Amherst
MA
UMass Campus Center – 1 Campus Center Way Amherst, MA
REGISTRATION—-https://cohousingassociationoftheunite.regfox.com/northeast-cohousing-summit
This regional cohousing conference is for :
People who want to learn about cohousing, how to create it, how to live it
Those that are forming a cohousing community, whether you’re just starting or already building
Residents who currently live in a cohousing community
Architects, developers, planners or other professionalsinterested in creating communities
Coho/US produces:
What is Coho/US?
Coho/US is a national non-profit raising awareness of the benefits of cohousing and supporting the development of cohousing communities nationwide. We serve as a connector and clearinghouse to grow and nurture cohousing.
What is our Mission?
Coho/US advances cohousing by assisting forming and existing communities through a robust network of resources and access to technical assistance; and educating the public about the benefits of cohousing, from resource conservation and sustainability to resilient communities and healthy families.
Coho/US Program & Services
- Educating and inspiring through national and regional conferences
- Serving as a clearinghouse and connector for resources and professional services
- Building a national cohousing community through networks and mentoring
- Fostering a cohousing-friendly social, political and economic environment through education & advocacy
- Collaborating on opportunities to grow the cohousing movement and nurture communities.
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REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN for the Northeast Summit!
Conference sessions held at UMass Campus Center – 1 Campus Center Way Amherst, MA 01003
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Affordable Cohousing, Including Affordable Farming – Lessons Learned and Being Learned at Rocky Corner, Bethany CT – Saturday Session with David Berto, Richard Wilber & Jerome Garciano
Rocky Corner is the first cohousing community in Connecticut. It is being developed by Green Haven, Inc., which is a local group who got together to create this community that they then want to live in. Construction is underway at this time. The community is located on an abandoned dairy farm of 33 acres in close proximity to New Haven, CT. With clustering of the buildings, most of the property is preserved as farmland. The goals of this project include creating a vibrant cohousing community in a rural setting, with a wide range of affordable units for a wide range of income diversity, and creating an effective and affordable approach to utilizing the remaining farmland. All of these goals presented large challenges but are being accomplished. Development of a cohousing community in this rural setting inherently had initial challenges of high land costs, zoning and town approvals, and creating of water, septic, road access and fire safety. The community of 30 homes and families will have 13 of these at reduced prices that are affordable to purchasers in a range of limited incomes. With the relatively small farm area, alternatives are being evaluated to determine the best ways to effectively utilize this area for ongoing and productive agriculture. An initial detailed evaluation was undertaken by a permaculture expert to define the best uses in the different locations throughout the site. Alternative uses are then being defined and evaluated to best align with the soil characteristics and local interest. Uses include community supported agriculture, community gardens, fruit and nut trees, eggs, small animals, coppice, and other uses as they are identified.
Affordable Co-housing: The Sharing Housing Option – Saturday Session with Annamarie Pulhar
Many people who see the benefits of co-housing and would like to live in such a community can’t afford it. The costs of land and new construction mean that only the affluent can comfortably commit to joining a co-housing communities. But what if people agreed to buy in together to live under one roof? Or an owner opens his/her house to a home-mate? How might that simple idea make it possible for the less than affluent to participate in co-housing communities? How does this impact the community?
This Think Tank will explore the how shared housing can be incorporated into co-housing communities. Lead by Annamarie Pluhar, author of Sharing Housing, A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates and President of Sharing Housing, Inc., it will begin by identifying the barriers and opportunities to implementing this idea. Small groups will then discuss how those barriers can be overcome.
Age-Friendly is Human Friendly – The Appropriate Environment Supports Purposeful Living at Any Age - Saturday Session with Ruth Neeman
Environments that support healthy aging are residential, inviting and are desirable for all, at any age. Universal Design, that is based on principles of equitable use, flexibility and adaptability, simplicity and clarity, perceptible information, tolerance for error, low physical effort, and appropriate accommodation for a variety of abilities – dovetails beautifully with the Cohousing focus on community, interdependence, friendship, accommodation and support.
A Taste of Dynamic Governance / Sociocracy – Saturday Session with Jerry Koch-Gonzalez
Looking for an effective way to make decisions? Check out this taste of sociocracy, an increasingly popular governance and decision-making method based on the values of transparency, equivalency, and effectiveness. We will have an appetizer of the basic principles. We will gorge on two main courses: a hands-on experience of organizational structure that maximizes participation and empowerment, and a real consent decision-making process of selecting someone to a role. We will close by looking at the dessert menu of the ways feedback keeps a community yummy!
