I’ve been writing lately about how we can build a future based on the common good beginning in the communities where we live. I fleshed that out more in the post you received the other day, and will continue to draw it out. I’d love to hear about what’s going on where you live, what you think the best models of community-based organizing and institution building. Coops, land trusts, intentional communities, local food, energy alternatives, etc.
There are some really great examples from Cataluña. One example - I wrote a paper about groups of self-organized parents, mostly mothers, who have created "grupos de crianza compartida" (shared childcare groups) to bridge the gap in child care between post-birth maternity leave and pre-school. The moms pooled resources to hire a childcare provider (cutting down costs) and found affordable child care space. These groups formed out of mother’s networks that came together after 15M to respond to the rise of austerity measures that made access to child care more inaccessible, such as when the Generalitat of Catalunya cut funding for public day care centers in half. It’s very difficult to secure a space for a child in the public day care system; less than a quarter of children get in. As of 2018, 8% of children in one neighborhood, Poble Sec, were part of a grupo de crianza.
A poster for how people are initiating self-help in response to the breakdown of systems. And how important a role women play in so many community-based initiatives.
Olympia's Blue Heron Bakery is transitioning to co-op ownership, the latest in a series of small businesses that have made this transition. The co-op has settled on a hybrid model, with both worker and consumer owners, and a board of directors that equally represents both membership categories. We've built in a sociocratic governance model, which is basically a consensus process adapted to the business environment.
Our board of directors has been working for almost two years to put the governance structure in place, build a consumer-membership base, and negotiate sales terms with the current owner, who intends to stay on as an employee. We will be signing the purchase and sale agreement on April 1st.
The Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC) has been an invaluable advisor in this project, and anyone considering creating or converting to a co-op, or establishing a co-op housing group, should definitely contact them.
Here's the link to Lopez Island Community Land Trust. This group over 36 years has build 52 units that house residents who now run about 20 small businesses on this island the size of Manhattan with about 2500 year-round residents. https://www.lopezclt.org
Thank you for your focus on what is already happening towards creating an ecological civilization. This article in the Alternative last week was particularly inspiring to me:
"Housing is a fundamental human right, our core social foundation. As such, housing intrinsically integrates the challenges of both social and environmental justice.
Yet its current trajectory, defined by financialisation, extraction and inequality, mitigates against achieving either goal. We are at a critical juncture as a result, and we must fundamentally rethink our approach to housing."
Great resource! Looked around their site. Again underscoring how there’s such a ferment of new thinking and practice going on at the grassroots. Antidote to despair.
Two sociocratic mantras are "good enough for now" and "safe enough to try". I like the consent-based model as an alternative to consensus-based model. In consent-based, people cant just "block" a decision, decisions need to be made that the group can consent to. With sociocracy, the group identifies aspects about a situation/problem/policy as well as as many alternative ways to address each aspect the group can think of to come up with a decision to move forward with-- as well as a time (6 months/ a year...) to review the decision and decide if it's working out as anticipated or needs to be revised. It invites complexity and is always evolving.
The replies underscore an important point. In a world where so much seems hopeless at the macro-scale, there is a huge richness of community-building innovations going on in places that should give us hope. These are all great examples of building the future in place, and I plan to follow up on some of them.
I live in Vermont's most rural corner, the "Northeast Kingdom" - 3 counties that together are the size of Delaware, with a total of 60-some thousand residents. The Northeast Kingdom Collaborative [ https://www.nekcollaborative.org/ ] has been around for 20-some years supporting local communities and coordinating regional efforts. Health care coverage is divided by the coverage areas of the region's two hospitals. NEK prosper! is an "accountable health community" brings together over a dozen organizations with a vision: "Our population will be Well-Housed, Well-Nourished, Physically Healthy, Mentally Healthy, Financially Secure." [ https://nekprosper.org/who-we-are/ ] There's a kind of "let's figure it out together" mentality that seems more built-in when there aren't a whole lot of people.
An initial convener of the second effort was a hospital, but realizing that there needed to be a much broader focus than is normally considered, and that any efforts are going to work much better if done in coordination with all sorts of even vaguely overlapping organizations.
We're building Cohousing at www.sunnysidevillageCohousing.com and using Sociocracy as our governance model.
Would you tell us a little more about Sociocracy?
A great resource for learning about sociocracy is Sociocracy for All: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/
They have many free and low-cost resources and a tab, "start here" :-)
hey @Dean Smith. I'm sorry that I jumped in. Patrick's question was for you. I'll chill next time!
I don’t think Dean minds. And you answered the question well.
