Growing a Successful Ecovillage or Intentional Community

Sat & Sun, July 11-12 – Berkeley, California
9:00 am – 5:30 pm
Sustainable Communities Center, Berkeley, California
2105 Martin Luther King Blvd, between Addison and Center Streets. Accessible by Downtown Berkeley BART station

Early Registration: $180 till July 3; Registration: $200 after July 4. One-day rate: $120. Register for workshop.

The workshop features 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.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

(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.

(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

(3) 1:30 – 3:00 pm - Consensus
Shopping a Proposal. Three Decision Options. The Sunset 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.

(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.

(5) 4:45 – 5:30 pm - The Effective Community Founder
Social Capital. Dealing Effectively with the Challenging Group Member. “Community Glue.”

Sunday, July 12, 2009

(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(c)3 Nonprofits - Pros & Cons, Leases, Using LLCs & 501(c)3s Together, Member Fees, Refinancing. 

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

(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.

(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.

(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 Entities & You.

(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 Businesses: Pros & Cons.

What People Say about the Workshop:

“Worth six months of individual research on how to form a new community.”
    —David Boddy, San Mateo, California

“Completely surpassed my expectations . . . Diana is a wonderful teacher — knowledgeable, engaging, and thoughtful. . . . I highly recommend this workshop!”
    —Brooke Lehman, Bluestockings Bookstore, New York

”I was blown away. I most enjoyed the participatory exercises and Diana’s enthusiasm and sense of humor.”
    —Ben Schwartz, Wassiac, New York

“Your workshop was fantastic — I got a great deal out of it. . . Thank you for being so friendly, passionate, and humorous.”
    —William Faith, Los Angeles

“Diana is amazing, and everything she covered was of paramount importance to me, especially getting a clearer picture of decision-making methods and consensus, how to deal with ‘structural conflict,’ and the ‘trust and connection’ exercise with the people in the middle of the circle.”
    —Raquel Iturbe, Ashland, Oregon

“Truly astounding! Clear, concise, direct, informed, and fun. Your workshop powerfully distilled both what I have and have not learned from 20 years of exploring community.”
    —Don St. Clair, Eugene, Oregon