Getting the Work Done – Saturday Session with Lyons Witten
How do you get all your community work done? Each cohousing group needs to decide what tasks to include in community work, what system to use to connect each member with their tasks, how to organize meals work in particular, and whether and how to enforce work agreements. In this session, I will explore a wide range of work systems used by existing communities, as well as presenting a framework for understanding the many facets of community work. I will illustrate the breadth of work taken on by most cohousing communities using a “work budget” matrix that can be adjusted to fit your specific community, and will present useful information on how to actually keep your community running smoothly.
Growing Your Group – Saturday Session with Dyan Wiley
Explore the many ways that successful cohousing communities have marketed and promoted their community and the benefits of cohousing. Consider strategies to attract and retain interest and participation — orientation/meet and greet sessions, local news stories, special events, e-newsletters, and social media tools. Understand the importance of good communication skills, being comfortable with conflict, and other factors contribute to building the social fabric of your membership as you build the physical structures and policy agreements that will support your community over time.
If It Doesn’t Work Socially, Why Bother – Saturday Session with Charles Durrett
Across the globe, we seek ways to make neighborhoods more conducive to living lighter on the planet and being happier. We yearn to let our kids play with the neighbors knowing they are safe. New and “innovative” solutions are trying to solve the senior housing challenge, only to fail due to lack of buy-in from the community. Charles Durrett says, “Forget trying to reinvent the wheel. The answers do exist – it’s a matter of addressing our social beliefs and asking if they will bring us happiness.” Durrett will explain the importance of being authentic and listening to the community when addressing senior and intergenerational housing. He will also explain why crafting a well-fitting glove in a facilitated process is one of the keys to success.
Living and Farming in Community – Saturday Session with Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm and Stowe Farm Community
Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm (NN&F) and Stowe Farm Community (SFC) will present and discuss the joys, benefits, challenges, and options of farming in community. The presentation will include information about several other agricultural cohousing communities in the northeast region. Join us as we share stories and lessons learned – and learning!
Meals 3 Times a Week – Saturday Session with Ross Harpestad & Catya Belfer
Well, really it’s 11-13 per month, but who’s counting? Come hear about the Mosaic Commons meals program, from Cat Belfer, cook and kitchen czar, and Ross Harpestad, meals scheduler extraordinaire. Tell us what’s great about how you do meals, what you’re struggling with, what you wish for.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Hated Co-Housing: Our Transcendentalist History – Saturday Session with Samantha Bernstein
This presentation will offer a deep dive into the spiritual ancestor of co-housing: the transcendental Utopian communities of the 1840s. Brook Farm and Fruitlands (both in Massachusetts) will be described, along with a discussion of voluntary simplicity (an essential component of these communities), and how the concept has changed and developed since those communities were founded. An essential question will be posed and discussed: How does co-housing support or not support voluntary simplicity? Presentation is for anyone living in co-housing or thinking about living in co-housing.
Replacement Reserves: Taking the Worry Out of your Community’s Financial Future – Saturday Session with Lyons Witten
A real-life DIY cohousing Replacement Reserves (RR) Spreadsheet will be used to explain the benefits of Replacement Reserves, how to manage the multitude of potential items needing replacement (someday), how Replacement Reserves are funded, what big-ticket items cannot be included in Replacement Reserves and how to manage those expenses. Those who do not have such a spreadsheet can use this example to set up their own. This is a “living DIY model” that should be reviewed each year by the Finance team/committee. Having said that, and shown how to use the “living model”, it may be that some/most communities would want to hire a consultant to help them fill in the categories, costs, and life-expectancy of each item in the RR model. This session will provide insight for either way the DIY RR model is used.
Singing in Community – Saturday Session with Zachary Belfer-Shevett & Catya Belfer
Would you like to sing more in your cohousing group? Come experience how groups use song to grow community. Combining conversation and singing, Zach & Catya will share some great songs that really work well for different cohousing groups. Learn about why “having a good voice” doesn’t matter. Learn pitfalls to avoid when selecting songs. Learn about bringing singing into your group’s culture. Cat & Zach will create space for songs from participants, so bring your favorite. If possible, contact us beforehand to teach us your song. (Note: we’ll not be sharing explicitly religious songs.)
