The process of building the Wolf Creek Commons cohousing community takes a team of dedicated households, with ongoing periodic work being done by those team members.
We have a Design Review Committee that works with our architects and landscape planners to shape the physical environment in which we will live. Our Outreach and Marketing Committee that gets the word out about our new community, attracting new members while educating the local community about our goals and plans. We have a Finance Committee that watches the budget and plans how we’re going to pay for our new community. The Communications Committee maintains our web site and publishes newsletters. We have a Membership Committee that guides prospective Wolf Creek Commons members through the process of joining the community. Our Social Committee plans potlucks, parties, and other events where we can get to know and bond with each other, and where we can include interested guests who might want to see if we’re the kind of people they’d enjoy living with. We also have various temporary subcommittees that developed our Meeting Guidelines, Rental Agreement, Pet Agreement, and so forth. The Process Committee plans and facilitates our monthly general meetings, and the Rhythm Committee guides the entire process.
Each adult member of Wolf Creek Commons participates in at least one of these committees; many in two or more. Even though our beautiful new home site might remain somewhat dormant over this winter, there’s still a lot of work by these various teams continuing behind the scenes.
Business and other commitments have severely limited my participation in the WCC committee process during the past couple months. I even missed the November general meeting and the plant re-potting party that followed it. (We have hundreds of seedlings that we’re growing for eventual use in our landscaping, many of which had outgrown their initial pots and needed larger temporary homes. Even though I was unavailable to assist with this chore, I was at least able to send a couple of large buckets of organic compost to contribute to the cause, so I felt some vicarious participation.) I’ve been otherwise occupied so much of late that there was surprise evidenced when I phoned in to participate in the Process Committee meeting Wednesday evening. They hadn’t heard my voice for awhile! It was good to feel like part of that team again, and to be able to accept responsibilities for the upcoming December general meeting.
In many other cities, towns and communities an elected board or hired general manager takes responsibility for developing and enforcing laws, regulations, CC&R’s, and other documents that govern how a group of people will live together and how they’ll share and pay for common resources. Cohousing communities like ours have a different focus ==> we’re self-governed, using the consensus process to develop the agreements that will shape our community. That effort requires brainstorming, research, discussion, revision, and lots of teamwork in order to reach our goals. I truly enjoy being a part of the teams of WCC members who are engaged in this process, getting to know, love and respect my future neighbors as part of the journey.
