Calculator -- what will your mortgage cost? Do you have a tool to share? Send your thoughts, comments and suggestions to Ann. Include contact information. We'll print suggestions in a future newsletter!   Saturday, February 20, 2016 come out for the Visitor Day at Heathcote Community! Freeland, Maryland. Wednesday, March 2, 2016 7-8:30 p.m. DC Home Buyer Seminar
Presented by GPN Title, Long & Foster, 1st Portfolio Saturday, March 5, 2016, tour Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC. Sign up via Washington DC Area Meetup. Saturday, April 16, 2016 the Living Well, Aging Well Summit will be held at the Fairfax County Government Center from 9am-3pm. The mission of the summit is to collaborate, present knowledge and provide a forum for individuals, family members, general community members and industry professionals to explore multiple aspects of living and aging well. The Summit will feature multiple opportunities to learn and grow:
Please stay tuned for more information about how to register! Heathcote Community, a 50-year old intentional community and permaculture demonstration farm, is seeking proposals from families or groups who would like to be Associate Members of Heathcote and rent Heathcote’s farmhouse for a year.  Saturday, April 30, 2016 Have you registered for the unique opportunity to promote your community along with others around the country through the National Cohousing Open House Day ? This will be a great way to strengthen the bonds within and between communities while lengthening your waiting lists and filling openings. It will help generate new interest nationwide as well, thus more communities can emerge over time. Sign up using this form.  Aging Better Together: May 20-21, 2016Salt Lake City, UtahDiscover how you can live a powerful purposeful life in cohousing!The conference holds the keys to creating a highly functioning senior friendly cohousing community. You will learn how to get started, meet the people who can help make it happen, and discover best practices from others who have already made the journey. There is something for everyone - those exploring the idea, newly forming groups or existing communities with aging members. Do you have an announcement? Send your info to Ann using the standard 5-Ws: Who, What, Where, When, Why + contact info! BITS  More Transforming Furniture Konnekt -- a furniture system designed for the life of the Common House. "Pouf" system includes backrests, tables and framework to add as you like. By Swedese 2016 Leftover wood chips + cement + water = Cool Acoustical Panels.  Form Us With Love has created some very sexy acoustical panels for BAUX. Noisy Common Houses are all too common. Common solutions are the standard 12" acoustical tiles seen in many commercial buildings and Tectum which many cohousing communities have used effectively. Nothing wrong with this other than these tiles and panels are ... unattractive. These Baux acoustical treatments are low impact, green, sustainable and they don't look like 12" white squares with little holes in them ... According to the website, the panels are designed for use as architectural wall features while also serving to dampen noise. Very sexy. More inspiring photos. HUH?  So why are you making it so tough for them to find you?
Do you? For the umpteenth time … last night I received a “Press Release” from a group forming an EcoVillage. This is great news! An awesome undertaking! A cause for celebration! No where in the “Press Release” did it contain any contact information. Only at the very end — the very last line — does it direct people to the group’s website. Really? No name, no phone number, no email address …? A project like cohousing which depends so much on social interaction has no way for people to interact? The more you make people jump through hoops to find you the more likely you are to miss the very folks who could be your neighbors — the very ones who could save you from financial ruin by joining you. The media receive hundreds if not thousands of requests for its attention. Making it easy for media folks to contact you should be your number one priority. Making it easy for future neighbors to find you is a also a number one priority. November 3, 2015, I wrote a piece called The Top 5 All-Time Mistakes in Outreach Promotion. (Scroll down to the newsletter for 11/3/15.) In the piece I point out information that groups omit that make it hard for folks to figure out how to get in touch. One of my colleagues wrote to me saying that this piece was awfully basic. She thought what I wrote didn’t give people enough credit for knowing to include contact info. And yet … here we are today, press release in hand with no contact info except a website. Sadly, this is not unusual. Meanwhile, in terms of creating a Press Release … there are rules to follow. Surely common sense dictates that ANY written solicitation contain contact information:
