Guiding principles

The cornerstones of COMMUNITY, SUSTAINABILITY, AFFORDABILITY and AGING IN PLACE contain adopted guiding principles to direct the social and physical design, building and maintenance of Eldergreen Cohousing Community.

Living Together

• We desire to be an elder community of individuals over 55 years of age, who intend to remain active and productive during the second half of life.
• We commit to living together in the spirit of an extended family sharing work and social experiences and responsibilities.
• We especially value honesty, kindness, generosity, trust, spirituality and non-violence.
• We accept our individual needs and differences and aim for a balance between privacy and community living in both time and space.
• We are committed to providing mutual support to one another to allow members to age in place within the community.
• We are dedicated to living peacefully and joyfully and value playfulness and humor.

Embracing Diversity

• We welcome individuals who share our common vision, without regard to gender, ethnicity, religion, familial status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or political persuasion.
• We nurture the individual strengths and gifts each resident brings to the community.
• We include affordable housing.

Accepting Responsibility

• We expect all members to commit themselves to the common good of the community.
• We expect all members to participate in social and decision-making gatherings.
• We expect all members to contribute to the ongoing development and maintenance of the indoor and outdoor physical facilities.

Intellectual and Spiritual Enrichment

• We embrace and celebrate our elderhood and see it as an opportunity for continued learning and growth, and value the wealth of knowledge and experiences brought to the community by each individual member.
• We support one another in the search for personal spiritual growth and meaning in life.
• We expect to continue the adventure of learning and growing in mind, body, and spirit through conversation and participation in classes and other individual and group activities.

Sustainable and Environmental Development and Lifestyle

• We wish to live in harmony with the earth, caring for our private and shared land in environmentally sound ways.
• We wish to have a small footprint on the earth which will require living compactly in a place that is easily accessible to necessary services and resources without the dependence upon individual vehicles.
• We accept that such a site is most likely to be urban and require accessible multistory buildings.
• We support recycling, composting, energy-saving actions, mobility without vehicular use, sharing of goods and services, use of "green" building materials and appliances and other environmental practices which reflect a conservation-based lifestyle.
• We are dedicated to meeting most of our needs through supporting local businesses. Local farmers and growing as much of our own food as possible.

Making Decisions

• We are committed to consensus as the community’s primary decision-making strategy, recognizing disagreement and differences as opportunities to develop new and creative solutions for the good of the community.
• We maintain a collaborative approach based on communicating openly and respectfully with each other, encouraging participation from all residents, considering the good of the community and recognizing that everyone has something unique to bring to each decision.
• We handle conflict and other interpersonal challenges directly and respectfully whenever they arise. We listen to and consider the needs and feelings of each individual.