Resources for Getting Started

Send resources for this page to Rob Sandelin at nica@ic.org
Click here to see the Cohousing specific resources

Web Resources

How to Visit a Community by Kat Kinkade 
From the Online Communities Directory.

Seven Steps by Rob Sandelin.
This is one of the resources from Rob Sandelin's Cohousing Resource Guide. Lists 7 first things to do when forming a community.

 Getting Started by Rob Sandelin
A chapter of the Community Resource Guide. Details of writing a vision statement, holding initial meetings, etc.

List of Communities
Many of the communities listed here have a variation of their mission statement. Many examples to choose from (or hey, why start one if you can JOIN one?)

The FIC website IC list
Lots of individual community pages listed here.

The Cohousing Website
Info about national, local and regional cohousing efforts.

The Reachbook
This is an ever changing posting place where seekers and communities can post messages to find each other. Reading through a months postings will give you an interesting cross section of the latest in the communities movement.

Intentional Communities: Lifestyles based on ideals
An essay from Geoph Kozeny which covers the tapestry of  communities with eloquent words.

Bringing in new members
An essay from Rob Sandelin with some ideas how to bring new members into a group

Books and printed resources

Creating Community Anywhere: Finding Support and Connection in a Fragmented World. Carolyn R. Shaffer & Kristin Anundsen. 1993 Tarcher Press. Chapters on different kinds of communities. Available from Community Bookshelf

Eco-Villages and sustainable communities. Context Institute. 1990.
Describes many types of communities, including cohousing. Good section on guidelines for creating communities and people skills. $23 pp. Available from Context institute, P.O. Box 946 Langley, WA 98260.

Directory of Intentional Communities: A guide to cooperative living. Fellowship for Intentional Community. 2000 THE sourcebook for information about intentional communities. Hundreds of listings, nice organization matrix in back, many good articles about community. Available from the FIC for $34 including shipping. Click the link above to order online or send to FIC, 138-CM Twin Oaks Rd., Louisa, VA 23093 or order by phone at 800-462-8240.

Builders of the Dawn: Community Lifestyles in a changing world. Corinne MrLaughlin and Gordon Davidson 1986 Sirius Publishing
This is an excellent resource with practical advise on community forming along with many community descriptions. 

Rebuilding community in America: Housing for Ecological Living, Personal Empowerment and the New Extended family. Ken Norwood and Kathleen Smith 1995 Shared Living Resouce Center.
Introduces ideas about discovering a deeper meaning of "sustainability" as it relates to housing by restoring the human tradition of cooperative living and sharing resources. Available from Community Bookshelf

Communities Magazine: Journal of Cooperative Living
Published by the Fellowship for Intentional Community this is an outstanding  quarterly resources to catch the pulse of communities around the country and world. Excellent articles, theme issues on topics revelent to community living. $20 a year. Send to FIC, RR1 Box 156-CM, Rutledge, MO 63563  or call 800-995-8342.

Videos

Visions of Utopia: Experiments in Sustainable Culture
A video documentary of 18 different kinds of communities, with interviews and visuals of many kinds of  community. Available in September for $38, postpaid. Send to FIC Video  138-EB Twin Oaks Rd., Louisa, VA  23093 or Call 800-995-8342 to order.

Looking For It
A two hour video/documentary on communities and the communities movement. Excellent and highly recommended. To order send $24.95 to Sally Mendzela, 36 North Center St., Bellingham, MA 02019 or call 508-966-5822 or email: nosmoke@otw.com

Follow the Dirt Road: An Introduction to Intentional Communities in the 1990s
A video documentary showing what's happening in North American Communities. 53 minutes. To order send $28 to Monique Gauthier, FTDR, Derbyshire Farm, Temple, NH 03084. Email danimoni@well.com

Cohousing Video
22 minute professionally produced video clearly explains the cohousing concept. Full of interviews with cohousing residents and images of daily life in many U.S. cohousing communities. $44 postage paid to RMCA 1705 14th St. #10 Boulder, CO 80302

Nyland Cohousing Video
Professional produced ten minute video briefly and clearly explains the cohousing concept, its background, and follows the construction of the Nyland Community. A great resource for new member orientations. $16.50 RMCA 1705 14th st. #317 Boulder, CO 80302.