When you live in a senior cohousing community, sooner or later the conversation gets around to one of most people’s least favorite topics ¾ death and dying. It’s unavoidable among older people. Your community may already have experienced the death of one or more members. Quimper Village in Washington had its first death within its… Read More
Don’t they need training? Well, yes, in an ideal world everyone participating in decision making, or even just living in community would take some time to learn how it all works, to develop some skills, and to grow a little toward their best self. I’d love to offer that course, but so far we haven’t… Read More
Who Should Facilitate Meetings?
There is no one right answer to this question, but I think there are a lot of problematic approaches that are worth reviewing and some strategies for overcoming the challenges. In general, we would like facilitators to be willing, skilled, and varied. We’d like facilitation to be a joyful experience that the facilitators find rewarding,… Read More
Stories from the Field – Three Examples of Facilitation that made a difference, based on true stories
In these examples, exercises are used that are described in detail in The Cooperative Culture Handbook (CCH). This book may be purchased from FIC or Amazon. Working Toward a Goal A member requested time at a meeting to address the ongoing problem of dog droppings around the community. The facilitator met with the member, we’ll… Read More
Benefiting the larger community: Shepherd Village helps less fortunate
Shepherd’s Village Thanksgiving assembly line
When you think about senior cohousing, you probably imagine a cluster of homes, free-standing or joined, where couples and singles live in a community atmosphere. Typically a senior community has 20- to 30-some residents who have their own private homes and share common spaces and amenities. They also share some meals, community management, social activities,… Read More
Featured Community Spotlight: Rancho La Salud Village
If you’ve been dreaming this winter of finding an international cohousing community surrounded by palm trees with perfect 70-80 degree daytime temperatures, maybe you’re dreaming of Rancho La Salud Village (RLSV). As Mexico’s first cohousing community, RLSV is in a semi-rural location along the shores of Lake Chapala – Mexico’s largest lake – three miles… Read More
Seven weeks into overseas travel funded by my Churchill Fellowship, I’m currently journeying through California and Oregon to explore how communal-oriented housing initiatives can build social cohesion and foster belonging across diverse groups of people, with a special interest in intergenerational communities. What does it take for these communities to thrive in practice, and navigate… Read More
Seven weeks into overseas travel funded by my Churchill Fellowship, I’m currently journeying through California and Oregon to explore how communal-oriented housing initiatives – such as housing cooperatives, cohousing, ecovillages, tiny home villages and permanent supported housing – can build social cohesion, with a special interest in intergenerational communities. My time has overlapped with a… Read More
How did a retired pediatrician become a real estate developer? Crow Woods, our new Seattle cohousing community, is a dream come true for me. It is a winding path that got me here. “Martha’s here, let’s eat!” My sister had arrived for dinner, a casserole of vegetables from our garden, yogurt (homemade in the cupboard… Read More
In November 2023, AARP published an article called “Celebrating What’s Right With Aging: Inside the Minds of Super Agers.” Why do some people in their 80s and 90s show little decline in their cognitive abilities, while many of us struggle with slower memory, and others slide into dementia? The following article paraphrases some portions of… Read More
In today’s world, many people are searching for connection amidst an increasingly isolated society. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, 1 in 8 people feel lonely “always” or “usually,” and nearly a quarter of younger people (ages 18 to 29) report feeling lonely regularly. This rise in loneliness, which the U.S. Surgeon… Read More
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