Structure in Community – Saturday Session with Karen Gimnig and Carolyn Shapiro
In this session we’ll talk about some of the structures available to cohousing communities including Sociocracy and Imago Relationships tools. We’ll briefly describe each one, share our experience with the transformational power these structures can have, how they can be adapted for different groups, and what can be challenging about them. Bring your questions. This will be a time of story telling with just enough explanation to enable you to bring pieces back to your community.
User-Centered Cohousing Design: Perspectives from Environmental and Social Psychology – Saturday Session with Debi Levine
What lessons can we learn from environmental and social psychology to inform the design and development of cohousing communities? How can theory and practice in these areas help us maximize satisfaction of individual and social needs?
Environmental psychology, also known as person-environment studies, provides insight into how the built – and natural – environment affects individual and interpersonal behavior. Social psychology helps us understand how interpersonal dynamics influence our notions of community, and can also help us evaluate how to apply community design principles originating in one culture (Denmark), to our own.
This session is an opportunity to (1) learn how basic human needs for both privacy and positive social interaction can be addressed through macro and micro physical design elements; (2) expand upon user-centered design principles to address how cultural norms and notions of “community” can inform design choices; and (3) share experiences about design elements that have worked well – and not so well. Insights from social psychology that can inform the consensus decision-making process around design will be interwoven throughout the session.
Want Something to Change in Your Community? – Saturday Session with Betsy Waters
With a change you are interested in making in your community in mind, explore organizational development strategies. We will draw heavily from the work of the consultant group, Vital Smarts.
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Bios: 2018 Northeast Cohousing Summit
Alan O’Hashi, MPA, resides in Silver Sage Village cohousing in Boulder, CO and is a documentary filmmaker, screenwriter and seasoned storyteller. His latest, “The New Deal Artist Public Art Legacy just aired on Wyoming PBS. He’s developing the Lincoln Court Mixed Use Intentional Community in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Annamarie Pluhar, M.Div, is the founder of Sharing Housing, Inc. a nonprofit 501©(3) whose mission is to promote the idea of shared housing for adults and provide
educational resources. An award-winning speaker, she is the author of Sharing Housing, A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates. She designs and delivers in-person workshops and on-line webinars to teach individuals and organizations the tools for effectively selecting a good home-mate. Her blog is at https://www.sharinghousing.com. The nonprofit organization is at https://sharinghousing.org. She is a graduate of Vassar College and has a masters in divinity from The Episcopal Divinity School. She lives in Vermont with one two-legged and two four-legged Housemates.
Carolyn Shapiro is an artist/education. She worked with her husband to establish White Pine Cohousing where she introduced the sociocratic method as the way to conduct cohousing meetings. She looks forward to sharing her experiences with how the sociocratic method works for White Pine and how it has helped members deal with difficult issues.
Catya Belfer is a founder and resident of Mosaic Commons, about an hour and a half East of Amherst. Catya works as a technical program manager and also builds websites for cohousing groups and others, including www.cohousing.org. She cooks for the community once or twice a month. She is passionate about building connections between people and has been involved in intentional communities since 1994. On the non-technical side, she is fascinated by how we build community through ritual, tradition, and song, though she’s not as good at singing and harmony as her kid.
Charles Durrett brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. He pioneered the cohousing movement in the U.S. and teaches architects and community leaders how to start successful cohousing communities around the globe.
David Berto created Housing Enterprises, Inc. 25 years ago to provide creative solutions to housing development and to preserve historic structures. Prior to this he was a nuclear engineer. Housing Enterprises, Inc. now has a staff of 4. Housing Enterprises assists small nonprofit groups and others in all aspects of developing and sustaining all types of affordable, mixed income and mixed use housing projects in Connecticut and other parts of the country. They work with each organization throughout all steps of the development process to create quality projects that strengthen neighborhoods and provide housing where families and individuals can feel proud to call home.
