Growing Community

By Charles Durrett with Bernice Gonzalez

o f M c C a m a n t & D u r r e t t A r c h i t e c t s

How to Find New Cohousing Members S e c o n d E d i t i o n

Habitat Press PublishingISBN 978-0-945929-00-0No part of this document can be reproduced without the written permission from McCamant and Durrett Architects ©2015

©2015 McCamant and Durrett Architects

By Charles Durrett with Bernice Gonzalez

o f M c C a m a n t & D u r r e t t A r c h i t e c t s

Growing CommunityHow to Find New Cohousing Members S e c o n d E d i t i o n

By Charles Durrett with Bernice Gonzalez

o f

M c C a m a n t & D u r r e t t A r c h i t e c t s

Growing CommunityHow to Find

New Cohousing Members S e c o n d E d i t i o n

Community l ife at Nevada City Cohousing, California.

9

11

19

Table of ContentsGrowing Your Community.......................

Establishing A System............................Aim for the Right Size • Know Your Audience • Think and Work Systematically • Create a Timeline • Set Goals • Use Time to Control Costs • Identify Your Organizers • Use the Power of Cooperation • Be Consistent and Persistent • Measure and Assess Your Efforts • Designate a Contact Person • Set Up Teams • Leverage Your Assets • Start Now

Getting The Word Out............................Preparation: Think about What People Want • 1. Create an Elevator Pitch • 2. Create Flyers, Cards, and Other Media • 3. Build a Website to Establish an Online Presence • 4. Talk to Everyone You Know (And Everyone You Don’t) • 5. Give Flyers to Your Professional Associates • 6. Post and Distribute Flyers Widely • 7. Meet, Greet, and Flyer for a Day • 8. Reach Out to the Real Estate Community • 9. Reach Out to People Already Interested in Cooperation and Environmentalism • 10. Get Free Publicity: Capitalizing On Print • 11. Get to Know Your Local Journalists • 12. Write Great Press Releases • 13. Utilize the Media of Other Organizations and Groups • 14. Maximize Your Presence on Facebook • 15. Monitor Google Alerts • 16. Get on the Radio • 17. Practice Guerilla Marketing • 18. Get Cohousing Books into Local Bookstores • 19. Get Cohousing Books into Local Libraries • 20. Participate in a Range of Events • 21. Follow Up with People • 22. Send Regular E-Mail Updates • 23. Hold Public Presentations about Cohousing

PROLOGUE:

PART I:

PART II:

9

11

41

Table of Contents (continued)

Essential Checklist for Starting a New Cohousing Community.........................

About the Authors................................

Additional Resources...........................

PART III:

Be the cherry tree. Put out many blossoms so that new cherry trees can grow from them.

Thanks to all of the cohousing groups who over the years have demonstrated the success of these strategies for bringing new friends, neighbors, and cohousing into fruition. Cohousing represents culture change and demonstrates a way to overcome wanton consumerism and isolation. Culture change requires more than words. It requires that people embody their ideals and do the hard work of improving their community and our world. To all of the groups who have achieved what’s outlined in this book, we thank you.

We would like to thank Oakleigh Meadows Cohousing for their creative ideas and their request for the marketing workshop that inspired this book. Thanks to all of the other cohousing communities who have shared their strategies for finding their great new neighbors.

Many thanks to Bernice Gonzalez planner with McCamant & Durrett Architects, for her contribution in updating this book.

Thanks to Katie McCamant who, with sage aplomb, helps many groups figure out how to get this work done and move into a beautiful, giving community.

Finally, thanks to Mike Van Mantgen, a most capable wordsmith and editor who makes these words better than random, more than a whimpering in the woods. Mike makes these words sing, he makes them resonate with the ears of those who want to know this information.

Acknowledgements

Planting the seeds of community

11

YOU CARRY THE SEED of a cohousing community — and now is the time to grow that seed into a thriving community.

You may be a single person. You may be one family. You may be among the core members of an existing cohousing group. From humble beginnings exactly like yours, scores of vibrant cohousing communities have become reality.

Your time is now. The right people for your community are out there, waiting to hear from you. You just need to find them!

Growing your community may seem daunting. And it is. But it is not impossible. This book details strategies that cohousing groups have successfully used to grow their communities. These strategies are designed to help you refine the vision of your community and establish a system for sharing that vision with potential, future members. With the help of this book you can learn how to track your successes, leverage the assets you have, and modify efforts that fall short — until your community is established.

Take heart. The many cohousing communities that exist in North America today were built by people just like you. They once carried the seed of desire you now have.

For those of you well on your way to reaching your community’s goals, please let us know what methods and actions have proven successful to your group and community. With your input, we will continue to update this book with great ideas and approaches to help new cohousing communities take root and grow.

For other topics related to cohousing development, including more details on creating your community, please read our companion book, Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities (New Society Publishers). See Additional Resources at the back of this book for more information.

Prologue

Growing Your Community

Growing Community

68

Charles Durrett is an architect, author, and advocate of affordable, socially responsible and sustainable design who has made a major contribution in the last twenty years to a multi-disciplinary architecture and town planning - one that involves and empowers the inhabitants and enriches the sense of place and sense of community in both the urban and rural settings in which he works. Charles has authored Revitalizing Our Small Towns: Recent Examples from Southern France, The Senior Cohousing Handbook, and with his wife, Kathryn McCamant, coauthored Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves.

