Summer Project Update

Network Update Following June 2023 Office Hours Series

• This is a general update reflecting back themes and questions from last month's office hours series. We want to thank everyone who came to office hours and shared their questions and views over the course of the month. It's been very helpful to see where there are common threads and common questions.

Common Threads

• Location: rural but having a proximity to services and a higher populated area.

• Food: importance of gathering for community meals as well as having community gardens on the property.

• Governance and organizational structure: importance of having a timeline and process-based plan for things like incorporation, but not imposing a certain specific structure too soon such that we are straining to fit ourselves into an already prescribed mode. Rather, people are more in favor of building a framework over time that suits the project and the people working on it (more on that and next steps further down).

Cross-pollination: vision of cross-pollination of artistic disciplines, cultural backgrounds, and weaving care for humans together with land and the more than human world.

Multigenerational: community that is varied in age, creating a fertile ground for every member at certain stages of their lives.

Size: The current goal of approx. 30 units was acceptable to participants. Eventual size of the community will be dictated by demonstrated interest, i.e. "new neighbors", as well as construction economy, chosen site, etc.

Common Questions

The biggest questions were related to timeline, next steps, and why we're going for such a community discussion minded route right now. The first year and a half of this initiative has been very discussion/open forum based and there are some practical reasons for that:

1. We are gathering like-minded souls into this conversation and keeping people updated because we will need lots of help and support as the process unfolds.

2. We are wanting to share our process so that people can learn from it and even start their own similar projects.

3. We are thinking this could be a replicable model for other villages, so we feel it is important to think about the future potential and build an audience that can help and see us grow beyond our initial dreams of one village.

4. We believe in the power of community dialogue. For those of us visual artists, we know that from our first drawing class, we are taught to observe, before even making a mark on the paper, so that your preconceived notions don't cloud your vision of what is right there in front of you. Easier said than done. But that's the idea here. We are getting a lay of land before sketching the landscape.

5. We realized when we launched this vision, that gathering supporters around the concept would be a rich and demanding process. We now see the support and interest. Our office hours were a huge step forward and it's time to ask enthusiasts to find time to step forward and join our workgroup.

Some basic engagement numbers:

• How many people have filled out our survey? 70

• How many are on our email list? 180 (including survey respondents)

• How many attended office hours? 11

• Our Facebook page has had outstanding engagement. We have almost 900 "friends"

• Our Instagram could use some more engagement though. Please follow and share!

Other questions were...

Are we incorporated and how do we see our ownership model? We are not incorporated yet. We're looking into which legal entities and ownership models may suit our purposes best. We're most interested in shared-equity models as a way to serve low-to-moderate incomes and preserve affordability.

Funding? We've reached out to two potential funders, but there are no official plans yet. So far, we're just getting some initial information and technical assistance prior to incorporation and future funding. We have been assured by them that this is the correct process, and it's never too soon to reach out because these specific funders exist in order to help grow projects like ours.

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?

1. The workgroup is going to take a mini summer break.
2. When we reconvene, we will begin working on a draft concept packet, our second more in-depth survey, and adding a few more people to our workgroup.
3. By the end of the year, we hope to have the concept packet produced, distribute the new survey, and have an expanded workgroup as well as some satellite helpers and an advisory circle.
4. It is after that, that the workgroup will officially become a steering committee and begin the steps towards incorporating.

It's time to roll up your sleeves!

Calls to Action:

1. We are looking for people to join our workgroup. We will need to expand our numbers in order to move forward. If you have one or more of the following skill sets, please contact us for more information: project management, previous cohousing/intentional community experience, cooperative development, nonprofit board, incorporation experience, legal, accounting, fundraising, and grant writing. These are the skill sets we've determined we need at this time and we'd love to connect with you!
2. In addition to the skill sets mentioned above, we are looking to add a "team coordinator" to our workgroup. This is a very specific role and we need someone whose main skill set and interest is in leading us re: scheduling meetings, drafting agendas, note taking and possibly some editing projects as well. This is a volunteer role as we are all currently volunteers. It would require at most 5 hours per month. We're looking for someone who is very organized and good with computers (it's nothing too techy, but basically you are familiar and not afraid to learn more if necessary). Why are we looking for this now? One of our workgroup members has been doing this work, but their main interests/skills lie in another aspect of the project, so we want them to be able to focus on that moving forward.
3. We have a robust draft outline for our second survey and would love to have some satellite help refining it from someone who has this type of experience and a few hours of extra time this summer.
4. We are still in need of some administrative seed money. If you don't have time to devote to this initiative right now, we hope you will consider making a donation in support of it. Here are some things that donation would help support:

• A Google suite for team email addresses.

• Our website and zoom fees.
• Stipends for workgroup/steering committee.
• Future costs associated with outside consulting help (a healthy practice for groups like us even though our core planning team is still driving this bus).

If everyone reading this donated $12 to our GoFundME page, we would have enough money for at least the first three bullet items above and a good start with the fourth one!

As always, thank you for sharing in this project vision and we look forward to sharing future updates with you.

The Maine Artists Cohousing Workgroup