East Bay Cohousing is proud to announce that we are hosting the Northern California exclusive event:
Growing a Successful Ecovillage or Intentional Community

with Diana Leafe Christian

Register Today for best rates and to hold your seat.

Sponsors: The Cohousing Coaches at Planning for Sustainable Communities and East Bay Cohousing

at the Sustainable Communities Center / East Bay Cohousing clubhouse
Downtown Berkeley, California - July 11-12, 2009
Two-day workshop, 9:00 am - 5:30 pm each day

Saturday:

• Structural Conflict
  
• Mission & Purpose
  
• Decision-Making
  
• Communication
  
• Accountability
  
• Community "Glue"

Sunday:

• Property Purchase
  
• Financing
  
• Legal Entities
  
• Zoning
  
• Community Finances
  
• Creating a Village-Scale Economy

with discounts for paid annual EBCOHO members. Register today. RSVP here. Also come to Diana's EcoVillage slide show Thursday, July 9 in San Francisco.

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Lively exercises, humorous musical skits, slide show presentations, and vivid anecdotes about real problems and their successful solutions. What works well, pitfalls to avoid, how not to reinvent the wheel. Antidotes for common kinds of "structural conflict" and interpersonal conflict. The "Board Game" demonstrating the relationship between mission, membership process, and decision-making method. Building trust and connection, increasing social capital, dealing with the challenging group member. Case histories of community development demonstrating aspects of property purchase, financing, zoning, and legal entities for owning shared property. Community economics: internal community finances, creating a village-scale economy.

The workshop benefits forming community groups (with no property, as well as those with property), as well as existing communities.

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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. Editor of Communities magazine for 14 years, she publishes "Ecovillages," a free online publication. Diana leads workshops, offers consultations on process and communication issues, and speaks at conferences internationally. Her articles have appeared in Mother Earth News, Cohousing magazine, Permaculture Activist, and the Encyclopedia of Community. She has been interviewed by Time Magazine, the New York Times, Harper's Magazine, AARP magazine, New Dimensions Radio, Peak Moment TV, NPR, and the BBC. Diana writes about consensus and process and communication skills for the website of the Cohousing Association of the U.S. She lives at Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina.

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Saturday, July 11:

Structural Conflict, Mission & Purpose, Decision-Making, Communication, Accountability, Community "Glue"

(1) 9:00 - 10:40 am -- Preventing "Structural Conflict"

"Visible" & "Invisible" Structures. Steps to Creating Community. Preventing Structural Conflict. Trust/Conflict Cycle. "That's Not Community!" Handouts.

10:40 - 10:55 am - break

(2) 10:55 - 12:30 pm --Mission and Purpose, Decision-Making 


Vision, Mission & Purpose, Goals, Strategic Plan. Sample Mission Statements. Exercise: Creating Mission & Purpose Documents. "Where Do We Draw the Line?" "Public-Private Scale." Multiple Communities in the Room? Consensus Requirements. Decision-Making for Mission & Purpose. Consensus Overview -- Proposals, Agenda, Facilitation, Participants, Evaluation. Community Governance. Committees. Minute Books & Decision Logs. Handouts

12:30 - 1:30pm - Lunch

(3) 1:30 - 3:00 pm -- Consensus

Shopping a Proposal. Three Decision Options. The Sundown Clause. Gradients of Agreement. Blocking. Criteria for a Principled Block Slide Show: Decision-Making in Communities. Solution-Oriented Meetings. Threatening to Block. Premature Proposal Death. Pseudoconsensus.

3:00 - 3:15pm Break

(4) 3:00- 4:30 pm -- "Board Game," Communication Agreements, Accountability

"Board Game." Exercise: Communication Agreements. Helping People Stay Accountable to the group. Exercise: Telephone Buddy System. Graduated Series of Consequences.

4:30 - 4:45 pm Break
(5) 4:45 - 5:30 pm -- The Effective Community Founder

Social Capital. Dealing Effectively with the Challenging Group Member. "Community Glue."

Handouts: Social Capital. Conflict resolution methods. Mildly Taboo Topic. Gifting Circle.

Sunday, July 12:

Property Purchase, Financing, Legal Entities, Zoning, Community Finances, Creating a Village-Scale Economy

(6) 9:00 - 10:40 am -- Case Studies, I

(1) OAEC: Property Search/Turn-Key Property, Bidding on Property, Renovation Contracts, Down Payment/Development Fund/Mortgage Fund, Owner-Financing,

Private Loans/2nd Mortgages, LLCs - Pros & Cons, 501©3 Nonprofits - Pros & Cons,

Leases, Using LLCs & 502c3s Together, Member Fees, Refinancing.

(2) Dancing Rabbit: Property Search/Raw (Prairie) Land, Bank Loans/Private Loans, 501©3 and 501©2 Nonprofits, Land Trusts: Pros & Cons, Leases, Covenants.

10:40 - 10:55 am - break

(7) 10:55 - 12:30 pm -- Case Studies, II.

(3) Earthaven Ecovillage: Property Search/Raw (Forested Mountain) Land, Finding Land/Breaking Up, Pioneers & Settlers, Raising Funds with Pledges & Founders' Perks, Homeowners Associations: Pros & Cons, Refinancing/Earthshares Fund. Shared Property Ownership: Do You Really Own your House? Raw, Developed, Turn-Key Property. Exercise: Your Site Criteria. Owner-Financing, Banks, Personal Loans, Member-Financed Loans, Revolving Loan Funds. Different Ways to Co-Own Property. Steps of the Land-Search Process. Zoning. .

12:30 - 1:30 pm Lunch
(8) 1:30 - 3:00 pm -- Financing Your Property

"Community Glue" Exercise: Mildly Taboo Topic. Pioneers & Settlers. Financial contribution and decision-making in the group. Exercise: Your Group's Potential Assets. Helping less affluent members afford it. When one member owns it. The Triple-Net Lease.

3:00 - 3:15 pm - Break

(9) 3:15 - 4:15 pm -- Legal Entities for Shared Property Ownership

Why We Need a Legal Entity. Checklist for Choosing a Legal Entity. Limited Liability. Double-Taxation. Which Entities Not to Use. Trusts, Community Land Trusts: Pros & Cons. Exercise: Legal Entitie & You.

4:15 - 4:30 pm - Break

(10) 4:45 - 5:30 pm -Community Economics

Community Income & Expenses. Slide Show: Community Economics. Operating and Capital Budgets. Rural Communities: Creating a Village-Scale Economy. Community-Owned Businesses/Onsite Individual Member-Owned Busineses: Pros & Cons.