Resources
Common Bound Is Coming!
Posted on June 8, 2018 byWe’ve mentioned this before but this year the FIC is especially proud to be co-sponsoring the New Economy Coalition’s Common Bound Conference in St. Louis, June 22-24. There’s still time to register here. What is Common Bound? They’re over 700 people across the new economy movement who will come together in St. Louis to connect… Read More
Striving for Transformation & Adaptation
Posted on May 21, 2018 byIn our latest e-newsletter our Community Bookstore manager, Kim Kanney presents the following titles as inspiration for positive change. Please check them out! Resilience, Community Action and Societal Transformation People, Place, Practice, Power, Politics and Possibility in Transition. $20; 216 pages; paperback; 2017 by Thomas Henfrey, Gesa Maschkowski & Gil Penha-Lopes Resilience, Community Action & Societal… Read More
Is An Income-Sharing Community Right for You?
Posted on April 13, 2017 byWhen I first heard about the concept of income-sharing communities, I was pretty skeptical. It had been hard enough for me stabilize my own finances after graduating from college during the recession. I wasn’t sure I’d be up for sharing finances with a spouse – never mind an entire community. But the more that I learned about… Read More
This Novel Explores A Tuscon Community’s Response To Climate Change
Posted on April 10, 2017 byA new novel by Susan Feathers, called Threshold, explores one community’s response to climate change. Inspired by her experiences with the Building Resilient Neighborhoods program in Tuscon, Arizona, Threshold combines interlocking plot-lines with the latest scientific research to bring the concept of community resiliency to life. You can purchase the book online or read an… Read More
This 21-Day Racial Equity Online Program Tackles Social Justice in the Food System
Posted on April 3, 2017 byFood Solutions New England is offering an online 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge, in partnership with the Interaction Institute for Social Change. Participants will receive an e-mail prompt each day, with a challenge to “learn, read, talk, or take action.” According to its website: “We believe that we cannot talk about and work for sustainability,… Read More
A New Memoir Explores The Checkered History of Zendik Farm
Posted on March 30, 2017 byWhile we love to focus on the positive side of intentional living here at FIC, we also know that communal living, when taken to its extreme, can become, well, a cult. A new memoir by Helen Zuman tells the story of the years she spent at Zendik Farm, where relationships were orchestrated and overseen by the community… Read More
A New Web Series Profiles Intentional Communities All Over The U.S.
Posted on March 27, 2017 byOne of the most exciting things about building community in the age of the Internet and social media is that it’s easier than ever to get an inside look at the communities that interest us. While nothing can replace an in-person visit, a new web series called “intentional” comes as close you can get to seeing what life is like… Read More
Joining Community While On Disability
Posted on March 20, 2017 byThis is a guest post by Lily Silver, who blogs at How to Get On, “a guide to Social Security Disability, Medicaid and Home Care for CFS/ME and those who are homebound.” She sent us this article about joining community while on disability, and we thought it would have some useful information for our readers. Please post in the… Read More
These Communities Offer On-Site Permaculture Workshops & Immersion Programs
Posted on March 9, 2017 byCurious about how you can apply permaculture principles in your community or ecovillage? There’s no better way than to visit a community in person and learn from hands-on workshops and immersion programs. Here are two very different programs – one an affordable “spring break” at a community in Washington state, the other a permaculture design… Read More
Community as Experiential Laboratory–An Excerpt From Together Resilient by Ma’ikwe Ludwig
Posted on February 23, 2017 byThis post is an excerpt from Together Resilient: Building Community in the Age of Climate Disruption by Ma’ikwe Ludwig, published by The Foundation for Intentional Community. Visit our fundraising campaign to learn how you can support the publication of the book and get yourself a copy! **** The appeal and potential of intentional communities lies largely in one of their fundamental… Read More
The Cool Block Program Helps Neighbors Work Together to Fight Climate Change
Posted on February 16, 2017 byWhen we hear the words “intentional community,” we may think of residential communities like back-to-the-land communes and urban housing co-ops. But you don’t have to live in the same house to have a shared vision and make an impact. A non-profit called Cool Block brings entire neighborhoods together to support each other and build community over… Read More
An App Called Teem Helps You Delegate Tasks Within Your Community
Posted on January 30, 2017 byOne of the challenges of living in a community with lots of new residents or guests is getting everyone oriented to the tasks and projects at hand. When I lived at Foster Village, a 10-person community in Portland, Oregon, we had a membership committee in charge of welcoming new residents, and a liaison assigned to… Read More
ThePOOSH Connects Volunteers With Natural Building Projects
Posted on January 23, 2017 byLots of intentional communities are connected with the WWOOFing network (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). It’s a great way for volunteers to gain experience living and working on an organic farm in exchange for room and board. But have you heard of the POOSH network, which connects people interested in natural and sustainable building projects?… Read More
Play The Food Forest Card Game and Help Plant 1,000s of Trees
Posted on January 9, 2017 byLast year, permaculture educator Karl Treen released the Food Forest card deck, following a successful fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. Have you played it yet? We have, and it’s available for purchase at the FIC’s online bookstore for $25. The game is a great learning experience for kids and adults alike, allowing players to visualize how plants and animals relate… Read More
Digital Security For Your Intentional Community
Posted on December 19, 2016 byFor some high-profile communities, visibility is a good thing. The Dancing Rabbit ecovillage in Rutledge, Missouri, depends on workshops and other business endeavors to support itself. Many communities maintain a social media presence as a way to attract new members and promote co-operative living on a global scale. But some communities have good reason for wanting to… Read More
