Coho/US Community Improvement Grants

THE GRANT WINNERS!

The Cohousing Association of the U.S. is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Community Improvement Grant competition (see Grant Competition Announcement). Eight great proposals were submitted, and the decision wasn't easy! Heartwood Cohousing Community in Bayfield, Colorado will receive $2,000 to plan, design, and construct a root cellar to preserve community and locally-grown produce; and Bear Grass Village in Ashland, Oregon will receive $500 to support their project to optimize parent-child and child-child dynamics. In combination, these two projects explore how to implement physical as well as social improvements in cohousing.

Great Proposals

Five communities submitted proposals related to gardens, permaculture, healthy diets, and raising chickens. Clearly, this general topic is on cohousing's radar screen. Several other proposals involve archiving community history, and creating a more effective gathering place for the community -- all very valuable ideas! We will publish the proposals, here on cohousing.org soon. We will also be spotlighting the winning projects at the 2009 Cohousing Conference in Seattle. We encourage interaction between communities as a result of the grant process. Check out the projects online to see if, for example, you have or need information about starting a "chicken club" or designing a permaculture "forest garden."

The Association would like to be able to fund all the proposals, but our resources also provide other services, such as the website, the annual conference, and support for regional cohousing associations and tours. We hope that continued financial support from American cohousing communities will enable the Association to orchestrate more demonstration grant programs in the future.

Appreciations

We want to thank the evaluation panel, coordinated by ex-board member Dave Wann: Ruth Hirsch, Susan Hyne, Jen Witsoe, David Bellin, Marc Kolman, and Sharon Villines volunteered a lot of time, focus, and patience to reach consensus.