Los Angeles Eco-Village

Description:

The Los Angeles Eco-Village Intentional Community (LAEV-IC) is a 40-member group within a two-block neighborhood of about 500 people in central Los Angeles. Started as a project of the nonprofit Cooperative Resources & Services Project (CRSP) after the 1992 civil uprisings, our vision is to reinvent how we live in the city. We do this by demonstrating higher quality living patterns at lower environmental impacts while striving to connect the social, economic and ecological systems of our neighborhood. Those interested in becoming members are required to demonstrate their commitment to more ecological and cooperative living patterns over time. We are a diverse and activist community. We are organized into the 45 unit Urban Soil/Tierra Urbana limited equity housing cooperative and the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust. We acquired our two buildings and the land from our nonprofit founding organization, CRSP, in 2012. We continue the eco-retrofitting of our buildings started by CRSP in the mid to late 1990s. Recently CRSP acquired a quarter acre property in the north end of our neighborhood which it plans to redevelop into a state of the art car-free mixed use cohousing project. The community is rich in resources, including an organic produce and bulk foods co-op, an art studio, tool shop, Time Bank, sewing studio, several organic gardens and community meeting spaces, both indoor and out, bicycle shop, plus several home-based business activities. We host a variety of events which also serve the broader neighborhood and the general public. The LAEV-IC meets weekly and establishes priorities and policies for the buildings, the intentional community, and the neighborhood. Regular community veggie dinners and work parties open to other neighbors, friends, and relatives help glue the community together. The very dense neighborhood is three miles from downtown Los Angeles, with many public and private schools, colleges, and universities nearby. We are also rich in public transit and bicycle culture, with many green-business development opportunities for those with entrepreneurial spirit. Several members live and work in the neighborhood. Many are actively involved in social, ecological, and planning issues in the city. The Community and neighborhood are child-friendly. The downside of the neighborhood is that there is still way too much traffic and pollution. We provide regular tours, urban-sustainable-community workshops, public talks on a variety of related topics, and affordable accommodations for short stays. Links: Los Angeles Eco-Village: Upcoming events, brochure, practices, photos, bios, links, etc Urban Soil: Meeting notes, food co-op, land trust, bylaws, policies, procedures, nuts and bolts of our community