Everything you need to know to create an intentional community from scratch 
 An intentional community is a group of people who have chosen to live or work together in pursuit of a common ideal or vision. An ecovillage is a village-scale intentional community that intends to create, ecological, social, economic, and spiritual sustainability over several generations. 
 The 90s saw a revitalized surge of interest in intentional communities and ecovillages in North America: the number of intentional communities listed in the Communities Directory increased 60 percent between 1990 and 1995. But only 10 percent of the actual number of forming-community groups actually succeeded. Ninety percent failed, often in conflict and heartbreak. After visiting and interviewing founders of dozens of successful and failed communities, along with her own forming-community experiences, the author concluded that "the successful 10 percent" had all done the same five or six things right, and "the unsuccessful 90 percent" had made the same handful of mistakes. Recognizing that a wealth of wisdom were contained in these experiences, she set out to distill and capture them in one place. 
 Creating a Life Together is the only resource available that provides step-by-step, practical "how-to" information on how to launch and sustain a successful ecovillage or intentional community. Through anecdotes, stories, and cautionary tales about real communities, and by profiling seven successful communities in depth, the book examines "the successful 10 percent" and why 90 percent fail; the role of community founders; getting a group off to a good start; vision and vision documents; decision-making and governance; agreements; legal options; finding, financing, and developing land; structuring a community economy; selecting new members; and communication, process, and dealing well with conflict. Sample vision documents, community agreements, and visioning exercises are included, along with abundant resources for learning more.

Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities

Christian, Diana Leafe

Parenting & Relationships

New Society Publishers

How to research, visit, evaluate, and join the ecovillage or sustainable community of your dreams. 
 Finding community is as critical as obtaining food and shelter, since the need to belong is what makes us human. The isolation and loneliness of modern life have led many people to search for deeper connection, which has resulted in a renewed interest in intentional communities. These intentional communities or ecovillages are an appealing choice for like-minded people who seek to create a family-oriented and ecologically sustainable lifestyle―a lifestyle they are unlikely to find anywhere else. 
 However, the notion of an intentional community can still be a tremendous leap for some―deterred perhaps by a misguided vision of eking out a hardscrabble existence with little reward. In fact, successful ecovillages thrive because of the combined skills and resources of their members. 
 Finding Community presents a thorough overview of ecovillages and intentional communities and offers solid advice on how to research thoroughly, visit thoughtfully, evaluate intelligently, and join gracefully. Useful considerations include: 
<ul>
<li> Important questions to ask (of members and of yourself) </li>
<li> Signs of a healthy (and not-so-healthy) community </li>
<li> Cost of joining (and staying) </li>
<li> Common blunders to avoid </li>
</ul>
 Finding Community provides intriguing possibilities to readers who are seeking a more cooperative, sustainable, and meaningful life. 
 Diana Leafe Christian is the author of Creating a Life Together and editor of Communities magazine. She lives at Earthhaven Ecovillage in North Carolina.

Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community

Self-Help

Personal Transformation

Best of Communities: I. Intentional Community Overview and Starting a Community Many people yearn for community—for a greater sense of connection and belonging—yet genuinely wanting it and accurately knowing that it’s good for you are not enough to guarantee that you’ll be happy in intentional community, or that others will want to live with you. These 15 articles in “Intentional Community Overview and Starting a Community” provide a peek behind the curtain at some the pitfalls and challenges facing community builders, so that you’ll have a more realistic idea of what it will take to survive your start-up years and actually become a home. You’ll find first-hand stories from forming communities, as well as sage advice about legal structures, the importance of community spirit, how to understand “cults” as a pejorative label, how to assess prospective property, and the importance of making process agreements before you need to apply them. This Digital Issue includes the following articles: 1. In Community, Intentionally by Geoph Kozeny, Directory 2007 2. Setting the Record Straight: 13 Myths about Intentional Community by Diana Leafe Christian, Geoph Kozeny, Laird Schaub, #112 3. A Communitarian Conundrum: Why a World That Wants and Needs Community Doesn’t Get It by Timothy Miller, #151 4. You Know You Live in Community When… by Virginia Lore and Maril Crabtree, #124 5. “Cults” and Intentional Communities:Working Through Some Complicated Issues by Tim Miller, Directory 2007 6. Community Spirit, Community ‘Glue’ by Geoph Kozeny, #107 7. Wisdom for Within,Wisdom from Without Karen Iona Sundberg, #159 8. Six Ingredients for Forming Communities (That Help Reduce Conflict Down the Road) by Diana Leafe Christian, Directory 2000 9. Legal Structures for Intentional Communities in the United States by Dave Henson, with Albert Bates, Allen Butcher, and Diana Leafe Christian, Directory 2000 10. Buying Your Community Property by Frances Forster and Byron Sandford, Directory 1995 11. Throwing in the Founder’s Towel by Ma’ikwe Schaub Ludwig, #144 12. Emergency Community by Jesika Feather, #144 13. Yes,Wealthy People Want to Live in Community in Sustainable Ways Too! by Jennifer Ladd, #159 14. My Advice to Others Planning to Start an Ecovillage by Lois Arkin, #156 15. Dandelion Village: Building an Ecovillage in Town by Maggie Sullivan, #156

