Once the sale of the Tivoli Housing Co-op was complete in 2014, the Common Fire Foundation shifted its focus dramatically, limiting itself to providing basic support for the Beacon Co-Housing community. The Foundation previously had a much more expansive vision of helping to support the creation of numerous intentional communities nationwide that shared our values related to communities as a foundation for personal and collective transformation. The information on this page represents our PREVIOUS more expansive vision and is provided here in the hopes that it may help to support or inspire other people’s efforts in this field.
"This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. The saving of our world from pending doom will come not from the actions of a conforming majority but from the creative maladjustment of a transformed minority."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our Certificate Program in Sustainable Community Living trains people in the most timely and critical areas related to promoting sustainability, justice, and joy in our personal lives and in the world, and particularly in relationship with other people, either in an intentional community setting, a work setting, or in our broader communities.
The program involves monthly day-long trainings over the course of two years, skipping one month in the summer and another in the winter, for a total of 20 trainings. The trainings range from Ongoing Personal Growth and Interpersonal Dialogue to Conflict Resolution, from Mind-Body Practices to Local Food Production and Storage, from Consensus to Grassroots Activism.
Click here for a calendar of the trainings.
Individual trainings are open to the public, however we have limited capacity for some trainings and program participants get priority. If you would like to attend a training and are not in the program, please contact us to reserve a spot. (845) 554-3406, or certificate@commonfire.org.
Each year there are two trainings that are selected by the program participants from among a number of electives that we offer.
The trainings are offered at the Tivoli Housing Co-op in the Hudson Valley, two hours north of New York City. You can get directions here.
The program culminates in each participant completing a "capstone project" as a way of applying the learnings from the program and bringing them into our larger communities.
We encourage program participants to begin the program with our one day training in the Be Present Empowerment Model, which is generally offered every February and August, though we can often accommodate people starting at other times.
People who complete the certificate program will gain:
- The skills to work well in groups, particularly ones that are diverse, to be an active facilitator in a consensus decision-making process, and to help the group effectively handle conflict;
- A deeper awareness of how to live lightly on the earth and in just relationships with other people and creatures;
- Experience growing and storing food in ways that are ecologically sustainable or restorative, and an understanding of the major goals and strategies of the food justice movement;
- Greater clarity of their own vision for their lives and the role they wish to play in supporting sustainability and justice in the world;
- A deeper knowledge of themselves, of their personal triggers and the ways they respond to challenging situations, and a greater ability to live more authentically and powerfully in the world;
- A greater ability to maintain their personal health and well-being through healthy eating, physical activity, mindfulness and stress-reduction, and play;
- A deeper sense of connection with place, and of the importance of knowing the history and ecology of a place;
- An understanding of how personal transformation is fundamental to transformation in the world, and of the role intentional communities can play in both of those transformations;
Depending on the electives the participants select, will also gain, to give just a few examples:
- The ability to effectively impact the political system, both locally and beyond;
- An ability to create fundraising strategies appropriate to different projects and organizations, and a greater ability to maintain a healthy personal relationship with money;
- And a working knowledge of values-based exchanges, involving economies of time, money, goods and services.
Learn more: Learning and Living in Community...
464 West Kerley Corners Road
Tivoli, NY 12583
Directions to the Co-op
(845) 554-3406
certificate@commonfire.org
Certificate Program