For anyone interested in starting an intentional community (including housing co-ops, co-housing, eco-villages, etc.), hands down the most valuable resource out there, and the most important place to start, is Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities, by Diana Leafe Christian. There is tremendous wisdom in this book, and we highly recommend coming back to it time and time again.
For those interested in joining an existing community, definitely read Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community, also by Diana Leafe Christian.
The Federation of Intentional Communities website is THE place for info on almost any aspect of community living you can imagine. The following is a small sample of their useful articles:
What's True About Intentional Communities: Dispelling the Myths
Intentional Communities: Lifestyles Based on Ideals
Who We Are: An Exploration of What "Intentional Community" Means
Starting a Community
Finding Your Community
What is Cohousing
Eco-village
Promote Your Community
Communities Magazine is a fabulous resource the FIC puts out every three months. It provides practical how-to articles on cooperative living as well as personal stories. You can order a sample issue, subscribe, or read the current issue and a large number of past articles on their website.
The Communities Directory (also put out by the FIC) gives descriptions of more than 1,000 communities, whether you’re interested in visiting or joining a community, or just learning about the tremendous diversity of communities out there.
Growing a Successful Ecovillage or Intentional Community
Consensus and Facilitation
How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community
Diana Leafe Christian, Author of Finding Community and Creating a Life Together, offers these three 1- or 2-day workshops, and she is also available to create a tailor-made workshop for you. She offers her workshops around the country, some open to the public and some specifically for the people/groups that hire her.
The Twin Oaks Communities Conference
This is a weekend of workshops on topics ranging from group-decision making and natural building to intentional relationships and sustainable living. “In addition to structured workshops and sharing circles, there is plenty of time to network, swap stories and play together at beautiful Twin Oaks Community in Louisa, VA.” Held in the late summer every year.
Starting and Sustaining Intentional Communities
This course offered by the OAEC focuses on “locating land, finding the right people, financing a purchase, financial models, decision-making structures, group process and agreements, legal forms for holding real property in common, and working with zoning and county or city regulations.” The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center is located in Marin County, north of San Francisco, CA, and the course is usually offered a couple times a year.
The NASCO Institute
This institute offers a wonderful variety of great trainings that are often relevant for people from all kinds of co-ops, but especially housing co-op and intentional communities. It’s offered every fall in Ann Arbor, MI. Sponsored by the North American Students of Cooperation, many of the hundreds of people who attend are young, but it is beneficial for folks of all ages.
This page and these resources are under construction. But these resources are really wonderful and we hope to have them online for you soon. Please check back!
