Starting a Community

On-Demand Online Course | Rolling Admission

Learn how to start an intentional community and turn your vision into reality.

Course fee: sliding scale, starting at $99 USD

Who this course is for:

  • founders of community
  • people starting community
  • people building community

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Starting a Community

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Course description

Learn how to build and start your own intentional community with community expert and facilitator Yana Ludwig. This is a step-by-step course that guides you from ideation to practical implementation.

Explore the key traits of successful community founders, how to craft a good vision statement, and the social dynamics and skills required to build a healthy culture. You’ll also learn decision-making, conflict resolution, membership process design and recruitment, plus a foundational understanding of economics, income sharing, sustainability, property search, legal considerations and business planning.

Starting an intentional community is no small undertaking. Drawing on years of experience and having founded four communities herself, Yana leads you through the key questions and tested practices that lead to lasting success, and the common pitfalls to avoid along the way.

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What this course includes

  • 15 modules with instructional videos, learning materials, and exercises
  • free access to monthly webinars to deepen your learning and connect with others
  • 90 days to complete the online course at your own pace
  • certificate of completion

What you’ll learn

Module topics in the Starting a Community course include:

  • Module 1: Overview
  • Module 2: Founders
  • Module 3: Visioning
  • Module 4: Cooperative Culture
  • Module 5: Diversity, Justice, and Inclusion
  • Module 6: Deciding on Decision Making
  • Module 7: Conflict
  • Module 8: Membership Structures
  • Module 9: Recruitment
  • Module 10: Legal Structures
  • Module 11: Economic Systems
  • Module 12: Business Planning as a Community
  • Module 13: Property Search
  • Module 14: Community Design Elements
  • Module 15: Wrap Up and Next Steps

Your instructor

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Yana Ludwig

Community-founder and author, Yana Ludwig has dedicated her life to fostering cooperative cultures. She is the author of Building Belonging: Your Guide to Starting a Residential Intentional Community, released in May 2023; Together Resilient: Building Community in the Age of Climate Disruption; and co-author of The Cooperative Culture Handbook.

Yana lived in community for 26 years and was a founder four times – all of her work is grounded in deep community experience. She served on the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Intentional Community for over a decade and is the former Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, Commonomics USA and North Coast Food Web.

She is a dynamic, compassionate and thoughtful speaker and teacher, committed to creating a more just and resilient world.

Learn more about Yana here.

Starting a Community course testimonials

“‘Starting a community’ is for me THE foundation for any person looking for an introductory course into community building. It is both concise and deep. I really like the format of the course and that it went straight to the core. With valuable information from a person who has lived all the things she talked about. It comes from real experience.”

-Pablo Andres Amador Rodriguez

“This is an excellent course to think critically about key aspects of starting an intentional community. Each module is easily digestible and the homework is relevant.  Many of the topics are critically useful in everyday life and in forming different organizations and partnerships. The instructor, Yana, is wonderful. I like how personable and knowledgeable she is on starting communities. She also seems like a really cool person to sit and have a meaningful conversation with.”

-Deyondra Carter

“This course gives a really robust set of topics, questions, and tools to think to really think through starting a community. Everything from interpersonal and group dynamics, to number crunching and land evaluation criteria. A great course for so many folks even at different stages of the journey to create a community.”

-Helena Cragg

“I would say you must take this course! You’ll save a ton of energy this way! Building a community requires a lot of commitment, time, and energy; nevertheless, this course will help you get ready and will make it apparent what you are getting yourself into as well as how to handle that while saving your energy.”

-Girium Zelalem

“This course was very informative, very accessible with short lessons most of which can be completed in 30 mins or less including homework. The presenter was warm and knowledgeable; highly recommended for anyone thinking about starting an intentional community of any kind.”
-Kelly Escue

“The lay put of the topics made it feel almost like a step by step guide, really helpful in organizing and planning what feels like an overwhelming amount of tasks and information in the beginning stages.”

-Aliana Davidson

The On-Demand Course Experience

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Go at Your Own Pace

Journey through this course, when and where it works for you. You’ll have a full 90 days to work through the learning material. Downloadable audio modules are available for when you’re on the go.

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Build Your Network

You’ll be able to ask questions of your instructor as well as connect and build shared knowledge through a private and dedicated discussion space.

Intentional Community Basics, deepen your learning image

Deepen Your Learning

Each module includes an instructional video, audio file, transcript, complementary learning materials, and exercises designed to support you in your unique learning style.

Free resources

Registration

Starting an Intentional Community

Starting a Community

Learn the fundamentals of starting and growing an intentional community! Register now to get access to this course for a total of 90 days (from registration date), including a private discussion forum to engage with the instructor and other students. Check your email once completing registration for an email from orders@ic.org.
  • $99: for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, Disabled, Low income
  • $129: covers FIC’s costs
  • $149+: covers FIC’s costs + supports the intentional community movement

Suggested $129.00

Minimum $99.00

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