I joined Driftwood about two years ago at a time when the group had been formed, land bought, and consultants and architects hired.  I found myself frustrated with our monthly General Meetings because I always wanted more exploration of the ways other communities had done things and the meanings of different choices. There simply wasn’t... Read More

Friday Forum (FF) is a group that meets every other Friday for approximately one and a half hours.  Its purpose is to provide members a place to reveal and discuss their personal cares and concerns. To keep it from becoming just any group, where people chitty-chat, interrupt, dominate, tell long narratives that deal with things... Read More

What a great conversation to start off 2019. Ronnie Rosenbaum gave a clear and thoughtful presentation on communication in cohousing with so many tangible ideas to start using right away. Watch the full WebChat at this link: https://youtu.be/qVSvPCcHCMI Ronnie spoke on two primary points: 1. Individual Communication Skills – goal is connection – focus on... Read More

…to all of you cohousers who keep your various official documents, minutes, site map, consensus log, new-member orientation materials, etc. on-line – what software or product are you using, and how well does it work for you? Muriel at Shadowlake Village, Blacksburg, VA At Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm we store everything on Google Drive. We’ve... Read More

[This is a repost from Craig’s blog on Good Group Decisions Inc. Craig also offers a Make Shift Coffee House: a forum he designed to help people understand each other. If any cohousing community would like to host such a forum, he will facilitate it for free! Contact Craig here.] In principle, when people in... Read More

As we near the end of 2016, we who are so lucky to live in community have much to be grateful for; most importantly: good, caring neighbors who are willing to actively engage in the process of creating great neighborhoods to grow up in, and to age in. As we ponder the state of the... Read More

Recently I was conducting a facilitation training with co-trainer María Stawsky The weekends run from Friday morning through Sunday afternoon and are a mix of presenting material, answering questions, conducting practice exercises, and facilitating live meetings. That said, we emphasize the last approach above all others: devoting three-fourths of every weekend to having students prepare... Read More

[Philip Dowds is responding to an coho-l inquiry: while we often discuss the mechanics of creating and maintaining cohousing, what we don’t see as often are discussions about such things as kindness or civility within communities.] Cornerstone Cohousing has been up and running about 15 years now, and our 32 households (approximately 50 adults, various... Read More