Mid Atlantic Cohousing

• Is consensus decision-making a challenge for your community? 
• Are you unable to come to agreement on a topic?
• Do members say they will block a topic if you bring it up?

Collaborative decision-making is challenging!

Here are the top five pitfalls to consensus:

• Number 5:  Allowing threats “If you bring that up, I will block it.”

That person is talking veto -- not consensus.  Coming to agreement by consensus is a creative process requiring members listening to each other's points of view.  Consensus requires curiosity and welcoming diversity from which a new solution arises.

• Number 4:  Delegating tasks to a committee and then overriding the committee’s decision; failure to delegate altogether.

Have a clear “box” of what the committee can do, how much it has to spend and how to report to the community. Then, let them do it.  Trust them with what you asked them to do without second-guessing them.  A secondary issue is failure to delegate thereby trying to decide everything in a plenary session involving everyone.  This wastes time and erodes enthusiasm for meetings.
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.

• Number 3: Using plenary time for many details so everyone gets tired of the subject and gives up.

Create an agenda that has enough time for topics and is clear on the purpose of each topic. Don’t allow long-winded discussions or going off-topic.  Pick the low hanging fruit so you get agreement on some things, even if not all the items on the topic.

Having well-trained facilitators who can keep the discussion on topic is key to having consensus decision-making work.  Budget money for facilitation training.

• Number 2:  Avoiding concerns, not allowing disagreements or pushing passed concerns and disagreements. 

Instead, welcoming concerns and disagreements and seeing them as broadening the discussion.  Trust the “wisdom of the group.”  This means allowing concerns to come up, not resisting them, particularly from those who seem to have concerns all the time.  Listen to those concerns and respect them. They will help the group find the best solution.

• Number 1:   Allowing a block for a personal reason, not a community value.

The process to override a block must be hashed out ahead of time. Having a clear pathway to consensus is critical.  This includes taking care of the blocker so he/she feels heard and respected.  It also means taking care of the community handling what should be a very rare occurrence.  If you are experiencing blocks frequently then there is something in the process or in the shared values of the group that must be addressed.

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.]

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.  ​

Wednesday, March 2, 2016 7-8:30 p.m. DC Home Buyer Seminar
Steps to finding a home you like.

• The offer, negotiation, and closing process.
• The state of the DC market.
• Financing, including loan approval and figuring out what you can afford.

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: 

• Transportation and Mobility Expo
• Technology Fair
• "Ventures in Volunteering"
• Keynote presentations, Workshops, Health Info and Screenings, Community Exhibitors, and MORE!

Attendance is free. Summit registration can be done in advance or on site the morning of the conference. 

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.
 

​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.

​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?

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

• Steps to finding a home you like.
• The offer, negotiation, and closing process.
• The state of the DC market.
• Financing, including loan approval and figuring out what you can afford.

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: 

• Transportation and Mobility Expo
• Technology Fair
• "Ventures in Volunteering"
• Keynote presentations, Workshops, Health Info and Screenings, Community Exhibitors, and MORE!

Attendance is free. Summit registration can be done in advance or on site the morning of the conference. 

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.

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.

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 

• You are in the happy circumstance of creating a cohousing community.
• You’ve done a lot of work to bring this community to life.
• You’ve invested time, energy, money to make this vision a reality.
• Your project is awesome.
• You have much to share with people.
• You want people to join 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: 

• Name
• Phone (if you don’t want to use your personal phone number get a Google voice number — it’s FREE!)
• Email address
• Website, Face Book, Meet Up — whatever platforms you use for “talking” to people.

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.

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

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!

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!  ​

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.