A Press Release contains information laid out in a standard progression: 1. Contact info at the top 2. A Headline that grabs attention 3. A secondary sub-line if needed that expands on the Headline 4. Who, what, where, when, why captured in the Headline, secondary sub line or in the 1st paragraph of the content. 5. Three to five paragraphs of content keeping the Press Release to one page if possible. 6. Include quotable information that the media can use e.g.: “This will be the very first Passive House community built in our area that is also affordable for teachers, librarians, social workers and other middle income folks. The resulting savings on energy costs will help reduce monthly costs for housing putting more money into our local economy.” 7. A very precise Call To Action: attend this event, call for interview, etc. 8. Attached photos or visuals or directions to where media they can download the same e.g. dropbox, website. 9. Always include a short paragraph with descriptive info about who YOU are — make it obvious. 10. Always, always, always end Press Releases with hashtags: ### This indicates to the reader that this is THE END. If you do not have a media maven in your group, if you can’t afford to hire one … then there are a ZILLION websites that can easily show you how to construct a Press Release. My favorite go-to site is HubSpot. Here is just one of their tutorialson creating a Press Release which also includes an example. Just follow the script. Another cool favorite: Fast Company's "How To Write a Press Release That Doesn't Completely Suck." Be smart and create a template or use one of HubSpot’s or another website'sfree templates so that you always have the standard information already created. Then, you’re just filling in the blanks. Here's another head's up: learn the difference between a Media Advisory and a Press Release. They ARE different! Both for groups creating their communities and for established communities in the ongoing task of resales … contact with the prospective buyer is absolutely key. Whether the written information is for a media person, a political person, or a possible new neighbor … help him, help her, help yourselves. Make this easy to do. ###  The Cohousing Toolbox Sometimes you just need TOOLS to help you on your way. Whether you are a newly forming group or a well established community, here's some stuff designed to grease the skids of cohousing.  No more guilt! Tamara Bowman and Don Crowther show you how you can find FREE legal pictures for your websites, blogs and other media.  You got FREE pictures above. Why not some free advice on editing copy? Eddie Shleyner, writing for HubSpot, says: "Editing copy boils down to two key things: recognizing weaknesses and knowing how to fix them. It’s a critical part of the writing process and yet, one that’s all too often overlooked. After all, if you don’t know that there’s an issue to begin with, how can you fix it?" Happily, Shleyner, gives us his "10 Simple Edits That'll Instantly Improve Any Piece of Writing". If you are just starting out in your cohousing adventure writing press releases, web pages, blog posts, etc. you're gonna love this article. And for old timers it's a quick refresher. Be sure to download HubSpot's THE MARKETER'S POCKET GUIDE TO WRITING WELL. It's FREE! Do you have a tool to share? Send your thoughts, comments and suggestions toAnn. Include contact information. We'll print suggestions in a future newsletter!  Saturday, February 20, 2016 come out for the Visitor Day at Heathcote Community! Freeland, Maryland. Wednesday, March 2, 2016 7-8:30 p.m. DC Home Buyer Seminar
Register here. Presented by GPN Title, Long & Foster, 1st Portfolio Saturday, March 5, 2016, tour Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC. Sign up via Washington DC Area Meetup. Saturday, April 16, 2016 the Living Well, Aging Well Summit will be held at the Fairfax County Government Center from 9am-3pm. The mission of the summit is to collaborate, present knowledge and provide a forum for individuals, family members, general community members and industry professionals to explore multiple aspects of living and aging well. The Summit will feature multiple opportunities to learn and grow:
Please stay tuned for more information about how to register! Heathcote Community, a 50-year old intentional community and permaculture demonstration farm, is seeking proposals from families or groups who would like to be Associate Members of Heathcote and rent Heathcote’s farmhouse for a year.  You know how when it's going to snow people go to the store and buy milk, bread and eggs? Are they all making french toast? (quickmeme.com) Find out how cohousers spent the Blizzard of 2016 by visiting this photo array on the Mid Atlantic Cohousing website. We'll be adding photos and text as they become available so check back. With 36" of snow on the ground the folks at Catoctin Creek Village in Lovettsville, Virginia just got out of their front doors three days after the storm finished. They promised pictures ...  Saturday, April 30, 2016 Have you registered for the unique opportunity to promote your community along with others around the country through the National Cohousing Open House Day ? This will be a great way to strengthen the bonds within and between communities while lengthening your waiting lists and filling openings. It will help generate new interest nationwide as well, thus more communities can emerge over time. Sign up using this form.  Aging Better Together: May 20-21, 2016Salt Lake City, UtahDiscover how you can live a powerful purposeful life in cohousing!The conference holds the keys to creating a highly functioning senior friendly cohousing community. You will learn how to get started, meet the people who can help make it happen, and discover best practices from others who have already made the journey. There is something for everyone - those exploring the idea, newly forming groups or existing communities with aging members. Do you have an announcement? Send your info to Ann using the standard 5-Ws: Who, What, Where, When, Why + contact info! Bits  The Murphy Bed goes vertical with the Espace Loggia -- it's a bed that is raised to the ceiling rather than tucked in a wall. It comes in twin and queen sizes. Lots of variety.  