Aligning Values and Creating Agreements in Community
4-Week Online Course | Starts March 5, 2025
Explore the interrelated roles of values and agreements in community and learn how to form agreements that align with your values to support effective decision making and connected relationships in a cooperative culture in the Aligning Values and Creating Agreements in Community course.
Course fee: $80-$160 USD
Individual class fee: $20-$50 USD
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Aligning Values & Creating Agreements in Community
Classes in this course are suitable for Community Starters |
Community Residents
Course description and syllabus
People create values and make decisions based on their past experience, by way of the individualistic mainstream culture mindset. In community, where we aim at building relationships of care and connection, this can be a challenge.
Aligning Values and Creating Agreements in Community course instructors Karen Gimnig and Yana Ludwig will help you analyse how values and agreements shape our relationships and impact community living. Grounded in their Cooperative Culture framework, explored in the Cooperative Culture Handbook they co-authored, they will present new ways of interacting, coming to agreements, and relating to them once they are in place.
This course connects the dots between clear values and effective agreements, resulting in increased ease of decision-making, conflict resolution, and harmonious living. Yana & Karen will introduce basic frameworks for aligning individual and collective values in service to mission-driven community building.
Whether we call them policies, guidelines, or agreements, the dynamics of power and connection will be at play. In the Aligning Values and Creating Agreements in Community course, you will work on coming to terms with the complexity of living together (often with competing needs and styles for getting those needs met) and the tension between individual and community rights and responsibilities.
Expect a mix of high level theory, practical frameworks, and interactive practice and discussion, with a final Q&A session. Each session will leave time to explore how the materials presented apply to your particular situation.
Live classes are hosted on Zoom. All classes are recorded and available on our learning platform within 24 hours after each class ends and through 30 days after the last class.
Classes and topics in the Aligning Values and Creating Agreements syllabus include:
Individual classes starting at US $20
March 5: Creating Core Alignment [with Yana Ludwig]

- Clear values and mission lead to easier agreement
- Bringing people in based on shared values leads to less tension as personal values and mission are coherent with community values and mission
- Balancing rights and responsibilities
- Making your mission and values actionable
- How to engage cultural work
March 12: Agreements, Policies, Power & Connection [with Karen Gimnig]

- How our approach to agreements (and enforcement) impacts our relationships
- How we can sometimes rely on relationships rather than agreements (and especially enforcement) to meet our individual and community needs
- What is enforcement and when it is useful
March 19: Balancing Rights and Responsibilities through Core Policies [with Yana Ludwig]

- What are the core areas of policy for any intentional community?
- Balancing individual needs and community obligations
- The magic of consensus (or any deep dialogue process)
- 7 Things ICs Always Fight About
March 26: Agreeing on Agreements [with Karen Gimnig]

- Elements of strong agreements
- Process for drafting and approving agreements
- When and how to revise agreements
All Aligning Values and Creating Agreements in Community classes are held on Wednesday from 10-11:30am Pacific / 11am-12:30pm Mountain / 12-1:30pm Central/ 1-2:30pm Eastern. You can view your local time here.
April 2:Q&A Session
- Ask any additional questions
- Get personalized help
- Networking
The Q&A session is optional and will take place from 10-11:00am Pacific / 11am-12:00pm Mountain / 12-1:00pm Central/ 1-2:00pm Eastern. You must register for the full course to attend the Q&A session. The Q&A session will NOT be recorded.
Your instructors

Yana Ludwig
Yana served on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Intentional Community for over a decade. She lived in community for 26 years and was a founder 4 times – all of her work is grounded in deep community experience. Her writing includes The Cooperative Culture Handbook (co-authored with Karen Gimnig) focuses on articulating a vision and practical pathway for intentional culture building; and many articles in Communities magazine. Her new book, Building Belonging: Your Guide to Starting a Residential Intentional Community, was released in May 2023.
Yana is the former Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage and Commonomics USA (an economic justice organization). Yana is a dynamic, compassionate and thoughtful speaker and teacher, committed to creating a more just and resilient world.
Learn more about Yana here.

Karen Gimnig
Karen is a group facilitator, motivational speaker and relationship coach. Her passion is to help groups achieve their goals for connected and trusting relationships through skill building and personal exploration.
As an Imago Facilitator, Karen uses the theory and practice of Imago Relationships to guide teams and communities through the complexity of working together. She helps groups and individuals identify root causes of challenges and then walks beside them offering gentle support as they seek solutions.
Karen enjoys working with non-profit organizations, communities (including communities of faith), and workplaces. Her clients describe her as “profoundly effective,” increasing trust and providing simple (but not easy) tools for improved communication and relationships.
You can learn more about Karen and her services here.
Testimonials
Registration
You might also be interested in
- Vision and Values (Inside Community Podcast episode with Dave Henson)
- The Cooperative Culture Handbook (book)
- Starting a Community (on-demand course)
- Power & Leadership in Community (10-hour pre-recorded course)
The elements of an online course
Online learning platform
Once you register, you’ll get access to our learning area that includes:
- class video recordings, audio files, and transcripts for learning on the go
- interactive presentations
- recommended books with access to course participant discount
- class slides and other course materials
- a dedicated discussion forum to connect with your classmates
Live interactive sessions
Each week you join a ~2-hour live class with the course instructor, where you learn in a group setting with:
- the opportunity for questions and answers, and personalized support
- break out sessions
- group discussions
Classes are recorded if you miss one, and you will have 30 days after the last class to view recordings.
Journey with a cohort
You’ll join participants from around the world how, like you, want to learn how to be better communitarians. Benefits include:
- opportunities to connect with like-minded people
- opportunities to share ideas and stories
- a network of support to carry your community project forward