There are some really great examples from Cataluña. One example - I wrote a paper about groups of self-organized parents, mostly mothers, who have created "grupos de crianza compartida" (shared childcare groups) to bridge the gap in child care between post-birth maternity leave and pre-school. The moms pooled resources to hire a childcare provider (cutting down costs) and found affordable child care space. These groups formed out of mother’s networks that came together after 15M to respond to the rise of austerity measures that made access to child care more inaccessible, such as when the Generalitat of Catalunya cut funding for public day care centers in half. It’s very difficult to secure a space for a child in the public day care system; less than a quarter of children get in. As of 2018, 8% of children in one neighborhood, Poble Sec, were part of a grupo de crianza.
A poster for how people are initiating self-help in response to the breakdown of systems. And how important a role women play in so many community-based initiatives.
Olympia's Blue Heron Bakery is transitioning to co-op ownership, the latest in a series of small businesses that have made this transition. The co-op has settled on a hybrid model, with both worker and consumer owners, and a board of directors that equally represents both membership categories. We've built in a sociocratic governance model, which is basically a consensus process adapted to the business environment.
Our board of directors has been working for almost two years to put the governance structure in place, build a consumer-membership base, and negotiate sales terms with the current owner, who intends to stay on as an employee. We will be signing the purchase and sale agreement on April 1st.
The Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC) has been an invaluable advisor in this project, and anyone considering creating or converting to a co-op, or establishing a co-op housing group, should definitely contact them.
Here's the link to Lopez Island Community Land Trust. This group over 36 years has build 52 units that house residents who now run about 20 small businesses on this island the size of Manhattan with about 2500 year-round residents. https://www.lopezclt.org
Thank you for your focus on what is already happening towards creating an ecological civilization. This article in the Alternative last week was particularly inspiring to me:
https://www.thealternative.org.uk/dailyalternative/2024/3/18/mazzucato-hill-housing-as-a-right
"Housing is a fundamental human right, our core social foundation. As such, housing intrinsically integrates the challenges of both social and environmental justice.
Yet its current trajectory, defined by financialisation, extraction and inequality, mitigates against achieving either goal. We are at a critical juncture as a result, and we must fundamentally rethink our approach to housing."
Great resource! Looked around their site. Again underscoring how there’s such a ferment of new thinking and practice going on at the grassroots. Antidote to despair.
Two sociocratic mantras are "good enough for now" and "safe enough to try". I like the consent-based model as an alternative to consensus-based model. In consent-based, people cant just "block" a decision, decisions need to be made that the group can consent to. With sociocracy, the group identifies aspects about a situation/problem/policy as well as as many alternative ways to address each aspect the group can think of to come up with a decision to move forward with-- as well as a time (6 months/ a year...) to review the decision and decide if it's working out as anticipated or needs to be revised. It invites complexity and is always evolving.
Thanks folks for all these answers and leads. You’ve lifted my spirits!
The replies underscore an important point. In a world where so much seems hopeless at the macro-scale, there is a huge richness of community-building innovations going on in places that should give us hope. These are all great examples of building the future in place, and I plan to follow up on some of them.
I recommend our new eBook -
Social-Ecological Cooperative Housing
Community-based, transformative building and living
https://www.jovis.de/en/book/9783868598353
Looks like exactly the models we need to promote. On my reading list.
I read it, Michael. It's fantastic! Thank you for your life-long commitment to this work!
I live in Vermont's most rural corner, the "Northeast Kingdom" - 3 counties that together are the size of Delaware, with a total of 60-some thousand residents. The Northeast Kingdom Collaborative [ https://www.nekcollaborative.org/ ] has been around for 20-some years supporting local communities and coordinating regional efforts. Health care coverage is divided by the coverage areas of the region's two hospitals. NEK prosper! is an "accountable health community" brings together over a dozen organizations with a vision: "Our population will be Well-Housed, Well-Nourished, Physically Healthy, Mentally Healthy, Financially Secure." [ https://nekprosper.org/who-we-are/ ] There's a kind of "let's figure it out together" mentality that seems more built-in when there aren't a whole lot of people.
Health is an area in which I am less well versed, but must be addressed. I’ll look into this.
An initial convener of the second effort was a hospital, but realizing that there needed to be a much broader focus than is normally considered, and that any efforts are going to work much better if done in coordination with all sorts of even vaguely overlapping organizations.
Nice to hear from you online, Denise!
Keep up your great work!
Hope to see some of you out and around the Salish Sea sometime soon.
All the best.
Spring Greetings from the Old World