Debi Levine is a freelance instructional designer and professional facilitator with advanced graduate training in Social Psychology, People-Environment Studies, and Human Relations Training. Over the past 25 years, Debi has developed and led workshops on a broad range of management and professional development topics, and has consulted to several Cohousing communities on consensus-building and effective facilitation skills. Debi has an abiding interest in how the natural and built environments influence individual and interpersonal behavior, and how they can support health, healing, and a sense of “home.” She has been an active member of the Environmental Design Research Association, a board member of LivableStreets Alliance, a six-year resident of Cornerstone Cohousing in Cambridge, MA, and a former expatriate, having lived in Denmark for nine years – including in a variety of informal “living-together” housing situations.
Dyan Wiley is a founding member of Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community in Amherst MA. She was a key member of the Membership committee working to attract newcomers to their start-up community 25 years ago. She also served on the community’s Development Team, Facilitation committee, and kitchen design team. She has helped several other communities with their marketing and outreach efforts through trainings and informal consulting. For her day job, Dyan works full-time in the grants office at Mount Holyoke College and is a busy activist for immigrant rights.
Elizabeth Magill is one of the early members of Mosaic Commons Cohousing in Berlin, MA, and has been part of their conflict resolution (now called community support) team through its many changes. Liz also handles conflict and community in her “day job” is as a pastor in the United Church of Christ. When it’s all too much she hides in her attic making quilts.
Gabriel Mugar is a researcher and activist working at the intersection of technology, media, and community building. He is currently a Design Researcher at IDEO in Cambridge, MA. Until May of 2018, Gabriel was a research associate and affiliate faculty at the Emerson College Engagement Lab where he coordinated a national study on civic media practitioners and taught courses on qualitative research and digital media studies. Gabriel earned his PhD from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies where his dissertation research looked at the newcomer management strategies of digital participatory platforms and how newcomers negotiate such strategies. Gabriel’s recent work includes designing experiences to engage Boston Public School students in conducting research and writing for descriptions of historic locations in augmented reality games developed by Niantic, Inc. (makers of Pokemon Go), and researching Civic Media Innovation in the United States, published as a white paper for the MacArthur Foundation. Gabriel is the founder of the Transformative Culture Project, aBoston-based nonprofit that supports career development for young media professionals across southern
New England, and is an affiliate of the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard
University.
Jana Lussier is a Head Cook at Pioneer Valley Cohousing. She has also cooked semi professionally at various restaurants in her former life. Now she is a licensed Acupuncturist.
Jerome Garciano is an attorney with a concentration on state and federal tax financing incentives affecting the built environment. His experience includes provided legal support for developers, syndicators, investors, non-profit sponsors, and government agencies in renewable energy and real estate developments using the historic, new markets, renewable energy and low-income housing tax credits. As a LEED, AP, he has also served clients utilizing energy efficiency and renewable energy tax incentives. An attorney at a major Boston law firm, he has also served as a finance project manager at The Community Builders, Inc., a national non-profit developer of affordable housing. Prior to that, Mr. Garciano was a financial analyst with Recapitalization Advisors, a nationally recognized real estate finance consulting firm, specializing in repositioning affordable multifamily housing assets. He is a CPA and has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University.
Jenny French and Anda French, AIA, are principals of French 2D, an architecture studio based in Boston. French 2D’s work combines architectural form-making with integrated art practice, and experimental collaborative methods in commercial, residential, and civic projects. French 2D works on housing and mixed-use with a focus on unconventional housing types that combine familiar ideas of home with more radical organizations and typologies. They focus on the ethos of compact living and shared resources in projects like the first all micro-unit building built in Boston. French 2D was one of five finalists in the 2013 Museum of Modern Art PS1 Young Architects Program in New York, and the firm was featured as Architect Magazine October 2017 Next Progressives. Jenny French is a Design Critic at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Anda French serves on the Board of Directors of the Boston Society of Architects.
Jerry Koch-Gonzalez is a founding resident at Pioneer Valley Cohousing, and has been
teaching sociocracy and Non-Violent Communications for many years.
Karen Gimnig is a certified professional facilitator with Imago Relationships International. She believes that every decision to be made and every conflict that occurs is an opportunity to increase the sense of community in cohousing. She is passionate about sharing the tools that help communities take advantage of these opportunities to experience deeper relationships and greater joy. She brings experience from her own cohousing community as well other other communities, the board of Coho US, and other non-profit organizations. Feel free to contact her with questions at gimnig@gmail.com or 678-705-9007.
