Celebrate Interdependence Day on July 5th with this Intentional Communities Unconference organized by EBCOHO and partners.  As an unconference, all participants can propose sessions.  

An intentional community is a place planned by its future members around some set of social, environmental, political, religious, or spiritual values that are best supported by living together on a daily  basis.  Long-term communities most often share ownershp of the land and some or all of the buildings on it. 

Find allies and kindred spirits.  Members of local housing cooperatives, co-op houses, cohousing, and ecovillages, can represent and share. 

How do we secure land and money to start new intentional communities? How did they grow the trust to make decisions, share ownership and day to day lives.  These are essential questions every aspiring group will be thinking about at some point. 

Experts on Tap - Meet experienced community organizers, members, entrepreneurs, cooperative housing investors, developers, group facilitators, and other experts in the legal and financial aspects of cohousing and cooperative housing development. 

Dream, design, deliver ---  Learn the ways IC's have economically, socially, and ecologically made their communities sustainable - and avoid mistakes they've made. Bring your team or join one for the day and pitch your plans, Get feedback from future members and social investors in our friendly "Shark Tank." 

Building Support Systems - We're part of a movement of movements, growing, and diverse. In the 20th Century, visionaries, unions, federal agencies, social investors, and everyday people financed and built cooperatively owned towns, cities, and neighborhoods! Many are still chugging along, providing affordable housing, stable neighborhoods, and community services like schools, parks, and business districts, and jobs. 

Yes, we could do this again!  It's happening around the world.  Why not here? 

July 5 Community Gone Viral will be a time to build relationships to help us in creating intentional communities -- including the financing systems and public policies that would produce more of them. 

The Arc of the Day (meals provided on-site; options abound on (Market and Powell)

The morning - welcome with short talks and discussion to spark your imagination -with time to learn who's in the room and why. Propose sessions for the afternoon. 

After lunch are "unconference sessions"  Before lunch, anyone can propose to convene a session on the topic of your choice; Report backs from the formal sessions are "harvested" in the late afternoon.  

There is a special Pitch event for teams who are designing a particular kind of community project, and are looking for feedback from potential members and financial backers. 

After DINNER, there's more informal breakouts, social time, and Community Movies,  hosted Within Reach's co-star and producer, Amanda Kay, formerly of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in MO, now of Golden Gate Cohousing in Oakland.  Bring your own favorites! 

By the end of the day, we'll all have a better idea of the systems that to secure land and finance new intentional communities. You'll have a clearer map for your journey.  

For a more detailed Program, click here

Click here to find out who's coming

Click here to learn more about Open Space/Unconferences.    

Earlybird tickets are $49  including 3 meals onsite. Tickets go up to $75 at the door. RSVP at EBCOHO, but to register and pay, go to eventbrite. 

Get in touch here with EBCOHO organizers for info about childcare and  work/trade volunteer discounts or rebate options.  

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A few of the participants:   

• Sarah Kaplan, Sustainable Economies Law Center 
• Ian Winters, Northern California Land Trust, Fairview House 
• Rick Lewis, Bay Area Community Land Trust, Ninth Street Coop 
• Mike Curtis, Arden (NJ) Land Trust 
• Carla Mays - California Technology Investment Fund 
• Thomas Perry, Seed Stock Complementary Currencies 
• Karl Fitzgerald, Permaculture Design, Earthsharing.AU 
• Jay Standish, Open Door LLC, Embassy Network 
• John Schinnerer, Sociocracy Consulting Group, Dynamic Governance  
• Rana Chang (House Kombucha), Prop 13 Reform Coalition, Henry George Foundaiton 
• Yavette Holt, Cowrie Village (People's Grocery), TBC

Likely Topics

• Legal Ownership and Financing Structures for startup and operating economies, and alternatives:  Crowdfunding, Complementary Currencies, Social Capital to Cash for Renters, Time Banks, and Interest Free Housing Financing institutions.  Dudley Street Initiative and urban land banks, Belgium's Unmonastery communities for youth can be discussed.  
• Political Change - Anti-displacement organizers are invited.  CA-Evolve, the Prop 13 property tax reform campaign will be represented.  
• Skills for a Cooperative Culture-  Communication and decision-making for shared leadership, equity, radical inclusion, getting the work done, and remediating power and conflict patterns. Voice Dialog, NVC),Sociocracy, Group Works Card Decks to grow and share understanding of the patterns underlying successful cooperative groups and communities. .  

Sponsors 

Community Gone Viral is the brainchild of Jacob Shwartz-Lucas of EARTHSHARING.ORG, a NYC-based project inspired by the ideas of 19th century radical economist and SF journalist, Henry George.  Understanding land as a public commons and the source of all wealth and poverty, George's ideas led to many initiatives to create intentional communities, including community land trusts.  

Thanks to the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation for underwriting this event.