The Class Cultures Toolkit Can Help You Host More Inclusive Meetings and Events
Posted on December 1, 2016 byTalking about class can be difficult – especially in intentional communities that include people from a variety of backgrounds. It can be a challenge to balance the needs of members from different classes: residents with stable jobs and incomes; property owners; activists who choose to live frugally; those with families to support. Some concerns –… Read More
Buy, Eat, and Live Local With Help From BALLE’s New Toolkits
Posted on November 7, 2016 byWhether it’s eating local, supporting worker-owned businesses, or taking money out of Wall Street banks, the “localist” movement is on the rise. While the dominance of mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and Amazon may seem complete, small businesses make up half of the U.S. GDP and create over three times as many jobs. The Business Alliance for Local Living… Read More
This Peer-to-Peer Credit Exchange Could Be Great For Intentional Communities
Posted on October 10, 2016 byFor a while, peer-to-peer lending platforms were going to be the next big thing. Instead of borrowing from big banks, we could borrow from each other, on platforms like Lending Club and Prosper. But pretty soon big banks starting getting involved, and the loans weren’t really so “peer-to-peer” after all. Investors started using them as a way… Read More
These Tools Can Help Your Community Make Better Decisions
Posted on October 6, 2016 by1 Comment
One of the biggest hurdles an intentional community can face is figuring out how to make decisions. There are dozens of decision-making strategies to choose from, from consensus to sociocracy. But in today’s busy world, simply gathering around the table together as a community can be a challenge. At my community, meeting attendance takes a dive during the… Read More
A Free Documentary Series Shows You How To Live In A Tiny House Legally
Posted on September 8, 2016 byFor many tiny house enthusiasts, building the house itself isn’t the hard part. There are lots of resources out there for designing and constructing a tiny house, as well as companies that will build the whole thing for you. More and more people are coming to see tiny homes as a viable living option. These… Read More
Going Biking This Summer? Try Out This Network For A Shower and A Place to Stay
Posted on July 4, 2016 bySince 1993, the Warm Showers network has been connecting touring bicyclists with hosts willing to offer them a couch, shower, camping space, or other form of hospitality. Originally started as a listserv, it was developed into a full website in 2005, and currently has 86,000 active members and 36,000 active hosts around the world. The… Read More
Try One of These Unique Alternatives to Airbnb
Posted on June 20, 2016 by3 Comments
Airbnb and other “sharing economy” sites have been getting some bad press lately, with many cities arguing that the platforms are driving up rent, contributing to housing scarcity, and turning residential neighborhoods into tourist districts. Some cities, like Berlin, have begun to regulate room- and home-sharing, while San Francisco and New York are struggling to… Read More
European Projects Explore Cohousing for LGBT Elders
Posted on May 2, 2016 byOver the past year, a U.K. group called Tonic Housing has been exploring ways to offer safe, affordable housing to older members of the LGBT community. Supported by several charitable foundations, Tonic hopes to build a housing complex called Tonic Centre in or near London: “There is currently no LGBT-specific housing for older people in the… Read More
Millennials Are Embracing Cohousing – Of A Different Kind
Posted on April 14, 2016 byIt may have been only a matter of time before the millennial generation turned its attention to cohousing. As car and home ownership among young people has declined, and as the nuclear family is no longer the go-to living arrangement, it makes sense that college grads would look for ways share resources and living spaces… Read More
A Permaculture Card Game Is Raising Funds on Kickstarter
Posted on March 28, 2016 byFood Forest, a card game designed to teach kids about permaculture, is raising funds on Kickstarter. As of this writing, it’s two-thirds of the way toward its $10,000 goal and has around 10 days left to go. The game is developed and designed by Karl Treen, who came up with the idea while teaching gardening… Read More
How a New Generation is Finding Education Abroad- Without A Tuition
Posted on December 10, 2015 byA generation in search of answers There’s long been a bug in the minds of the new generation- something doesn’t add up about the modern life path. We’ve heard it all before; spend some time in school, get a career helping some corporation produce and market some product or service, buy a house, start a… Read More
A Resilient Society
Posted on May 5, 2015 byA Resilient Society Resilience is the ability to absorb shocks and continue to function. In this short video series the Post Carbon Institute explores the questions around how our world has gotten to where it is, and what a world can look like functioning within it’s limits. The Law of Diminishing Returns The Great Burning… Read More
Kindista helps you share with people nearby
Posted on March 16, 2015 by1 Comment
Kindista helps you share with people nearby Looking for a plot to garden in, or someone to landscape your yard? Wishing for a dog walker, or offering mural painting skills? Desiring a giant bookshelf, and have a file cabinet that you’d like someone to take? Kindista.org is an online network that helps you share offers,… Read More
40+ Years of Communities magazine Back Issue Yard Sale!
Posted on February 28, 2015 by40+ Years of Communities magazine Back Issues Yard Sale Christopher Kindig, Business Manager Communities magazine has chronicled the challenges and celebrations of community living since 1972. This stacks up to 165 issues where “C-mag” has brought you lessons learned, methods for solving problems as groups, and inspiration that thriving through cooperation is possible! While staff… Read More
Mass Mosaic helps people connect to share in abundance
Posted on February 13, 2015 byWouldn’t it be great if you could share your skills and what you have in abundance, and receive help from those who have what you are lacking? This is how a new network called Mass Mosaic helps people connect to share in abundance. “Your skills, things, interests, experiences, passions, and dreams make you unique. Each… Read More
