[Scpg] Growing a Successful Ecovillage or Sustainable Community Workshop, Bay Area, Aug 20-21-22

Fri Jul 16 06:58:46 PDT 2010

>Hello,
>
>        I'm coming to California again next month, and wanted to let 
>friends and colleagues know about the three-day workshop  I'll be 
>doing August 20-21-22 in the Bay Area on starting successful new 
>ecovillages and sustainable communities. Essentially it's the major 
>steps needed to start - and maintain! - a healthy, thriving 
>ecovillage, cohousing neighborhood, or other kind of intentional 
>community.
>
>Would you please forward this email to anyone you think may be 
>interested in this workshop or the slide show? Thank you!
>
>	*  Friday through Sunday, August 20-21-22, 9:00 - 5:30 each day
>	* Central Berkeley (near BART and/or with shuttle service from BART)
>	* $260; $285 after August 2. Discounts for bringing 
>additional workshop participants, and for members of Cohousing 
>California and East Bay Cohousing.
>	* Free slide show, "Ecovillages: Where They Are, What They're 
>Doing, Why They're Important" in Emeryville, Thurs., Aug 19 (Raines 
>Cohen at info at calCoho.org; 510-842-6224).
>	*


>  For more information or to register: http://www.CalCoho.org/
>Cohousing  Coach Raines Cohen - info at CalCoho.org; 510-842-6224
>
>Here's More Information and a description of myself as a presenter.
>

