Alicia DeLashmutt alicia@ourhomeicc.org alicia@ourhomecathedralpar.com Alicia has a professional background in landscape and commercial interior design as Director, Project Manager, and Senior Designer, and is the Founder and President of Our Home, Inclusive Community Collaborative, a non-profit whose mission is to promote, support and develop inclusive, diverse communities. She is currently working with her team to develop Our Home – Cathedral Park, a mutually supportive, inclusive community in the Cathedral Park neighborhood of Portland, OR. Alicia is a 2007 graduate of Oregon Partners in Policy Making, member of the Oregon Developmental Disabilities Coalition and 2017 graduate of the Oregon Health Sciences University LEND program. She currently acts as an advisor, mentor and presenter to LEND and the Oregon Pediatric Improvement Program. Alicia has served as the Program Coordinator for the Northwest Down Syndrome Association Kindergarten Inclusion Cohort, member and advisor to the Portland Public Schools Special Education PTA and continues to make numerous local and national presentations as a strong advocate for inclusive community, housing, education and life. Alicia is an active advocate and parent mentor who believes that the inclusion of ALL, regardless of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability or gender identity is necessary for a vibrant and healthy community.

Ann Zabaldo is both a pioneer volunteer and a paid professional in the cohousing movement. She specializes in outreach, education, marketing, and fueling the fires of burning souls. Ann is past-president of The Cohousing Association of the United States and is a co-founder and current board member of Mid Atlantic Cohousing, a regional non-profit organization. She is a certified facilitator for McCamant & Durrett’s Senior Cohousing Study Group workshops. She is co-executive producer of “Building Sustainable Communities for Today’s Housing Market" a DVD and companion handbook created specifically for developers who are interested in entering the cohousing market niche. Ann was on the development team for both Eastern Village Cohousing in Silver Spring, Maryland and Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC where she lives with 65 adults, 15 children, seven dogs and waaaay too many cats. Currently, for Takoma Village she is serving on the Bylaws Working Group to revise the bylaws and the Resale and Rental pod (team or committee). This pod has brought in excellent buyers who are prepared to live in cohousing. Plus, more than $120,000 in donations to the community. Her description of living in cohousing? “It’s a rolling Mardi Gras!”

Anne Geraghty's fascination with cohousing and interest in walkable communities led to the founding of Washington Commons in West Sacramento, California. She formerly advocated for pedestrian safety as founder and executive director of WALKSacramento; and for air quality in her work with the California Air Resources Board. Her urban planning degree is from the University of Pittsburgh

Anne Reynolds has been a driving force in the Cooperative movement for almost 35 years, and was inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame in 2019. As they stated, she has been “a fixture of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Cooperatives—the U.S.’s premier cooperative research center—Anne has contributed significantly to scholarship on cooperatives. Her career has not only spanned co-op sectors, but bridged gaps: between academics and business leaders, between strategic thinking and practical application and across deep ideological and cultural divides.”

Brel (they/them) began their co-op journey in 2014 in Madison, Wisconsin as a member of Madison Community Cooperative, Madison Area Cooperative Housing Alliance, and the United People of Color Caucus. In their free time, Brel teaches at and serves on the board of the Madison Freewheel Bicycle Co. and is in the process of converting it to a worker-owned co-op. Brel sees cooperatives as one of the best ways to affect social change and actively fight gentrification and extractive economic practices. Brel strives to make sure that people of color in cooperatives are represented, supported, and respected by our co-ops. Brel believes in strategic, continual expansion of the co-op sector because we can change the world for the better with these things! Contact Brel for inquiries regarding starting or incorporating a co-op; construction, financing or expansion of your existing co-op; lobbying; comparative financial analysis; and co-op sector research; investment in the Kagawa Fund; and to nominate members to the NASCO Development Committee.

