Insights > Welcome 5 of 6: Orientation: Living in Community the First Few Months

Welcome 5 of 6: Orientation: Living in Community the First Few Months
Welcome to the Community: A Series from Caddis Collaborative
By Karin Hoskin
Karin Hoskin is business manager for Caddis Collaborative, former executive director of the Cohousing Association of the United States, and a founding member of Wild Sage Cohousing Community.
Once new members have had a chance to breathe, it’s time to schedule a live orientation. Sometime within the first couple of months after new members have moved in, you’ll want to share highlights from your community’s guide (or handbook). The goal is to share more details than those that are included on the At a Glance document but at the same time not overwhelm new members by getting too far into the weeds.
Essential items to know and understand include team structure, expectations for member participation, community policies, and information sharing (such as a Wiki or other communication tool).
Team Structure
After they move into the community, new members will start to hear references to a variety of teams and will be curious about what the various shorthand names and acronyms refer to. Orientation is a great time to provide an outline of the team structure. It’s very useful to describe each team’s work and what skills are needed to contribute to each team.
Participation Expectations
It’s essential to talk with new members about community participation. They need to understand why it’s so important – not just from a policy perspective (if they’re expected to contribute a certain amount of time per month) but also from the perspective of joining in the spirit of community life. Once new members know about specific teams and community needs, there’s a great opportunity to discuss with them how they could fit in. What are their interests and talents? Where might they see themselves contributing?
Community Policies
Different cohousing communities will have different sets of policies – but there will always be issues the community has addressed over time and reached agreement on. At Wild Sage, for example, we like to share the dog and cat policy, the design review policy, the smoking and vaping policy, and the like. It’s important from a legal point of view to include an enforcement policy.
Information Sharing
An effective cohousing community has a tool (or tools) for sharing information. At Wild Sage, we have the “Wild Wiki.” Orientation is a great time to give new members a “tour” of the information sharing tool(s). We like to make sure new members know where to find meeting minutes, policies, contact information for members (including names of kids and pets), contact information for teams, community calendars, and photos.
Click on the links below to learn more!
- Post #1: A Guide to Orienting New Members to Cohousing
- Post #2: Pre-Prologue: Learning about the Community Before Purchasing
- Post #3: Prologue: Committing to the Community But Not Yet Moved In
- Post #4: Welcome: Moving In
- Post #5: Orientation: Living in Community the First Few Months
- Post #6: Settling In: Living in Community the First Year
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- Intentional Living (4)
- Inside Caddis (20)
- Inspiration (24)
- Community Engagement (20)
- Awards and Press (6)
- Urbanism (6)
- Earth (1)
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