New guide from Carla @At Home Housing!
Guide to intentional communities, cohousing, and cooperative housing in Los Angeles
by Carla Truax, September 2018. This brief is intended to provide an overview of what is happening with these housing types in LA, what is important to know, and how to get involved.
What is a home?
Fantastic video that describes the concept, why we love it, and in under 3 min!
Organizations
Fellowship for Intentional Community
This site has the directory of existing and forming communities.
http://www.ic.org/
Cohousing California
www.calcoho.org/
The Cohousing Association of the US
http://www.cohousing.org/
International Co-operative Alliance
http://ica.coop/en/what-co-operative
North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO)
https://www.nasco.coop/
inHabitLA
http://inhabit.la/
A cohousing planning group envisioning a new large-scale development in Los Angeles.
Latch Collective
http://latchcollective.com/
A network of tiny house enthusiasts supporting each other in designing and building tiny, transportable homes. We organize opportunities for sharing and receiving skills, knowledge, experience, tools and support. We also advocate for increased housing options in Los Angeles, specifically for spaces that are affordable, sustainable, well-designed and safely built.
Activated Villages
www.activatedvillages.com
Helping communities find and purchase their property and live their vision. Watch the real estate workshop videos.
California Center for Cooperative Development https://www.cccd.coop/
CCCD promotes cooperatives as a vibrant business model in California and beyond. We work with established cooperatives and groups that are interested in forming cooperatives.
Visits and Events
Meetup group
Join us for events and field trips around Southern California. These are public events for anyone who is interested, which cover “creating community” very broadly, and also include partner organization events.
http://www.meetup.com/You-Are-Here-Intentional-Community-Los-Angeles/
Los Angeles Eco-village
http://laecovillage.org/
Weekend tours by reservation. Source for local events and CRSP: a resource center for small ecological cooperative communities.
Synchronicity
http://synchronicityla.com/
Join a community dinner by reservation.
Emerald Village, Vista, CA
http://theemeraldvillage.com/
Tours by reservation, and watch for public events.
Regenerative Housing Co-operative of Pomona (Regen), Pomona, CA
http://www.regen.org/
Public events such as the Annual Sustainability Seminar in the spring.
List of communities:
A list of websites and notes about communities At Home members have visited. https://www.diigo.com/user/carlacommunity/?query=%23Communities
Important resources for community living
Time Banks: Bank your time and build community. It’s like barter, but for services. Give and receive from your neighbors.
California http://www.cafederationoftimebanks.org/directory.html
West Los Angeles ourtimebank.com
US/International: http://timebanks.org/
Buy Nothing Project: Give and receive stuff locally.
https://buynothingproject.org/find-a-group/
Governance and communication: seek out trainings on group decision-making, conflict resolution, and non-violent communication.
Books
Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities. By Diana Leafe Christian http://www.dianaleafechristian.org/creating_a_life_together_practical_tools_to_grow_ecovillages_and_intentional_communities.html
Finding Community: How to Join an Ecovillage or Intentional Community. By Diana Leafe Christian. http://www.dianaleafechristian.org/finding_community_how_to_join_an_ecovillage_or_intentional_community.html
Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities by Kathryn McCamant & Charles Durrett. http://www.cohousingco.com/products/creating-cohousing-building-sustainable-communities
Articles
https://www.ic.org/my-advice-to-others-planning-to-start-an-ecovillage/
This list is updated often with the latest articles:
https://www.diigo.com/user/carlacommunity?query=%23community
Read next
Glossary: definitions of frequently used terms
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