Bryan Bowen is an architect, cohousing nerd, and lover of community-based sustainable design. Bryan grew up in a passive solar home in an artists’ community at the foothills of the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA with minors in sculpture and anthropology in 1995, and has been a practicing architect for about 25 years. He and his wife raised their two boys in Wild Sage Cohousing. Bryan founded Caddis Collaborative in 2002. Caddis is a multidisciplinary design collaborative that explores ways of living more lightly upon our earth in beautiful, healthy environments. A leader in sustainable design, Passive House, net-zero homes, urban infill, and livable communities, Caddis applies sophisticated design and creative solutions to every project. Caddis has become a well-respected national cohousing expert, creating beautiful, innovative, highly functioning communities. Clients comment on Bryan's ability to distill the chaos of development and construction in a logical and insightful way, creating a bubble of calm around their process.

Charles Durrett, with Kathryn McCamant, introduced the concept of cohousing to the United States with the seminal book Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. The latest edition is Creating Cohousing, Building Sustainable Communities. He has written several other books on cohousing, including Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living—The Handbook, The Senior Cohousing Primer: Recent Examples and New Projects, Happily Ever Aftering in Cohousing: A Handbook for Community Living, and State-Of-The-Art Cohousing: Lessons Learned from Quimper Village. Durrett and his team at The Cohousing Company have designed more than 50 cohousing communities in the United States and around the world, including Muir Commons in Davis, California, the first cohousing community in North America. His work has been featured in Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, Architecture, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and many other publications. Charles Durrett has received numerous awards, which include the World Habitat Award presented by the United Nations, the Silver Achievement Award for Active Adult Community by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) 50+ Housing Council, the Silver Energy Value Housing Award by NAHB, the Mixed Use/Mixed Income Development Award presented jointly by the American Institute of Architects and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and a recipient of the Global Over 50’s Housing/Healthcare award. He was also recently declared as a “visionary of the Sierras” by the Sierra Business Council, and the International Property Awards. Durrett regularly gives presentations on cohousing to interested citizen groups. He has spoken before the United States Congress twice, has been featured on the Commonwealth Club, and has lectured at scores of universities. He lives in Nevada City, California, where he primarily today consults on model

Crystal Byrd Farmer is an engineer turned educator from Gastonia, North Carolina. She is an organizer and speaker in the intentional communities movement. She serves as a board member with the Foundation for Intentional Communities and is on the Editorial Review Board of Communities Magazine published by the Global Ecovillage Network-United States. She also serves as an organizer for the BIPOC Intentional Community Council. Her book The Token: Common Sense Ideas for Increasing Diversity in Your Organization is out now. Crystal is passionate about encouraging people to change their perspectives on diversity, relationships, and the world.

Cynthia is the “community matchmaker” helping people join the hundreds of intentional communities she has visited and worked with around the globe. She is a speaker, educator, and co-director of the Foundation for Intentional Community (ic.org). Her mission is to strengthen the bridge between sustainable communities and mainstream society. After a decade of travel, Cynthia now lives at an ecovillage in Vermont where she’s building a passive solar home, tending a garden, and guiding yoga classes. She has a B.A. in Sustainability from Goddard College, as well as certifications in Ecovillage and Permaculture design. Learn more and book a community matchmaking session with Cynthia at www.cynthiatina.com.

Danny Milman has spent the past 25 years building a wide range of projects including cohousing communities. She has worked for general contractors as a superintendent and project manager and has guided many clients through the development process as an owner’s representative and construction manager. In her current role as a Development Manager with Urban Development Partners, she is working with Washington Commons Cohousing and Berkeley Moshav Cohousing. Danny is also a member of Katie McCamant's 500 Communities Program, Urban Land Institute and a Nevada County CA Planning Commissioner.

David Entin had careers in the fields of anti-poverty work and higher education administration. He has master's degrees in American history and public administration and a Ph.D. in sociology. He developed and wrote the first rural anti-poverty program in the nation under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. His last position was as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Holyoke Community College. He retired in 2007. He was a founding member and active participant in Rocky Hill Cohousing, Northampton, MA (serving as chair of Finance Committee, President of Board of Trustees, member of Community Life Committee, etc.). He served for four years on the board of the Cohousing Association of the United States.

