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: 

•     sleeping and chatting space
•     two breakfasts, two dinners and snacks (contribution jar to reimburse the cooks)
•     free wifi!
•     showers in private homes for everyone
•     loaded Metro cards (to remove that logistical snag)
•     lots of community and conversation

Our visitors told us they felt comfortable, welcome, well-fed, and actually got enough rest to make the long trip home on Sunday.  Those unfamiliar with cohousing became intrigued by our community and several want to visit and explore cohousing in their own lives.

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. 

• Space for large gatherings — We have an oversized community building we call a Common House.  In this case, many people staying overnight were accommodated by using the Common House facility.
• Guest rooms — Built-in accommodations for people to stay in the community are standard and included in the Common House.  So, having guests visit us is normal.
• Kitchen facilities — We share common meals twice a week made by neighbors in our Common House kitchen.  Having such a well planned out kitchen facility makes it possible to cook and serve 40+ people at a time.   The kitchen made it easy to take on preparing meals for the marchers.
• Geographic location — as an urban cohousing community located next to mass transit we have  easy access to the city — a boon for those coming in via plane, train and car.  Ditto for getting TO The March itself.

Note:  We did not take on this weekend event as the entity “Takoma Village Cohousing” but rather as the concerted effort of 6-8 people in the community who then invited neighbors to participate. Through social capital, social cohesion, teamwork, good group decision-making skills etc.,  we organized the community members to produce this highly infectious weekend.

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. 

☯️

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!  ​

​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

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. 

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!  

Do you know that:

• 90% of the care given to elders is given by family members?
• BUT … almost 25% of the population retiring now at age 65 are “elder orphans”? They are either widowed, divorced, or single-never-married. They have no children and no siblings.
• the current cost of nursing home care can easily exceed $100,000 per year?  
• YET ...  fewer than 30% of those retiring have even $50,000 in savings or income beyond Social Security?   What’s happening with the other 60%+?
• 70% of us will need 1-3 years of health care assistance?
• AND … we’re all living longer and longer lives?

How will we care for seniors and how will we pay for it?

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?

• We’re already an intentional community.
• We already have the social capital in place.
• Our ability to organize for collective good is normal.
• We’re grassroots — we don’t need an agency to lead us.
• We routinely take our skills into the larger community.
• We already care about each other.
• Cohousing communities are connected through a national cohousing network: CohoUS
• We’re already focused on the issue as we see our members age first hand.  We’re experiencing the dilemma in real time.

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

Read how Mid Atlantic Cohousing, The Participatory Action Research Project, and Aging Better Together will launch the first ever Collaboratory* on "Aging in Community" -- 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.

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
​

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.

Read this review by Ann Zabaldo of the book Let's Talk About Money, a 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.

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

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.

"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."

• 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 tutorials on 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's free 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.

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.

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.