Laura Fitch is a founding principal with Fitch Architecture & Community Design in Amherst, Massachusetts and a 24-year resident of Pioneer Valley Cohousing. Fitch specializes in energy-efficient building design for homes, commercial properties, and smart growth communities. She has worked on programming, schematic design, and/or full architectural services on over thirty cohousing communities across North America for which the firm has received numerous awards.
In 2006, Fitch was given the Boston Architectural College’s “Distinguished Alumni Award”, stating “because of you, Laura, many people have found more neighborly and sustainable ways to live. Through your work, our world is a better place”. Laura, principal of Fitch Architecture & Community Design, Inc., can be contacted at lfitch@facdarchitects.com. 413-549-5799
Lyons Witten, 24-year resident, chairman of the Buildings Grounds Circle and a member of the Finance Circle of Pioneer Valley Cohousing (Amherst, MA), will present useful information on how to keeping your community running smoothly. From fascinating meal sign-up sheets to complicated replacement reserve spreadsheets, he has helped run a tight ship through the quagmire of cohousing!
Email: lyons@cohousing.com
Mary Kraus, AIA, LEED BD+C is a cohousing architect and facilitator who has worked with over two dozen communities in the US and Canada over the past thirty years. She was a founding board member of the Cohousing Network (now Coho US). She lives at Pioneer Valley Cohousing, the first cohousing community in the eastern US, where she can be found preparing dinner in the common house kitchen with her cook team.
Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm has 29 families in a rural cohousing community on 113 acres in Peterborough, NH
Rev. Dr. Betsy Waters — a workshop leader, coach and a church consultant, pastor, past school psychologist and teacher, facilitator and process leader at Mosaic-Commons. www.renewingchurches.com
Richard Wilber has a B.A. in Fine Art, worked as a computer programmer, and is now retired. He is an amateur woodworker and has recently received a Permaculture Design Certificate, skills that will come in handy in the Rocky Corner cohousing community. He believes that living in community and designing the landscape using permaculture principles are important for the health of our planet. He is hoping that Rocky Corner can set an example in living the change we want to see, and that others will be inspired to do something similar.
Ross Harpestad is a resident of Mosaic Commons, about an hour and a half east of Amherst. He cleans up after meals three to four times a month as well as performs the monthly meals accounting and the every-other-month meals scheduling process. Ross works as a Senior Software Engineer and Analyst for a large for-profit that designs financial software geared towards schools, cities and counties governments. He grumbles a lot and has been involved with Mosaic Commons since 2009.
Ruth Neeman AIA, Principal, Director of Senior Environments Design Studio – LWDA Inc.is a registered architect with more than 30 years of experience in planning, design and research focusing exclusively on environments that enable elders and support independence and aging with dignity. Her project experience includes new construction and renovations of Independent Living Communities, traditional and memory supportive Assisted Living facilities, Long Term Care centers, short term rehabilitative care units, as well as community based day centers. E-mail: rneeman@lwda.com
Samantha Bernstein’s childhood summers were spent in a co-housing “situation” in Otis, Massachusetts that was founded by all four of her grandparents. She has a BA in Anthropology, a BS in Nursing, and an MA in American Studies, and is currently working on her MS- Nursing at University of New Hampshire. Sam became academically interested in co-housing and voluntary simplicity during college and her master’s thesis “Buy Less, Be More: The Transcendentalist History of Anti-consumerism” devoted an entire chapter to cohousing. She moved into Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm with her family in 2015 and has recently moved out of the ‘hood.
Shelly Parks left a nationally recognized sales and marketing career in the retirement living industry to focus on sharing her professional skills and experience with cohousers. Shelly completed the 500 Communities Program in 2017 and is now an affiliate of Cohousing Solutions. She is also a member of Skagit Cohousing, a developing community in Anacortes, WA. To learn more about Shelly and her work, go to her website: www.covisionconsulting.com
Stowe Farm Community will have 11 families when complete, it has 8 families now.in a rural cohousing community on ~80 acres in Colrain, MA
Zachary Belfer-Shevett grew up in community and now attends Hampshire College here in Amherst. They are a dedicated musician who plays guitar-like instruments and have sung in a variety of choruses, and are an avid contra dancer. Zachary recently finished a course in Ethnomusicology.
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Pre-conference Intensives on Friday Sept 21st (optional)
Pre-conference Intensives held at Pioneer Valley Cohousing – 120 Pulpit Hill Road, Amherst, MA 01002