Diana Leafe Christian is author of Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, and Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community. She speaks at ecovillage and cohousing conferences, offers consultations, and leads workshops and online internationally. With the ability to make things simple and clear, and drawing on a deep and broad understanding of community dynamics, Diana encourages effective and harmonious ways for groups to become healthy and thriving, and to resolve the typical interpersonal challenges that can arise in any community. She teaches online courses and workshops, “Sociocracy for Intentional Communities” (sociocracy is an especially effective self-governance and decision-making method), “Helping Your Community Thrive,” and “Starting a Successful Ecovillage or Intentional Community.” She has taught workshops and spoken at conferences in North and South America, Europe, and Japan. An Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) trainer for Gaia Education, and editor of Communities magazine for 14 years, Diana has contributed chapters to three Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) and Gaia Education books: Beyond You and Me, Gaian Economics, and Ecovillage: 1001 Ways to Heal the Planet. She is a Board Member of GEN-US. In 2017 she received the Fellowship for Intentional community’s Kozeny Communitarian Award, a lifetime achievement award for contributions to the US communities movement. Diana lives at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina, U.S. http://www.DianaLeafeChristian.org

Diane Craig is a research/data analyst at the University of Florida and, thanks to her awesome community, lives in what she hopes is her "forever home." She was actively involved in the development of Gainesville Cohousing in Gainesville, FL between 2013 and when she moved in March 2018. Diane served on the building committee and, as Gainesville Cohousing has since transitioned to a fully formed community, is currently serving on the communications/technology and finance committees. More recently Diane participated in the development of the community's first workshare policy and serves as one of three coordinators.

Diane Margolis'most recent book, We Built A Village: Cohousing and the Commons will be launched at the Cohousing meeting in Madison. Diane is a founding member of Cambridge Cohousing where she has lived for more than twenty years. She is a former member of the Coho/US Board of Directors and co-founder and Director Emeritus of the Cohousing Research Network. She was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study 1980–1981. She has published many research articles, and her books include The Fabric of Self, which won Honorable Mention at the First Annual Book Award of the Eastern Sociological Society. She is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Connecticut.

Dyan is a founding member and longtime resident of Pioneer Valley Cohousing in western Massachusetts. She has advised other cohousing communities and provided training in facilitation, decision making, group process, and policy development. She has led public presentations on cohousing and facilitated introductory workshops on senior cohousing for interested individuals. She is on the board of SAGE Senior Cohousing Advocates and has led the Study Group 1 curriculum on aging successfully in community. She's currently doing freelance grant writing after retiring from her job as associate director of foundation relations at Mount Holyoke College. Her career has spanned several other fields including marketing and communications, community outreach, arts programming, and nonprofit organizational development training and consulting. She loves hiking, kayaking, and exploring new places and will be traveling to Madison with her husband in their newly converted camper van.

Erik is a registered architect with deep expertise in sustainability and participatory design. His experience includes facilitating integrated design of groundbreaking LEED and net zero carbon projects, while at Rocky Mountain Institute. His work focuses on integrating the economic, environmental, and social components of sustainability with a focus on equity and empowerment. Erik taught sustainability from an interdisciplinary perspective at Montana State University and has published research on cost optimization of energy efficiency. He has worked to design and also found cohousing communities across the United States. Erik is passionate about collaborating with cohousing communities and helping them turn their aspirations into reality.