Bernice Gonzalez APA member and CNU Urbanist, Bernice holds a master’s degree in urban design from the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, where she is a PhD candidate in public space and urban regeneration. She has worked developing urban design and public space projects for neighborhoods in the Sant Andreu district in Barcelona, Spain. She is currently a planner at The Cohousing Company/McCamant & Durrett Architects and planning commissioner for the city of Nevada City, California. Co-writer along with author Charles Durrett of the first edition of this book and “Happily Ever Aftering: A Handbook for Community Living” and published articles on senior cohousing.

About the Authors

69

Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities An in-depth exploration of a uniquely rewarding type of housing which is perfect for anyone who values their independence but longs for more connection with those around them. Written by the award-winning team that wrote the original “cohousing bible” and first brought cohousing to North America, this fully illustrated manual combines nuts-and-bolts, practical considerations, and design ideas with extensive case studies of dozens of diverse communities in Europe and North America.

Ordering information:$32.95 + $5 shipping and handling (per book, within the U.S.)*

Ordering information:

Available online at Amazon.com

Or send a check in USD + shipping and handling* to the address below:

McCamant & Durrett Architects241–B Commercial StreetNevada City, CA 95959

More information:

charles.durrett@cohousingco.com(530) 265-9980http://www.cohousingco.com

*E-mail us for International Shipping costs mda.admin@cohousingco.com

Book Order Form

Growing Community

70

Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves (The Euro Cohousing Story)

With this book Charles Durrett and Kathryn McCamant introduce cohousing with stories and pictures of both Danish and American communities. Beautiful photographs and line drawings illustrate the warmly written account of how these communities came to be. Specific information on legal and financial aspects of working with developers, group process, and design issues make this book informative as well as inspiring.

Ordering information:$19.95 + $3.99 shipping and handling (per book, within the U.S.)*

Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living — The Handbook, second edition

This book is primarily about how Senior Cohousing communities are getting built in North America. In this highly illustrated book, author Charles Durrett outlines a new approach to housing for active and thoughtful seniors in North America. Senior cohousing offers the most practical, economical, and interesting way for seniors to stay active and healthy - emotionally, physically and spiritually. This book is for interested future residents and for professionals interested in knowing how to build Senior Cohousing communities. Ordering information:$34.95 + $5 shipping and handling (per book, within the U.S.)*

71

Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living (The Euro Senior Cohousing Story)

Primarily about European Senior Cohousing, this is the first book to introduce senior cohousing to the U.S. Alice Jacobs Ed.D., MS; Senior education and learning specialist writes, “Senior Cohousing, [the first edition] is not only a pioneering book in its presentation and coverage of a fast growing social and lifestyle trend, but it is an insightful, comprehensive overview addressing every aspect of cohousing – all presented in an engaging and easy to follow format.” The “silver tsunami” is fast breaking and now is the time to make positive lifestyle choices. Patch Adams writes about Senior Cohousing, “Chuck has written a book inviting an exciting eldership. Intelligent design. Wow! Wouldn’t it be great if every step of life had such thoughtful design?” Ordering information:$19.95 + $3.99 shipping and handling (per book, within the U.S.)*

Finding A Site: Cohousing from the Ground Up

How to find assess, secure and purchase a great site for cohousing.

Ordering information:

$15 + $3.99 shipping and handling (per book, within the U.S.)*

Growing Community

72

Growing Community: How to Find New Cohousing Members

It contains best practices that have been used in successful cohousing groups for marketing a cohousing community at any stage.

Ordering information:$15 + $3.99 shipping and handling (per book, within the U.S.)*

Revitalizing Our Small Towns

This book is about how fledging small towns in Southern France and the U.S. cooperate to revitalize themselves, including cohousing developments.

Ordering information:$15 + $3.99 shipping and handling (per book, within the U.S.)*

73

Architecture for an Ageing Population A comprehensive review of architectural trends for aged-care communities performed by the International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing, featuring six of the most recent senior cohousing communities designed by MDA. Illustrated in full color and comprehensively documented from cover to cover, this publication reflects the success of MDA’s senior cohousing communities as the alternative to the default solution for senior housing and ageing in place.

Architecture for an Ageing Population will appeal to aged-care providers, developers, users, and advocates, as well as architects, interior designers, landscapers and other design professionals.

Ordering information:

$60 + $7.99 shipping and handling (per book, within the U.S.)*

Order online from MDA:www.cohousingco.com

Or directly from Images Publishing:www.imagespublishing.com

New Release

Growing Community: How to Find New Cohousing Members

Cohousing often starts with a core group of burning souls who have a vision for community. The next step towards making cohousing a reality is to communicate that vision the wider world and find others who share a similar vision.

This book is fr those burning souls who are looking for people to build a community with them and become their new neighbors. It contains best practices that have been used in successful cohousing groups for marketing a cohousing community at any stage.

McCamant & Durrett Architects

The Cohousing Company

241 B Commercial Street

Nevada City, CA 95959

530-265-9980

www.cohousingco.com

charles.durrett@cohousingco.com