From Gizmodo: "Just two people are needed to transform the MK1 table in mere seconds. And you don't have to worry about hunting down inserts, sliding panels, or fumbling with some lock that long ago jammed shut. You will probably need to find another spot for TV remotes and empty Doritos bags before you add this to your living room set, though. Oh, and just over $1,300 to pay for it. [Duffy London via Notcot]"  Ukrainian designer Julia Kononenko is the creator of this transforming sofa. It's so simple it's a DIY project for any seating space. According to Kononenko: "In our apartments we are always in the confrontation with furniture for the living space. It is so important, that the Interior items possess little space, are multi-functional and small in size. I created a sofa for the living room, that can easily be transformed into a small dining-table with 6 padded stools. In terms of ergonomics it gives maximum comfort and convenience to the user. While transforming the sofa, the seat turns into six padded stools, and the backrest - into a countertop. From one small sofa, we can get a dining-table for 6 persones. Transformation furniture - ideal for limited space." DIY!  It's a little WEIRD ... it's a little BIZARRE ... it's a ... Nail-It Finger Saver No more "Owwww!" For cohousers and DIY'ers everywhere. designed by Avihai Shurin Holds the nail in position while keeping your fingers out of harm’s way. Suits most nail sizes. Made of: Plastic HUH?  Wanna have a contest? What fun contests about "life in cohousing" would you like to see? Send your suggestions to: Ann Zabaldo. Or you can comment on our blog. Open to all clean & green, natural, organic, cage & steroid-free contests ... You can leave comments about blog postings or all our published work below. Newsletters are posted to the the web site two days after being emailed to subscribers. Or you can send your comments to ANN. She reads them all! While at the website, cruise around earlier blog posts and other parts of the website. Look for FREE downloads!
If you received our newsletter from a third party ... you can subscribe yourself! We don't trade names, we don't spam and we're all around lovely people. Subscribe using the button on the Home Page!  The Cohousing Toolbox #2 Many thanks to those who have submitted suggestions for The Cohousing Toolbox. We'll be including suggestions until they run out! Submissions.  Going solar? The savings are dancing like sugar plums in your head. Of course you want to know how much it is going to cost. Answer: Big bucks. But, you are going to MAKE money when you hook up to The Grid. You will start selling your unused electricity back to the electric company. There is another marker to consider. It's the logistics of what it takes to get your brand new energy-saving system actually connected to The Grid. This is called "Interconnection." Some states are abysmal at hooking you up while others are high fives. After investing the GDP of a small country, the last thing you want is for your system to sit idly by in the sun catching rays but not returning any money to your pocket. Which is your state? To help you make the best decision before you invest, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council has just released it's Freeing the Grid scorecard. With this handy tool you can easily see where your state scores. Arizona, North Dakota, Nebraska, Louisiana and a bunch of others -- bad dogs! Hawaii, New Mexico, Ohio and seven other states: High Fives!  Susan Adams of Jubilee Cohousing, a forming group in Floyd, Virgina highly recommends ZenLunatics Mosaic software program for building a website for your cohousing community. Susan cites this tribute from the Cohousing-L email list written by Mary Baker, a resident of Sonora Cohousing in Tucson, Arizona. "I second the use of ZenLunatics’ Mosaic program. I have used Google Docs, Yahoo Groups, various calendar systems and various project management systems and I highly recommend this program—the other solutions would all have to be cobbled together and would be awkward and incomplete. For cohousing, the Mosaic program is easy, intuitive and comprehensive. You can create as many calendars and reminders as you want, make reservations, track charges for dinners and rentals, archive documents, and have both personal and team emails and archives. There’s also a rudimentary discussion forum ability, and a module for a mini-social-media for photos and announcements—it looks like Facebook but is a private module for the coho only." Check out the website! Thank you, Susan, for forwarding this tool for inclusion in The Cohousing Toolbox. Do you have a tool to share? Send to Ann.  freeprintable.net Need fax forms? Flyers? Name tags? Cash sales receipts? Stationery? Flags? Tags? Invitation? For sale? For Rent? If it's something you print ... freeprintable.net has it for FREE! From the website: Put your printer to work! FreePrintable.net provides beautiful FREE printable files that you can customize and print on your inkjet or laser printer. There are 99 sites in the Free Printable network: click one of the links to get started. Printables for Business Printables for Everyone Printables for Home Printables for Kids Non-English Printables Seasonal Printables Print on! Share a tool! Send your thoughts, comments and suggestions to   Interview with Chuck Durrett on Shareable Chuck Durrett, along with his wife Katie McCamant, brought cohousing to the US and Canada with the first edition of their book COHOUSING: A CONTEMPORARY APPROACH TO HOUSING OURSELVES published in 1988. Since then there have been two more edition of the book with more than 150 communities have been completed in the US and Canada. Chuck and Katie's firm has worked on more than 50 of them. Chuck is interviewed by Ann Bergen Miller for Shareable. Sunday, February 7, 2016, 2:00 pm, New Member Social EcoVillage Arlington, Virginia, Boccato Gelato & Espresso, 2719 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201 Saturday, March 5, 2016, tour Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC. Sign up via Washington DC Area Meetup. Saturday, February 20, 2016 come out for the Visitor Day at Heathcote Community! Freeland, Maryland. Heathcote Community, a 50-year old intentional community and permaculture demonstration farm, is seeking proposals from families or groups who would like to be Associate Members of Heathcote and rent Heathcote’s farmhouse for a year.  