Hello everyone- Hola a todes! My name is Gery, I was born in Bolivia to families of mixed ethnicities and races: Indigenous Aymara and Quechua with Spanish on my dad’s side; and Indigenous Guarani with Spanish on my mom’s side. My personal journey of learning and healing the impact of social privilege and oppression started as a child thanks to the love and honest guidance of my Tio Antonio, he dedicated his life to speak to the wound of colonization and assimilation within our family and country. My maternal grandmother, mi abuelita Yolanda, migrated to the United States as a young widow leaving my mother and her sister as children back home. My maternal family since then had a relationship with both Bolivia and the United States as home and family. My professional practice as a racial justice and restorative justice healing centered educator started in 2004 in Bolivia, in my path I have co-founded a non-profit organization as well as co-authored multiple programs, curricula and initiatives in collaboration with organizations in multiple countries. I have lived in Madison since 2012 with the exception of two years that I left to work in capacity building and curricula design with an international organization in Costa Rica. I have been part of YWCA Madison also since 2012, specifically with our then Racial Justice department and now Race and Gender Equity department. I understand myself as a human being in co-liberation through deep learning, unlearning, healing and transformation. I am passionate about co-creating holistic practices, experiences and processes for transformative change that center racial justice, equity and belonging because I believe it is possible to heal, reclaim and empower our intrinsic interconnected nature as people as well as with all beings.

Grace H. Kim is an architect and co-founding principal of Schemata Workshop, an award-winning architectural practice with a keen focus on building community and social equity. She brings innovative ideas to her projects that merge client goals and sustainability measures – such as urban agriculture, modular construction, and a focus on building community. Grace is also the cofounder of Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing, a collaborative residential community which includes her street level office and a rooftop urban farm. She walks the talk of sustainability - leaving a small ecological footprint while incorporating holistic ideals of social and economic resilience into her daily life. Her TED Talk on cohousing as an antidote for loneliness has been received more than 2 million views. Grace is an internationally recognized expert in cohousing, particularly for her expertise in designing the Common House. Grace and her firm Schemata Workshop has provided architectural services to Daybreak Cohousing, Siskyou Cohousing, Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing, Dragonfly Cohousing, Upper Langley Cohousing, Mary’s River Cohousing, Skagit Commons, Adams Creek Cohousing, and Sunnyside Village. Grace has visited more than 90 cohousing communities in North America, Denmark and South Korea. For four years Grace served on the national board for the Cohousing Association of the US and she currently serves on the Professional Advisory Council. She was the Chair of the 2009 National Cohousing Conference and International Cohousing Summit in Seattle, and the Co-Chair of the 2019 National Cohousing Conference in Portland.

Greg Rosenberg is the principal of Rosenberg and Associates, with a consulting practice in the areas of affordable and sustainable housing development, strategic planning, cohousing, urban agriculture – and all things relating to community land trusts. He also serves as the coordinator of the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation, whose mission is to support the work of CLTs through documenting the history of the movement, conducting and supporting research, as well as providing assistance to innovative efforts around the world.

Heidi Berggren is currently on the CohoUS Board, and she belongs to the Cohousing Research Network. She is a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Her research and teaching interests include the cohousing movement, social welfare policy, work-family policy, gender and politics, and political behavior. Recent publications include "Is Cohousing Good for Democracy? Comparing political participation among residents of cohousing communities and traditional condominium developments" (Housing and Society), “The Cohousing Research Network: A Community Approach to Communities Research,” (Communities, coauthored), and “Cohousing as Civic Society: Cohousing Involvement and Political Participation” (Social Science Quarterly). Her research has also been published in other journals such as the Journal of Political Science Education, Political Research Quarterly, International Journal of Social Welfare, Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering, and Review of Policy Research. Heidi is currently researching cohousing as a potential source of broader social improvement and civic renewal. She and other members of CRN are setting up a longitudinal panel study of residents of cohousing communities and of forming communities throughout the United States. The goal is to discover the determinants of successful and accessible cohousing communities, and ultimately to contribute to the project of cohousing as a beneficial and durable housing option for wider publics.

