2019 National Cohousing Conference: Full Schedule

The 2019 National Cohousing Conference in Portland, Oregon was a huge success. For information about future conferences visit the CohoUS website and subscribe to the newsletter. You can view and download a souvenir PDF with photos and more info about the conference.

9:00am PDT

Death in Our Community: Can we ever be ready?

Mortality is a reality that we all too often attempt to deny, even in intentional communities. Let’s discuss ways that we can help each other be prepared for death, including making end-of-life decisions as well as how communities might care for our dying and create ritual to cope with loss.

Speakers

Gretchen Brauer-Rieke

CodaConversations

Gretchen Brauer-Rieke, RN, MSN spent 23 years practicing as a certified nurse-midwife and several more years as a nurse-educator before discovering a new passion for end-of-life education. Becoming increasingly aware that patients and families often struggle over how to deal with... Read More →

Death in Community slides pdf

Emergency Contact Information pdf

Advisory Instructions to Executors without flow chart pdf

Mortality Conversation Starters pdf

Saturday June 1, 2019 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
Executive

Sustain It, Sessions

9:00am PDT

This is Delegated to the Ones I Love

Does your group have trouble filling committees slots? Do committees get discouraged that their work is redone in plenary? It doesn’t have to be that way! We’ll walk through the elements needed to prevent plenary agendas from being overloaded and to set up so that committee work is respected.

Speakers

Laird Schaub

Canbridge

Laird has lived 41 years in intentional community, mostly at Sandhill Farm, an income-sharing community he helped found in 1974. He launched a career as a group process consultant in 1987, and has worked with more than 150 intentional communities (including 70 cohousing groups), both... Read More →

delegation pdf

Saturday June 1, 2019 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
Forum

Sustain It, Sessions

11:00am PDT

Age-friendly is human friendly - Design for successful aging within cohousing

Is your new or existing community ready for aging members?
We will discuss how cohousing design (and other senior housing models) can support aging members, so that they can stay engaged as challenges increase.
We will also dive into architectural details that eliminate barriers and prevent segregation and isolation.

Speakers

Laura Fitch

Principal Architect, Fitch Architecture & Community Design

Laura Fitch is a founding principal of Fitch Architecture & Community Design in Amherst, Massachusetts and a 24-year resident of Pioneer Valley Cohousing. Fitch specializes in energy-efficient building design for homes, commercial properties, and smart growth communities. She... Read More →

Ruth Neeman

LWDA

Ruth Neeman is a registered architect with more than 30 years of experience in planning, design and research focusing exclusively on environments that enable elders and support independence and aging with dignity.Her project experience includes new construction and renovations of... Read More →

190601R FACD and LWDA Age Friendly is Human Friendly pdf

Saturday June 1, 2019 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
Directors

Sustain It, Sessions

11:00am PDT

Sustainability and Resilience in Cohousing

Most cohousing communities strive for sustainability. With the increase in climate-change-related emergencies, many are realizing the importance of resilience as well. This session will cover strategies for designing and living more sustainably and resiliently, and will include a case study of life in cohousing during a 4-day power outage.

Speakers

Bryan Bowen

Caddis PC

Bryan Bowen is an architect dedicated to the design of buildings and neighborhoods that explore how we may live more lightly upon our earth in beautiful and healthy environments. Bryan's niche is cohousing, though his work includes single-family homes, affordable housing, mixed-use... Read More →

Mary Kraus

Mary Kraus Architect

Mary Kraus, AIA, LEED BD+C is a cohousing architect and facilitator who has worked with over two dozen communities in the US and Canada over the past thirty years. She was a founding board member of the Cohousing Network (now Coho US). She lives at Pioneer Valley Cohousing, the first... Read More →

Saturday June 1, 2019 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
Parlors A&B

Sustain It, Sessions

3:30pm PDT

Aging in Intergenerational Cohousing

I will present an update on our aging group, AGOG, and further suggest that this session include others who would like to share on the topic of aging in intergenerational cohousing. At an earlier conference I reported on AGOG (Actively Growing Older Gracefully), the aging group at Rocky Hill Cohousing, as part of a large discussion on this topic.