From the Mid Atlantic Cohousing website: Find out how cohousers spent the Blizzard of 2016 by visiting this photo array on the Mid Atlantic Cohousing website. We'll be adding photos and text as they become available so check back.  From the Cohousing.org website: Saturday, April 30, 2016 Have you registered for the unique opportunity to promote your community along with others around the country through the National Cohousing Open House Day ? This will be a great way to strengthen the bonds within and between communities while lengthening your waiting lists and filling openings. It will help generate new interest nationwide as well, thus more communities can emerge over time. Sign up using this form.  Aging Better Together: May 20-21, 2016Salt Lake City, UtahDiscover how you can live a powerful purposeful life in cohousing!The conference holds the keys to creating a highly functioning senior friendly cohousing community. You will learn how to get started, meet the people who can help make it happen, and discover best practices from others who have already made the journey. There is something for everyone - those exploring the idea, newly forming groups or existing communities with aging members. Do you have an announcement? Send your 5-Ws: Who, What, Where, When, Why + contact info! BITS  Passive Haus Wikipedia defines the term passive house (Passivhaus in German) as refering "... to a rigorous, voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, reducing its ecological footprint. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling." This article looks at how the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency by including Passive Haus benchmarks in Low Income Housing Tax Credit application not only generated energy efficient housing but more of it. Developers saw incorporating the Passive Haus standard as a way to gain a little edge in the awarding of contracts for building affordable housing. Now the housing is not only affordable on the front end ... it's affordable on the back end by saving owners money in energy outlays. According to the article in Planetizen: "The resulting energy cost savings to the tenants could help break the cycles of poverty that cause people to need affordable housing in the first place."  superkul.ca + HOUSE From the website: Designed for a client with environmental (chemical) sensitivities, +HOUSE is a manifestation of a sustainable and healthy approach to building that does not sacrifice design.+ HOUSE is embedded with a wealth of complex, health sensitive materials and methods. Built of inert cementitious blocks that inhibit the growth of fungi and molds, the walls are finished with a natural clay plaster that requires no paint finish. A soy-based sealer was used for the concrete floors and counters, and untreated silk and hemp fabric was used for the curtains. The client was equally interested in environmentally responsible design. Achieving a healthy house for both client and environment meant extensive research into a wide range of products and locally produced materials suited to the climate. A green roof, heat-mirror triple glazing, solar shading, passive ventilation and daylighting, and a geothermal system are just some of the features of this LEED Gold-targeted project.  Slalom House It's bird! It's a plane! It's a ski run! Not built yet but it's oh so wonderfully weird every municipality should have one -- or more --complexes that combine housing and ... skiing! Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) started this craze with its plans to build a trash incinerator with a chair lift to allow people to ski down one side of the building. But why limit skiing to industrial buildings when you can ski right outside your front door? It will be located in the Kazakh capital city of Astana. If you like weird, if you like bizarre then you will like Astana and you will understand why skiing and housing go together. HUH?   The Cohousing Toolbox While some folks find it fun in cohousing to debate privacy vs. community, voluntary vs. required workshare, Common House use for private events, noise, pets and policies ... sometimes you just need TOOLS to help you on your way. Whether you are a newly forming group or a well established community, here's some stuff designed to grease the skids of cohousing.  Are you just starting out in cohousing? Are you geographically challenged with some of your members living far away? Is your cohousing professional in another time zone? Are you having a critical meeting and some of your neighbors are away? ZOOM is a FREE tool that allows you to video conference up to 50 participants! The number of meetings is UNLIMITED. You can even do one-to-one meetings. It's a little like SKYPE but for groups. It's EASY to use. Believe me ... if I use it it's easy! Chat support is available.  