Dr. Jane Nichols is an Associate Professor and Chair of Interior Design at High Point University. She has graduate degrees in Facilities Planning & Design, Gerontology and Sustainability Education, and is a Certified by the National Charette Institute, making her uniquely suited for consulting on senior housing and cohousing community planning and design. She has taught environmental design for over twenty years, including at High Point University, Western Carolina University, Arizona State University, and the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. She has extensively practiced at Taliesin Architects and other prestigious architecture and design firms in North America. Her passion for healthy senior communities drives her research in sustainable environmental design for seniors, and she is currently pursuing accreditation in the WELL Building Standard. Dr. Nichols is a member of the Cohousing Research Network and is an award winning interior designer. She has published several articles, white papers and dissertations.

Janet is a founding member of Arboretum Cohousing in Madison WI, and has served as chair of its board, finance committee and property committee. Janet organizes blood drives, variety shows, concerts and bike sharing at Arbco. For many years Janet had shared her car with a few cohousing neighbors. In 2021 she established a community wide car sharing program that everyone could participate in. "CoCar" at Arbco currently has nine drivers and one car. In late 2021 Janet helped organize three cohousing groups that were interested in car sharing. Six months later that group has 48 members from 30 cohousings in three countries. It meets monthly to share ideas. Janet has also appeared on the CoHousingHouston Podcast discussing the benefits and challenges of car sharing.

Jerry Koch-Gonzalez has worked for equality and equity all his adult life - as an activist, an organizer, a trainer, a consultant, and a member of nonprofit Boards. In recent years his main concern has been supporting effective egalitarian governance as an alternative to win-lose majority voting and too vague consensus practices. Jerry has been a certified sociocracy consultant since 2012. With Ted Rau, he co-founded Sociocracy for All (SoFA), a member-run nonprofit, in 2016 and published the book Many Voices One Song: Shared Power with Sociocracy in 2018. Jerry is also a certified Nonviolent Communication (NVC) trainer. Jerry is a founding resident of the 27-year old Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA and enjoys swimming in the pond next door.

Jim is co-founder of Bristol Village Cohousing. He also co-founded and served as Co-Director of Common Ground Center, a Vermont retreat and family center now in its 28th year. Before moving to Vermont, Jim edited a community newspaper in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He loves to photograph people and continues to cover many political events as a member of Extinction Rebellion and 350VT. Jim currently works in a cooperative governance circle to introduce sociocracy to Bristol Cohousing. Currently, he serves on the CoHoUS Board of Directors and leads the Marketing Committee.

Karen is a relationship and process consultant for communities, organizations and teams and co-author of The Cooperative Culture Handbook. She lives in Anacortes WA and connects with clients on Zoom and, when conditions allow, by traveling to clients. Her focus is on relationships and the skills needed to build strong connections.

Karin Hoskin moved into Wild Sage Cohousing Community in Boulder, CO at it's early existence in 2001. She and her husband have raised two children in community and continue to appreciate what a fantastic experience that was, both as parents, and for their 'kids'. Participating on nearly all the community teams, she truly found her groove when serving on the Community Living Team. For Karin, community is much more than a collection of houses, it is a fulfilling way to live daily life. Karin served 4 1/2 years as Executive Director for the Cohousing Association on the US and now is the Business Manager for Caddis Collaborative, an architecture, urban design, and planning firm working to create livable communities.