Speakers

David Entin

Rocky Hill Cohousing

David had two careers: anti-poverty and higher education. He is retired and has lived at Rocky Hill Cohousing, Northampton, MA, since its inception in 2005. David has been a regular participant in the Actively Growing Older Gracefully (AGOG) group since its beginning in 2013... Read More →

AGING GRACEFULLY IN MULTI docx

AGOG SURVEY docx

Saturday June 1, 2019 3:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
Forum

Sustain It, Sessions

3:30pm PDT

Building Mutual Respect and Trust

Mutual respect and trust are essential parts of healthy and productive communities. But how do we create that? This workshop will give you concrete tools for cultivating trust and respect, laying the foundation for nurturing successful relationships within your cohousing community. Content overview:

Highly participatory
Story-based exercise on what makes us feel respected and trusted
Exploration of what happens when we feel respected and trusted, to ground us in what’s important about this
Curiosity as a path to developing mutual respect and trust – framing and quick tools
Story-based exercise to explore how easy it is to make inaccurate assumptions, what happens when we do and how to interrupt our tendency to do so.
Tool: Using powerful questions to help ourselves and others get to/stay in curiosity, surface assumptions, and build understanding, respect and trust.

Speakers

Tasha Harmon

New Perspectives Coaching, Training and Facilitation

Tasha Harmon has spent over 30 years facilitating change. She works as a coach with individuals, relationships, and teams of all sizes, helping them identify and shift out of old and unproductive patterns, and into more creative and nurturing choices. She is also a facilitator of... Read More →

Using What Questions to Move Mtgs Forward pdf

Building Mutual Respect pdf

Saturday June 1, 2019 3:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
Directors

Sustain It, Sessions

9:00am PDT

PANEL: The Latest Findings from Cohousing Research Network

The Cohousing Research Network (CRN) seeks to strengthen the rigor and reach of cohousing research. In this session, CRN researchers will present their latest theories and findings, including what cohousing teaches us about managing "the commons", results from recent nation-wide cohousing surveys, and comparisons between cohousing, conventional condominiums, and co-living.

Moderators

Heidi Berggren

Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

Heidi M. Berggren, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Her current research focuses on the cohousing movement, with an emphasis on its connections to civic and political engagement... Read More →

Speakers

Diane Margolis

Cohousing Research Network, CRN/ University of Connecticut

Diane is a fouDiane photonding member of Cambridge Cohousing and former member of Coho/US Board of Directors. She coauthored the Report on the Survey of Cohousing Communities, 2011. Diane is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Connecticut. She has published research... Read More →

Chuck Maclane

Independent Consultant

Chuck Maclane, Ph.D. Chuck retired from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) after 34 years as a Personnel Research Psychologist and is now a consultant to public and private organizations. He has been a member of the Cohousing Research Team since 2012. His career has focused... Read More →

Angela Sanguinetti

Director, Cohousing Research Network

Angela Sanguinetti is Director of the Cohousing Research Network (CRN) and a member of the Coho/US Board of Directors. At CRN, Angela seeks to strengthen the rigor and reach of cohousing research. In her day job, Angela is a Research Environmental Psychologist at University of California... Read More →

Neil Planchon

Cohousing: Tour Leader / Research Network, Life Coach / Nonprofit Tech Consultant

Neil is a co-developer and founder of Swan's Market Cohousing (est. 2000). He currently co-parents the CaliCoho Summit team which gathers residents of California Cohousing residents every couple months. He is a former Cohousing Association Board and Staff member who was responsible for running and growing the National Cohousing Bus tours program... Read More →

Sunday June 2, 2019 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
Galleria II

Sustain It, Sessions

9:00am PDT

Resale: Are you Smiling or Frowning?

Struggling with RESALES? Not struggling but not quite sure how to go about setting up a RESALE PROGRAM? This short workshop is for YOU! We will have an in-depth look at how Takoma Village Cohousing organized and launched their successful resale program resulting in new residents who were well educated and informed about cohousing and in particular about living at TVC. And ... how we raised $76,000 in donations in 4 years from grateful sellers. Lots of time for Q & A!

Speakers

Ann Zabaldo

Member of the Board, Mid Atlantic Cohousing

Ann Zabaldo is a pioneer professional in the cohousing movement. She specializes in outreach education, marketing, and fueling the fires of burning souls. She was a consultant to EcoHousing Corporation for the development of award winning Eastern Village Cohousing in Silver Spring... Read More →

Sunday June 2, 2019 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
Executive

Sustain It, Sessions

11:00am PDT

Healthy Communities Evolve Across Time

Healthy communities need to balance honoring the past and the established procedures, while continually incorporating new people, fresh ideas and emerging leaders. Using insights from family systems thinking and participants historical story telling, participants will get a balcony view of their community and share insights they gain.

Speakers

Betsy Waters

Coaching4Communities

The Rev. Dr. Betsy Waters is a professional coach and organizational consultant, practicing that as a school psychologist, a UCC pastor, and now as a student seeking Professional Coaching Certification through the ICF. She has created and facilitated leadership development groups... Read More →

National Co housing Healthy Communities Evolve pptx

National Co housing Healthy Communities Evolve = condensed pdf

Sunday June 2, 2019 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
Forum

Sustain It, Sessions