Let’s collect the successful practices of successful communities

As many of the requests on the cohousing List-serve demonstrate, when a community has to draw up an LLC agreement, bylaws, pet policies or other documents, they often ask if anyone would share what their community has created. Those same appeals come up time and again, with mixed results. The recent creation of the Wiki is another attempt to learn from the successful practices of successful communities.

Coho/US has long dreamed of offering a more comprehensive solution. It would involve gathering multiple examples of such documents and other essential tools. We would edit and synthesize the best elements into one, two or three sample documents and include other information related to their use. Part of the editing process would remove community-specific information to make the document useful as a generic template. We envision a range of valuable packets.

Coho/US would offer the distilled information packets at prices that are very reasonable given the work that will have gone in them and their value. Alternatively, the wiki as a source of free documents will appeal to individuals who prefer to do the editing and refinement themselves.
Having Coho/US offer this “premium content” has several benefits:

• it accelerates a community’s learning process and a new community’s development
• it builds on the successful practices of other communities
• it allows individuals and communities an opportunity to contribute to the cohousing movement
• it offers Coho/US a way to broaden its financial base, which will in turn benefit the growth of cohousing in general

To this end, Arthur Okner has volunteered to telephone existing communities as part of a Coho/US effort to reconnect the many thriving, successful cohousing neighborhoods with the national organization. He will also be looking for individuals interested in working with regional cohousing gatherings, and in finding other means of furthering cohousing throughout the country. Arthur will be asking for contributions of useful documents to this premium content effort.
Want to help? We encourage you to:

• send your examples of the documents shown on our wishlist. Please email the documents to the editor
• help Arthur contact communities. Email arthur [at] cohoanswerman [dot] com if you can help.