Katie leads CoHousing Solutions. She brings the depth and diversity of her experience as an architect, developer, and cohousing resident to her clients. She lived in Doyle Street Cohousing in Emeryville, CA, for 12 years, and now lives in Nevada City Cohousing in the Sierra Foothills. Both communities she founded. ​ “What drives me is the desire to develop neighborhood models where we can live a better ‘good life’ while reducing our impact on the earth’s limited resources. Americans currently uses 24% of the worlds’ energy while we make up only 5% of world population. If we are to ‘save the world,’ we must strive for more sustainable market-driven models that are attractive to the American middle class.” Katie is a licensed architect and coauthor of the authoritative book on cohousing, Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves, which introduced this housing model to North America. Katie co-founded McCamant & Durrett Architects / The CoHousing Company with Charles Durrett, in 1987, and partnered with developer, Jim Leach, on numerous projects. Since then, Katie has designed and developed dozens of cohousing communities in the United States and Canada. In addition to pioneering cohousing in North America, Katie has designed a variety of other building types, including numerous affordable housing communities and a sustainably designed (LEED certified) Unitarian Church. For the past decade, Katie has focused on the development side of cohousing projects. She has worked on all aspects of developing cohousing from project kick-off to move-in. Her expertise includes setting up project budgets, structure financing, and facilitating planning approvals, finding construction financing, contractor selection, construction management, marketing efforts, and community policy creation. She also works with groups to find appropriate development partners, and then assists in structuring those partnerships. https://www.cohousing-solutions.com/our-team

An architect with 20 years of experience, Kim is a skilled manager of complex projects. Over the course of her career, Kim has developed extensive experience in the design and construction of buildings for underserved populations. She strongly believes that by focusing the design on those most impacted by the decisions made, inclusive, supportive, community based environments can come to fruition. Kim currently serves as Project Manager for the Our Home Cathedral Park Cohousing project in Portland Oregon, as well as Washington Commons is West Sacramento.

Kristen has assembled 18 years of professional experience in residential buildings at all cost levels, including single-family, multi-family, and cohousing. While at Caddis, she has broadened her experience to include deep energy-retrofits, eco-tenant finishes, and community master planning. She is well-trained in the art of bringing quality design work into clear and accurate construction documents, and is a skilled communicator in working with clients and coordinating consultants and trades. She is dedicated to ecological building and has been actively integrating new green building practices into her repertoire since moving to Colorado fifteen years ago. Kristen is now a Principal Architect with Caddis, a Registered Architect licensed multiple states, a USGBC LEED Accredited Professional and a Certified Passive House Consultant.

Laird lived four decades at Sandhill Farm, an income-sharing rural community that he helped found in 1974. He served as the main administrator of the Foundation for Intentional Community for 28 years (1987-2015). Since 1987 he has also been a consultant on cooperative group dynamics and a facilitation trainer, working with more than 80 cohousing groups across North America. His specialty is up-tempo inclusive meetings that engage the full range of human input, teaching groups to work creatively with conflict and diversity—all the while being ruthless about finding inclusive solutions to knotty problems.

Laurie Frank is a former school teacher who has worked in the adventure and experiential education arenas for over 40 years. She was a leader in designing the nationally recognized Stress/Challenge adventure program for Madison (Wisconsin) Metropolitan School District and wrote their curriculum, “Adventure in the Classroom,” in 1988. Ms. Frank wrote Journey Toward the Caring Classroom, an experiential approach to creating a sense of community in schools. She has also collaborated on four other books and numerous experiential curricula. Laurie’s passion is to facilitate human interaction and to create environments where everyone is empowered. Although mostly retired, she continues her work with experiential education through workshops and curriculum development. In addition to the CohoUS Board, she serves on the board of the United World College in Costa Rica. Laurie is a founding member of Linden Cohousing in Madison, WI. It has been in existence for almost two years, and she is looking forward to the tipping point where the community exists longer than the five years it took to create.

Leila has been involved in cohousing at Monterey Cohousing Community since 2017. Her background is in Information Technology, where she has worked with many different collaboration tools.

Lynn is passionate about organizing communities and using all the latest technologies to make this happen. She’s lived in 6 different countries and visited another 40-or-so across all the continents, except Antarctica. She spent her career in the Information Technology (IT) field and although she’s officially retired from big corporate work, she keeps finding outlets for that experience. Most recently she has taken a deep dive into the world of cohousing, consensus decision-making and podcasting. She’s been very active in setting up the back-office organization for CoHousing Houston and also participating on the front edge of their marketing efforts. She can’t wait to live in cohousing, so she can have ready access to pick-up games of Scrabble, Boggle and someone to fix her knitting errors.