Best of Communities: I. Intentional Community Overview and Starting a Community

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Miller, Timothy

Ludwig, Ma’ikwe

Sullivan, Maggie

Kozeny, Geoph

Schaub, Laird

Ladd, Jennifer

Arkin, Lois

Sundberg, Karen Iona

Lore, Virginia

Sustainable Living

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Agreements, Conflict, and Communication Most of us didn’t grow up learning good ways to work with conflict or strong emotional expression. For most of us it’s just plain scary, and we bring that naivete and scarring into our community lives. Many groups mistakenly think that the frequency of conflict is a barometer of community health, but it isn’t. The litmus test is how you handle conflict; not how much you have. The Agreements, Conflict, and Communication bundle offers a handful of articles about working constructively with distress and conflict, as well as a smorgasbord of information about agreements and communication skills that are hallmarks of mature, healthy groups. You don’t have to make it all up from scratch! These pieces showcase some of the best things that intentional communities have to offer the wider culture. This Digital Issue about Agreements, Conflict, and Communication includes: 1. Trust, Connection, and Clear Agreements (including Wild Sage Cohousing’s Conflict Resolution Process, Shari Leach) Diana Leafe Christian, #128 2. When Some of Us Don’t Support an Existing Agreement by Beatrice Briggs, Laird Schaub,Tree Bressen, Caroline Estes, Karl Steyaert, #134 3. Problem Solving in Community: How a Group Addresses Issues Says a Lot about Its Cohesion . . . and Vice Versa Laird Schaub, #146 4. How Collaboration Falls Short:With Hints About How to Help It Go Long by Laird Schaub, #144 5. Conflict,Terrorism & Humility: The Cooperator’s Response Laird Schaub, #113 6. Ruth” or Consequences: Defining Tough Love for Groups Laird Schaub, #132 7. Once More With Feeling: Conflict as an Opportunity for Harnessing Emotional Energy by Laird Sandhill, Directory 2000 8. Working on Your Issues with Someone (Whether or Not They Join In) by Tree Bressen, #124 9. Nonviolent Communication: Transforming Conflict and Enhancing Connection by Miki Kashtan, #104 10. AAA for the Heart: Sometimes You Need a Map to Navigate Emotional Territory by Laird Schaub, #117 11. The Tao of Speaking & Listening Scott Shuker, #104 12. But Seriously Folks…When to Take a Joke and When to Give One by Laird Schaub, #113 13. Living ‘Naka-Ima’ at Lost Valley Larry Kaplowitz, #104 14. Using Email for Community-Wide Conversations? A Few Words of Caution . . . by Laird Schaub, #125 15. “No, It’s Not a Cult”: Relating to Your Family When You Live in Community by Mariana Caplan, #96

