Cohousing Association

The silence is deafening! Can’t communities find ways to spend $2,500 for a community improvement that others can replicate? That’s what Coho/US is offering. To stimulate your imaginations a bit, here are some recent improvements at U.S. cohousing communities that might have been considered for a grant. Discuss this grant opportunity at your next meeting! Remember, the application deadline is October 31, 2008, but we’d like to get some discussion going well before the deadline, to improve the quality of submissions. Please let David Wann hear your emerging ideas for grant submissions. David’s phone number is (303) 216-1281, and his email is davewann [at] comcast [dot] net.

We launched the Members Area at the June Cohousing Conference with several topic rooms demonstrating the kinds of discussions that were possible.

Now tell us how you’d like Coho/US to roll out that capability. What are you most interested in?

If you'd like to join a conference call to talk about what you want in the Members Area, it's scheduled for Wednesday evening, August 5 at 5 pm PDT/ 8 pm EDT. To join the conversation, call (712) 432-1620. When prompted for your access code, key in 1034100#. Normal long distance charges apply.

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"People were extremely nice and friendly. I can see why everyone wants them as neighbors." That was one participant’s comment in the 2008 Conference feedback survey. The results, with more than a fourth of the attendees participating in the survey, are invaluable as planning for the 2009 Conference in Seattle continues.

The 2008 Cohousing Conference “was a resounding success,” says Craig Ragland,
Coho/US executive director. One participant said, “Anyone who has an interest in upgrading the way their life works should attend the conference. An overview and five pages of photos from the conference.

Five areas of focus. An amazing 55 presentations – more than ever before. Meals included. Fabulous dormitory accommodations with games, a kitchen and gathering areas downstairs. Author and Design-Build Architect John Abrams. Swing music at dinner with dancing afterward. A video introduction to cohousing. New friends and old friends. The best community gathering the nation has ever seen.

Haven’t registered for the conference yet? Seriously? Don’t miss it, discounted registration is almost over! For four days in Boston’s Waltham community at picturesque Bentley College, folks representing cohousing communities from across the country, as well as those just getting to know cohousing for the first time, will gather to feed or reignite their passion with informative presentations, workshops, community tours and social events.

We came up with a bakers dozen of reasons why you need to be at the June Cohousing Conference in Boston.

Architect Grace Kim has joined the Coho/US Board. Grace Kim is an architect and co-founding principal of Schemata Workshop, a five-person architectural collaborative in Seattle.

The National Cohousing Conference has traditionally drawn a large crowd of folks who are searching for answers, advice, connections and community. This year the conference will also address cohousing’s most valuable resource: those already living in community. The 2008 conference experience is geared toward helping those of you who’ve been living in community – whether for months or years or decades – to enrich your lives and the life of your group as well as to connect with each other.

The heavy rain, hail and snow held off until after the Wolf Creek Village Cohousing Ground Breaking held on Saturday, March 15th at 12 noon. Seventy-five future residents of Wolf Creek Commons, Wolf Creek Lodge, Mayor Mark Johnson, City Council members Chauncey Poston and Janet Arbuckle, City staff, CoHousing Partners, McCamant & Durrett Architects were all present to celebrate this environmentally conscious new neighborhood. Kathryn McCamant, President of CoHousing Partners, the developer of the project welcomed guests. McCamant, also an architect and author spoke about how special this cohousing project is for her, “I know that in creating a neighborhood where people will walk to shopping, bike to the farmers market and into downtown, that we are moving toward a more sustainable lifestyle where we will use less of the earth’s precious resources.”

After the November 2007 Japanese Ecovillage Conference in Tokyo, I visited three “collective housing” projects in Tokyo with conference host Akemi Miyauchi. At that conference I first heard of what the Japanese call “collective housing” – high-density housing projects with various kinds of common space – but it sure sounded much like cohousing to me.

Your board is delighted to welcome three new members: David Entin, Diane Margolis, and Terri Furman!

Reserve your spot soon and get the best deal on limited on-site housing. Early-bird registration is $195 per person for the main conference program, with lodging an unbelievable $30 per person per night on campus. Sign up beginning next week!

The cohousing.org website has a new look and feel. Learn a little about how it works as well as a little about our plans for the site and how much we'd like to hear what you'd like on the site.

What's happened to the CD of Katie McCamant's webinar on financing cohousing?

The December 3 Webinar of Katie McCamant’s “Investing in Sustainability: Financing Cohousing” was very well received by its attendees. In answering evaluation questions at the end of the webinar, 92% of the respondents rated the webinar content as Excellent or Good. And 88% said that they would Absolutely or Very Likely recommend a webinar to other people.

It is with great pleasure that the Cohousing Association of the United States Board of Directors announces the hiring of an Executive Director. We are delighted to have Craig Ragland fill this newly created part-time paid position.

Barbara Lynch became the President of the Board of Directors of Coho/US in January 2007. Barbara and her husband live in Pleasant Hill Cohousing in Pleasant Hill, CA, having been founders of that community.

In November 2006, Cohousing Magazine invited its readers and visitors to tell us how we can serve you better. Your responses to that reader survey spoke volumes about who you are and what you want to see.

Your support is vital for Cohousing Magazine and Coho/US.

Imagine that your cohousing group just found a site and you have the chance to hear three of the most experienced cohousing developers in the United States offer you pointers on how to finance your project. Or imagine meeting someone who is willing to tell you about the agreements that will keep your group from self-destructing – because he’s lived in community 32 years and has given it a lot of thought. Or maybe you’d like to hear from two experts about how to make your project more affordable. Or perhaps...