Martie Weatherly has been a personal and life coach for over 20 years, where she specializes in health, well-being, vitality and community. Her passion now is Creative Consensus, helping communities go from struggling with decision making to practicing robust consensus. Martie became a partner in Liberty Village in 1995 and participated in the planning and building of the community. She has studied consensus and facilitation since then and has taught many groups over the last 20 years. She is the lead facilitator in her community and on the Board of Directors. Since she retired from her nursing career, she has focused on consensus and how the energy of conflict can be used to create solutions that work for the whole community.

Mary K. Gove PhD. co-author of best selling textbook, Reading and Learning to Read, has spearheaded several grants to work with teachers on Green Literacy, a teaching practice that uses children’s literature and digital media as a springboard for critical pedagogy. She is an emeritus professor of Cleveland State University. She presently lives in Gainesville Cohousing in Gainesville Florida. She enjoys learning about cooperative culture, yoga, swimming and enjoying time with friends.

Mathilde is an architectural designer at Studio Co+hab. Her background in cohousing design includes working at McCamant and Durrett Architects, who introduced the concept of Cohousing in America. She also helped develop Habitat & Partage, a cooperative that aims to facilitate the emergence of Cohousing projects in France. Between France and the USA, she has visited and contributed to many communities exploring the relationship between design and the social structure of communities. She is experienced in designing workshops and giving public presentations inspired by her diverse experience.

Meg Kamens In her previous life, Meg worked as an attorney: in legal services, for the NYC Commission on Human Rights, for community development credit unions and finally in affordable housing finance. Then in 1994, she co-founded Camp Common Ground, a family camp with a focus on the arts and nature programs. In 2004 she developed a permanent home for CCG, which became the Common Ground Center on a 700-acre site in Vermont. This facility which hosts many programs, rentals and retreats focuses on diversity, environmental sustainability, arts and music education and appreciation of the natural world. After retiring as Co-Director of Common Ground Center, Meg co-founded and developed Bristol Village Cohousing, a 15-unit community adjacent to Main Street, right downtown. The project has won awards for its energy efficient design and the preservation of the town’s historic streetscape.

Olivia R. Williams is a researcher, writer, advocate, and practitioner working for the decommodification of land and housing. They received a PhD in Geography in 2017 from Florida State University with research on community land trusts (CLTs), and began working at Madison Area Community Land Trust as the executive director in 2020. Olivia was also part of a research collaboration with MIT CoLab on researching and writing the 2020 report, A Guide to Transformative Land Strategies. She has published in Urban Geography, Antipode, Housing Studies, Local Economy, and Area, among other academic outlets, as well as non-academic outlets like Jacobin, Shelterforce, and the 2020 book of essays on CLTs, On Common Ground.

Ryan began his journey in the industry as a woodworker and finish carpenter. After gaining some building experience, he moved into the design side of the industry back in 2010 and worked on single-family, light commercial, and community-based projects. Ryan now works at Caddis Collaborative in Boulder, CO and loves finding the balance between the built environment and the natural environment, working with natural building materials, high-performance envelopes, and passive building strategies. Ryan’s education experience started at the University of Colorado Boulder. Later he went on to take several courses at Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont, where he studied design build, heavy timber frame, and cabinetry. He also has been trained in Permaculture, Passivhaus, Living Building/Community Challenge, Natural Building techniques and Wildland/ Fire Restoration.

Community Organizer. Facilitator. Matchmaker. Cohousing Coach. EcoVillage Ambassador. Aging-in-Community Author. Certified Senior Advisor. Certified Sage-ing Leader. Activist-in-Residence, Modern Elder Academy. Founding Member, Elders Action Network / Elders Climate Action. Past boardmember, FIC / Coho/US. Regional organizer, East Bay Cohousing / Cohousing California. Founder of the Cohousing Open Network. Living in community in Berkeley, California.