Best of Communities: VI. Agreements, Conflict, and Communication

Kashtan, Miki

Caplan, Mariana

Briggs, Beatrice

Bressen, Tree

Estes, Caroline

Kaplowitz, Larry

Steyaert, Karl

Shuker, Scott

VIII. Children in Community Across the board, community is an amazing place to grow up. It’s good for parents (who get considerable, caring help with a plethora of instant aunts, uncles, and surrogate grandparents), and good for kids (who get instant playmates, intriguing facilities and landscapes to explore without taking a car ride to get there, and role models beyond Mom and Dad). While intentional community is about making the purposeful choice to live cooperatively, the key word is “choice” when it comes to schooling community kids. Some are home schooled, some are unschooled, some go to private schools (including Waldorf and Montessori), and some go to public school. Some communities run their own schools, and some just leave it up to the parents.The best part is the range of options available to fit the opportunity to what that child needs to thrive. The 22 articles in this Children in Community bundle will help you understand what’s being learned in community about children learning. This Digital Issue on Children in Community includes: 1. Children in Community: Fairyland or Fairy Tale? by Daniel Greenberg, Directory 2000 2. Raising and Educating Children in Community by Diana Leafe Christian, Directory 1995 3. Multiple Parenting in Community: The Advantages by Daniel Greenberg, #86 4. Multiple Parenting in Community: The Disadvantages by Daniel Greenberg, #87 5. Child-Adult Friendships, Part I by Daniel Greenberg, #90 6. Child-Adult Friendships, Part II by Daniel Greenberg 7. Keeping Our Children Safe by Daniel Greenberg, #107 8. My Tribal Childhood by Kristina Jansen, #114 9. Growing Up in the Miccosukee Land Co-op by Orenda Lyons, #86 10. The Person I Became by Simona Gabriel, #84 11. Who’s the Meta Tonight? Communal Child Rearing at Twin Oaks by Hilke Kuhlmann interviewing Lee Ann Kinkade, #103 12. Family Dramas by Laird Schaub, Ina Meyer-Stoll, #146 13. Parenting in Community:The Voyage from Fantasy to Reality by Jesika Feather, #146 14. When an Ecovillage Is Raising Your Child by Kim Scheidt, #146 15. An Abundance of Dads by Skye Rios (with Melanie Rios), #146 16. Second Family by Arizona Nashoba, #146 17. Creating Family Where We Are Now: Building Sustainable Communities with the Next Generation Zane Hamm, #153 18. Growing Up in Ecovillage at Ithaca by Allegra Willet, #156 19. Reminiscences: Growing Up in Intentional Community by Karin Iona Sundberg, #160 20. Raising Superheroes: How Our Kids Are Learning to Use Their Power for Good by Alyson Ewald, #160 21. Esther and the Princess of the Fairies Brent Levin, #160 22. Community, Public School, and Culture Clash: Food for Thought from Rural Missouri by Sam Makita, #160

Best of Communities: VIII. Children in Community

Greenberg, Daniel

Jansen, Kristina

Lyons, Orenda

Gabriel, Simona

Kinkade, Lee Ann

Meyer-Stoll, Ina

Feather, Jesika

Scheidt, Kim

Rios, Skye

IX. Community for Elders In contrast with a generation ago, the two most distinctive aspects of the Intentional Communities Movement today are: a) the impact of the internet on our ability to find out what’s happening; and b) that so many people over 50 are trying community living for the first time. It used be that first- time community experimentation was almost wholly limited to people in their 20s and 30s. Not any more! That makes the theme of Elders doubly potent today—both because communities tend to last lon- ger now (since it’s so easy to find out what others have learned, many of the common mistakes can be avoided, and younger members inevitably become older members if the group lasts long enough) and because so many join today as seniors or nearly so.When you add in the fact that there’s growing evidence that a sense of community and connection are directly related to longevity and quality of life, it’s no wonder that Communities issues focused on eldering sell out fast. This Community for Elders bundle has 15 articles that explore the options for aging in community and the dynamism of intergenerational living. This Digital Issue on Community for Elders includes: 1. To the Ecovillage: Do Family Dynamics Change When Three Generations Move to the Same Community? by Diana Leafe Christian, #112 2. Graying in Community . . . Can we continue to live in community as we grow older? by Darin Fenger, #132 3. Supporting the Aging Process in Community by Marie H. Schutz, #89 4. Listening to the Wisdom of Our Elders by Elizabeth Younger, #89 5. Growth and Well-Being in a Senior Co-op (including Senior Housing Co-ops, Deborah Altus) by Bevelyn Carpenter, #89 6. Friendship & Shared Living by Margaret Harmon, #89 7. How Will I Live My Elder Years in Community? by Neshama Abraham Paiss, #119 8. It Takes a Community to Grow an Elder by Rebecca Dale, #149 9. Elderhood, In and Out of Community by Dianne Brause, #149 10. Fear of Change in Long-Term Intentional Communities and Ecovillages by Coyote Alberto Ruz, #157 11. Embracing a Terminal Illness by Fred Lanphear, #145 12. Aging in Community by Raines Cohen, #149 13. Elder Cohousing: An Idea Whose Time Has Come? (including What Older Cohousers Say about Elder Cohousing, Craig Ragland) by Neshama Abraham and Kate deLaGrange, #132 14. Community and Health: Immigrant Senior Cohousing in the Netherlands by Dorit Fromm and Els de Jong, #145 15. Senior Cohousing: Establishing a Healthy, Sustainable Lifestyle for an Aging Generation by Chuck Durrett, #145

Best of Communities: IX. Community for Elders

Fenger, Darin

Schutz, Marie H.

Younger, Elizabeth

Carpenter, Bevelyn

Harmon, Margaret

Paiss, Neshama Abraham

Dale, Rebecca

Brause, Dianne

Ruz, Coyote Alberto

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