>	Growing a Successful Ecovillage or Sustainable Community
>
>	With dynamic presentations (Diana does goofy drawings on the 
>whiteboard of whatever she's describing), lively small-group 
>exercises, frequent short photo-rich slide shows, and many stories 
>and anecdotes about how real-life communities addressed their 
>challenges, the workshop covers the major steps needed to start and 
>maintain a healthy, thriving ecovillage, cohousing neighborhood, or 
>other kind of intentional community.
>
>	"I don't think I ever learned so much in such a short time."
>    		-Susan Michaelis, Pacific Gardens Cohousing, Nanaimo, B.C.
>
>Topics include:
>	* Antidotes for common kinds of "structural conflict" and 
>interpersonal conflict
>	* The "Board Game" - demonstrating the relationship between 
>mission, membership process, and decision-making method
>	* Methods for building trust and connection, increasing 
>social capital, and dealing with "the challenging group member
>
>	"Worth six months of individual research on how to form a new 
>community."   - David Boddy, San Mateo, California
>
>	* Case histories of how real ecovillages purchased, financed, 
>and developed their properties
>	* Permaculture-based site plan design principles and examples 
>from real ecovillages
>	* Community economics and internal community finances
>
>	"Completely surpassed my expectations . . . incredibly 
>valuable to our forming community."   -Brooke Lehman, Bluestockings 
>Bookstore Co-op, New York
>
>Diana's workshop is "information dense," with 60- to 90-minute 
>sections and many breaks. A Handout Booklet is included.
>
>	"Many Windsong members said it was the best workshop they'd 
>ever attended."
>		-Valerie McIntyre, Windsong Cohousing, Langley, B.C.
>
>	About the Presenter: Diana Leafe Christian is author of 
>Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and 
>Intentional Communities and Finding Community: How to Join an 
>Ecovillage or Intentional Community.
>	For 14 years she was editor of Communities magazine, and now 
>publishes "Ecovillages," a free online newsletter about ecovillages 
>worldwide http://www.EcovillageNews.org Her monthly column about 
>ecovillages appears on the homepage of the Global Ecovillage Network 
>(GEN) website. http://gen.ecovillage.org/
>	Diana leads workshops, offers consultations, and speaks at 
>conferences internationally (i.e. keynote speaker at the Japanese 
>Ecovillage Conference in Tokyo, 2007; instructor at Ecovillage 
>Design Education (EDE) courses in the US and the Philippines.) Her 
>articles have appeared in Mother Earth News, Permaculture 
>Activist,and the Encyclopedia of Community. She has been interviewed 
>on New Dimensions Radio and Peak Moment TV. Diana lives in an 
>off-grid
>
>Here's a  a breakdown of each workshop section . . . If you scroll 
>down quickly you'll get an overview of what the workshop covers . . 
>.  And below that, a flyer about the workshop:
>
>	Thanks for reading this, and thanks in advance for passing 
>this email on to people you think might be interested!
>
>	Diana Leafe Christian
>First Day  - Friday, August 20, 2010
>
>9:00 am - 10:10 am - Antidotes for "Structural Conflict"
>
>Ecovillage Story: My Search for Why 10% of Communities Succeed & 90% 
>Fail. Structural Conflict and eight antidotes to resolve it. 
>Small-group exercise: Structural conflict you've experienced.
>
>10:25 - 11: 45 pm - Creating an Effective Mission & Purpose
>
>Ecovillage Story: "Change the World" or "Snuggle Up." Creating a 
>shared community Mission & Purpose. Ppt: Mission & Purpose in 
>Community. Values, vision, mission & purpose, activities & goals. 
>Strategic plan. How groups create Mission & Purpose documents. Ppt: 
>Creating Your Mission & Purpose. Two communities in the room? Which 
>decision-making method to use when deciding M&P?  Small-group 
>exercise: Your top values for community.
>
>12:00 pm - 12: 30 pm - Consensus Decision-Making, I
>
>Consensus Story: Blood on the Wall; Humanitarian Aid to Hanoi; 
>Mexican Midwives. Five elements of consensus. Standing aside and 
>blocking.
>
>1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Consensus Decision-Making, II
>
>Small-group exercise: Meetings you've hated. Standing aside and 
>blocking. Strong agendas. Well-crafted proposals. Skilled 
>facilitation. Ppt: Consensus. Minute books & decision logs. Ppt: 
>Consensus Story. Effective methods to prevent personal, frivolous, 
>or too-frequent blocking: (1) Solution-oriented meetings with 
>supermajority voting fallback. (2) Criteria for a valid block. (2)  
>Ppt: Consensus Modifications.
>
>3:15 pm - 4:00 pm - "The Board Game"
>
>Ecovillage Story: "Monsanto-Like Agribiz" & the Membership Process. 
>A clear, thorough membership process. Expectations meetings. The 
>critical, mutually reinforcing relationship between M&P, membership 
>process, and decision-making method. Exercise: Board Game.
>
>4:15 pm - 5:30 pm - Making Effective Proposals
>
>Ecovillage Story: The Famous "Threats & Demands" Document. Small 
>group exercise: What things you'd like to have or experience in 
>community, if not there already? Creating what you want in 
>community: social enterprise or proposal? Well-crafted proposals. 
>Small group exercise: Drafting a proposal.
>
>
>
>Second Day - Saturday, August 21, 2010
>
>9:00 am - 10:15 am - Governance & Internal Community Finances
>
>Review of 1st day. Ecovillage Story: "Decision by Tantrum" vs. Using 
>Community Governance. Power, authority, and influence in the 
>community governance process. Social Capital. Ppt: Governance. 
>Internal Community Finances: Capital and Operating budgets.
>
>10:30 - 11: 45 am - Finding and Financing Property
>
>Community Stories: (1) The Mountain Lion: How Not to Choose 
>Community Property. (2) No Thanks on the Free Land Offer. Three 
>kinds of property. Ppt: How Communities Own Land. Five kinds of 
>financing. Relationship between property ownership, financing, and 
>decision-making. Renters and renter's rights. Small-group exercise: 
>What you liked, didn't like, found surprising.
>
>12:00 am - 12: 30 pm - Site Planning in Ecovillages
>
>Ecovillage Stories: (1) Clear Water, Good Soil, & Artisan Bread: 
>Crystal Waters' Site Plan. (2) Avoiding "Urban Refugee Syndrome." 
>The feng shui of good site plans, siting & designing community 
>buildings. Ppt: Site plans. Basics of community buildings. Ppt: 
>Community buildings.
>
>1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - Communication Agreements
>
>Ecovillage Story: "That's a Stupid Idea!" Small-group exercise: (1) 
>What behaviors you don't want to experience in meetings. (2) 
>Communication agreements for your group.
>
>2:45 pm - 3:45 pm - Accountability in Ecovillages
>
>Ecovillage Story: "The Petition." Helping people stay accountable to 
>group agreements. The community eye. The trapeze of trust and 
>support and the safety net of agreements. Exercise: The telephone 
>game. A graduated series of consequences.
>
>4:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Effective "Politically Incorrect" Tips for 
>Making Needed Change
>
>Ecovillage Stories: (1) "The 13 & a Half-Year Solution." (2) The 
>Farmers & Business Alliance. Community assumptions: "therapeutic" 
>vs. "strategic." Breaking the politeness barrier. Alliances & 
>petitions. The power of the "People In The Middle." Dealing with the 
>challenging group member. "Many Raindrops Make a River" method. 
>Asking someone to leave.
>
>
>
>Third Day - Sunday, August 22
>
>9:00 am - 10:00 am - "Finding & Financing Ecovillage Land"-  Story #1
>
>Review of 2nd day. Great land-buying adventure, part 1 (how Sowing 
>Circle/OAEC purchased & financed their properties.
>
>10:15 - 11:15 am - "Finding & Financing Ecovillage Land" -  Stories #2 & #3
>
>Great land-buying adventure (how Dancing Rabbit and Earthaven 
>purchased and financed their properties.  Small group exercise: What 
>you liked, didn't like, found surprising.0am
>
>- 12: 30 pm - Legal Options for Owning Shared Property
>
>Ecovillage Story: How Abundant Dawn Found Their Lawyer. Legal 
>options for owning shared property. (How OAEC, Dancing Rabbit, 
>Earthaven, and EcoVillage at Ithaca use legal entities to own 
>property and administer educational programs.)
>
>1:30 pm - 2:30 pm - Making It Affordable for People to Join
>
>Ecovillage Story: The "Most Favored Young People" Status. Paying 
>site fees & joining fees over time. Sweat equity programs for 
>sustainable logging and farming. Work exchange programs. Long-Term 
>Resident status. Associate Member (renter) status. Small group 
>exercise: What you liked, didn't like, found surprising.
>
>2:45 pm - 3:45 pm - Evaluating & Supporting Participants' Community Projects
>
>Advice, resources,  and  support from the instructor and other 
>participants on each other's community projects.
>
>4:00 pm - 5:30 pm - Creating "Community Glue"
>
>Ecovillage Story: The  Feeling, Thinking, & Business Meetings of 
>Ecovillage Sieben Linden.Factors that create "community glue." 
>Exercise: The Gifting Circle Process. Workshop evaluation. Closing.
>
.