A former architect, Robin was the founder and Development Coordinator of Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood, an award-winning cohousing development of 32 homes and common facilities in suburban Auckland, New Zealand, committed to environmentally sustainable design with intensive community involvement. Robin now writes, teaches and consults to inspire and support thriving connected communities. Her seminars, lectures and workshops on community-led housing development, governance, eco-building, and sustainable urban design have been a catalyst of the growing cohousing movement in Aotearoa New Zealand. Robin is a committee member of THIS, The Housing Innovation Society in Aotearoa NZ, and a director of Walk to Work Eco-Developments Ltd, planning an eco-friendly social-enterprise business hub at the front of the Earthsong land. She is also a co-founder of YIMFY, Yes! In My Front Yard, supporting and promoting the use of environmentally restorative building materials and systems. Her book Cohousing for Life is both a handbook for cohousing and her personal story of the collective endeavour of developing Earthsong. E-book available from https://www.ic.org/community-bookstore/product/cohousing-for-life/ Hard copy can be ordered directly from her website at https://robinallison.co.nz/

Roger Studley is the founder of Urban Moshav, a non-profit development partner for Jewish cohousing, and is the initiator of the Berkeley Moshav project. He is a certified cohousing consultant, serves as a community advisor for Hakhel, the international incubator of Jewish intentional communities, and has contributed to all six Jewish Intentional Community Conferences. Roger is married to Rabbi Chai Levy of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley, CA.

Sarah is passionate about empowering people and businesses through ownership. She enthusiastically jumped into real estate after she and her partner found a 5,000-square-foot house in Denver, Colorado, recruited members, and together transformed it into the democratically-run and cooperatively-owned Queen City Cooperative. Her previous background includes nonprofit and sustainability as well as marketing and community relations, so it’s no surprise that she loves enfranchising artists, activists, and entrepreneurs through property ownership. Considered an expert in collective living, co-buying, and a champion for housing innovation, Sarah thrives in finding creative solutions and spaces for all.

Shelly Parks is passionate about cohousing and committed to offering more cohousing opportunities for future cohousers. In 2016, she left her Marketing and Sales career in the Senior Living Retirement industry to found Covision Consulting, a firm focused on supporting developing cohousing communities recruit their community members. Most recently, she has expanded her services to include Cohousing PNW, a collective of professional partners and future cohousers committed to developing more cohousing in the Pacific Northwest. Shelly and her partner, Charles, are members of Skagit Cohousing, a community under construction in Anacortes, WA.

Stephen Eckert is a registered architect with 20+ years experience in residential design and construction. Before joining Caddis in 2018, Stephen was principal at Eckalizzi design and a part time adjunct teacher at the University of Colorado, School of Environmental Design. Stephen spearheaded a course in design/build for five summers at the Lama Foundation in Taos, NM, where he facilitated the design and construction of four unique cabin/tiny homes and one shower facility. In private practice he has worked on projects ranging from single family homes to multifamily projects. A passion for affordable housing lead Stephen to serve five years as a board member for Boulder Housing Partners, the local housing Authority. Stephen brings a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to his work. He was a founding member of Wildsage cohousing, and recently completed a gap year around the world with his family. He is eager to put what he learned to practice in Caddis’s projects. Stephen believes in the power of good design, community, and sustainability to transform our world.

Ted is an advocate, trainer and consultant for self-governance with sociocracy. After his PhD in linguistics, he encountered peer-oriented governance system and became curious about ways of organizing grassroots groups effectively yet equitably. He is co-founder of Sociocracy For All, a nonprofit with a mission to equip people with the skills and knowledge to self-govern and self-organize. Ted identifies as a transgender man; he has 5 children between 8 and 18. Born in Germany, he has lived in an intentional community in Massachusetts since 2011. He has written many articles and two books on the topic of self-governance, the sociocracy manual Many Voices One Song (2018) and a how-to-start guide for new groups, Who Decides Who Decides (2021).

More later