My Commitment to CohoUS

By CohoUS Board President Laurie Frank

I am honored to be part of the CohoUS Board and represent our organization as the Board President. Cohousing became part of my vocabulary in the 1990’s when Art & Sue Lloyd brought the concept to our region. It wasn’t until 2016 that my partner, Bert, and I made a commitment to join in the creation of Linden Cohousing – the fourth such community in our lovely city of Madison, Wisconsin.

As a recently retired public school teacher and experiential educational consultant, my background includes serving on about a dozen non-profit boards including The Association for Experiential Education, Family Service, The Wisconsin Youth Company, and UWC Costa Rica.

What makes this Board different is that it’s personal. Community living is in my bones. I first experienced a profound sense of belonging when I went to Girl Scout Camp as a child; and it propelled me to make the creation of community in schools my life’s work. Living in Linden Cohousing is a natural full-circle result of my 40-years of community building and exploring collaborative leadership with youth and adults.

Along with building or remodeling our physical homes, cohousing also needs to construct our living communities. As we know, to create a sense of community requires balancing needs of individuals and groups, paying attention to process, developing group norms, nurturing trusting relationships, and more. One thing I have realized these past few years is that cohousing can be a wonderful dance between a well-designed building or complex that supports a living community.

I enjoy working to harmonize structure and process. I have learned that those who volunteer to serve on non-profit boards are in love with the values and ideals of the organization. The more we can channel that passion and commitment into action, the more we can accomplish. As a new board president, I have had the distinct pleasure of one-to-one conversations with our Board members, and am beginning to reach out to others in the cohousing universe for your thoughts, ideas, insights, and advice.

Together, we can continue to bring cohousing into its rightful place as a go-to model of sane and connected living. We already know so much about how to live with intention; and can learn from our 32-year history to create a future of cohousing that is inclusive and more diverse than it is now. We can invent a variety of ways to make cohousing affordable to many by bringing our collective creativity to bear; and we can continue to reach out to like-minded organizations in North America and around the world to strengthen the cohousing movement as a force for positive change.

It would be a delight to see you at our 2024 conference next August 2-4 in Denver as we continue the conversation and convert it into action. Who knows what the next 32 years will bring?

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Join us this fall for a series of events and trainings on the topics most often requested by the cohousing community.

Partners remember to use your 2023 discount codes to apply your discount.

Non-partners consider becoming a partner for $150 to access upcoming programs as well as a library of over 200 on-demand recordings, learn more here.

If you have any questions about how to register for an event, apply for a scholarship, become a partner or set up your Cohousing Institute account please email [email protected].

Cohousing Resales, Tuesday, September 12th, 4-6pm MT
Navigating Personality Differences in Community, Thursday, September 21st, 4-6pm MT
Conflict Resolution for Communities, Thursdays, Sept. 28- Nov. 16, 4-6pm MT
Cohousing Advocacy: National Policy, Friday, October 6, 4-6pm MT
Demystifying Common Meals, Wednesday, October 11, 4-5pm MT
Sociocracy for Cohousers, Wednesdays, Oct 18 - Nov 8th, 5-7pm MT
Cohousing Advocacy: Local Policy, Friday, November 3rd, 4-6pm MT
Unpacking Cohousing: Lessons from Move-in, November 14th, 5-6pm MT
The Abundance Summit: A Virtual Summit on the Economics of Community, December 1st, 12-6pm MT

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Learn More

New platform for senior cohousing questions

Have you heard about the Seniors in Cohousing Q&A held monthly on Zoom? It’s a new way to get your questions about senior cohousing answered. The live sessions address all kinds of topics pertinent to seniors interested in cohousing — topics like aging in community, how to find communities or groups that are forming, participation expectations, and much more.

Learn more about it on our blog.

Do you know about Communities magazine, published quarterly by the Global Ecovillage Network of the US? You can learn more about it and subscribe here. The Best of Communities issue IX, titled “Community for Elders,” is a compilation of 15 articles from previous issues that focus on various aspects of aging in community. Written by leaders in the intentional community movement, they showcase cutting-edge thinking and how-to explorations of the social, ecological and economic aspects of sustainable living in community. Find out more and order a copy.

Sept. 10 –– The Commons, a free monthly gathering for the cohousing curious

and experts, too; 10 a.m. Mountain Time; repeats on the 10th of each month; register here

Sept. 12 –– Cohousing Resales, 4 to 6 p.m. Mountain Time. Learn how to maximize your resale success from veteran cohousing leaders and residents Jim Leach and Ann Zabaldo; $30 or $25 if you register by Aug. 31; register here

Sept. 13–14 — Reclaiming Death & Dying in Community, 1 to 3 p.m. Mountain Time both days. Presented by Lee Warren; $20 to $60 donation; register here

Sept. 20 — Seniors in Cohousing Q&A, an informal facilitated conversation for those who are interested in senior cohousing and/or senior living in intergenerational cohousing; 10 a.m. Mountain Time; repeats on the 20th of each month; register here

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The Commons

A (free) monthly gathering for the cohousing curious

(and experts too!)

Curious about cohousing but don’t know where to start? Want to meet with cohousing newbies and experts alike? This (free) monthly gathering will include a Cohousing 101 presentation and ample time to connect and ask questions. We’ll share cohousing lingo, best practices and more information on how to continue your cohousing journey. Join us once, or every time – we’ll be here every month on the 10^th at 10am MT.

Senior Cohousing Q&A

Want to learn more about what it's like to build, join, and participate in cohousing as you age? The Senior Cohousing Advocates Committee will be facilitating an informal conversation for those interested in senior cohousing and/or senior living in intergenerational cohousing. This (free) event will take place every month on the 20th at 10am MT.

Will you share your community stories with us?

Submit anecdotes, photos, videos and stories so that we can help tell the story of life in community.

SHARE YOUR STORY HERE

Cohousing is part of a more sustainable, democratic and connected future.

To date, CohoUS has helped enable the development of over 200 cohousing communities in the US. These communities serve as examples of the sustainable and community-based neighborhoods our country will need in the future. Please support CohoUS and help us double that number in the next few years.

Your monthly gift will both support new initiatives as well as the continued nurturing of our communities and growth of our movement. As an Evergreen Neighbor, you can take pride in creating a legacy that will live on to support future generations.

Donations, as a community or as an individual, are accepted year round and can be made to:

Cohousing Association of the US

3860 Chase St

Wheat Ridge, CO 80212

DONATE