Selling your cohousing home? We're sorry to see you leave but if you have to ... make marketing your home a little easier with this app. Save time with open houses that go on too long by using Insidemaps.com 3D or virtual tours of homes is not new. However, this tool allows anyone with an iPhone to upload images and go live with a minimum of fuss. While you're at it ... why not map your Common House and put in on your website? Doing this can be especially helpful for prospective buyers who may live out of town. A great thought: if every built cohousing community used this tool to 3D map its Common House and made it available on its website ... what an incredible resource we would have for everyone to use!  Hey! I been to college. I speak English. But ... there-their-they're ... are just times I need a little help getting that grammar straight. Here's a nifty tool that's NOT a book! It's an easy to access INFO GRAPHIC. Yeah. It says "for students" but really ... aren't we all always learning? If you're creating marketing materials, writing for a website or blog ... for any kind of written communication ... keep this info graphic handy. Beautiful materials with lovely pictures peppered with with misspellings, grammatical errors, poor syntax, etc. are a turn-off for your marketing, outreach, education and information efforts. Maximize your potential reach by getting the grammar rite-write-right. Do you have a tool to share? Send your thoughts, comments and suggestions toAnn. Include contact information. We'll print suggestions in a future newsletter!  Sunday, February 7, 2016, 2:00 pm, New Member Social EcoVillage Arlington, Virginia, Boccato Gelato & Espresso, 2719 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201 Saturday, March 5, 2016, tour Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC. Sign up via Washington DC Area Meetup. Saturday, February 20, 2016 come out for the Visitor Day at Heathcote Community! Freeland, Maryland. Heathcote Community, a 50-year old intentional community and permaculture demonstration farm, is seeking proposals from families or groups who would like to be Associate Members of Heathcote and rent Heathcote’s farmhouse for a year.  You know how when it's going to snow people go to the store and buy milk, bread and eggs? Are they all making french toast? (quickmeme.com) Find out how cohousers spent the Blizzard of 2016 by visiting this photo array on the Mid Atlantic Cohousing website. We'll be adding photos and text as they become available so check back. With 36" of snow on the ground the folks at Catoctin Creek Village in Lovettsville, Virginia just got out of their front doors three days after the storm finished. They promised pictures ...  Saturday, April 30, 2016 Have you registered for the unique opportunity to promote your community along with others around the country through the National Cohousing Open House Day ? This will be a great way to strengthen the bonds within and between communities while lengthening your waiting lists and filling openings. It will help generate new interest nationwide as well, thus more communities can emerge over time. Sign up using this form.  Aging Better Together: May 20-21, 2016 Salt Lake City, Utah Discover how you can live a powerful purposeful life in cohousing! The conference holds the keys to creating a highly functioning senior friendly cohousing community. You will learn how to get started, meet the people who can help make it happen, and discover best practices from others who have already made the journey. There is something for everyone - those exploring the idea, newly forming groups or existing communities with aging members. Do you have an announcement? Send your info to Ann using the standard 5-Ws: Who, What, Where, When, Why + contact info! Edi-bits  Can You Buy a House with Bad Credit? With the recession hitting in 2008 coupled with a very slow recovery, many people seeking to live in cohousing find themselves with less-than-perfect credit. Are you shut out of the market? Not necessarily. Check out this article by Kayla Albert for Trulia on 4 Ways To Buy a Home with Bad Credit.  Can You Color in the Lines? With the adult coloring book craze sweeping the country ... here's a coloring book for people who really like detail and who really like architecture created by Steve McDonald. His new coloring book Fantastic Structures is due out March 15, 2016. Available via all on-line bookstores.  Can You Build a House Out of Plastic? EcoDomum converts waste plastic into 8'x4'x1" building panels for low-cost homes in Mexico. If they can do this in Mexico ... can we do it here? If you don't read Spanish then read about what this company is doing in Treehugger.  It's a little WEIRD ... it's a little BIZARRE ... it's a ... Folding bathtub. And it won the 2015 RedDot award. HUH?  Wanna have a contest? What fun contests about "life in cohousing" would you like to see? Send your suggestions to: Ann Zabaldo. Or you can comment on our blog. Open to all clean & green, natural, organic, cage & steroid-free contests ... You can leave comments about blog postings or all our published work below. Newsletters are posted to the the web site two days after being emailed to subscribers. Or you can send your comments to ANN. She reads them all! While at the website, cruise around earlier blog posts and other parts of the website. Look for FREE downloads! If you received our newsletter from a third party ... you can subscribe yourself! We don't trade names, we don't spam and we're all around lovely people. Subscribe using the button on the Home Page! |
AuthorAnn Zabaldo is a passionate promoter of cohousing. She was on the develoment team for Eastern Village in Silver Spring, MD and Takoma Village in Washington, DC where she lives. She serves on the Board for MAC. Archives
February 2017
See cool blog for Emerson Commons.
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