Community garden with pathways and residential buildings in a cohousing neighborhood.

Village Cohousing Community

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 1992

What we do

Village Cohousing Community is an urban infill community, built on a half city block in Madison, Wisconsin. We are located within easy walking, biking, and bussing distance of the University of Wisconsin, downtown Madison, two hospitals, and several areas of small shops, eateries, studios and parks.
About a third of our 38 members are original residents who moved in in 1999. Our ages span several generations, running from 8 to 90 years old.

Our Mission

We choose to live in cohousing so that we may nurture ourselves, each other, our relationships with neighbors and the wider community.
We create and sustain our village with a sense of practicality and aesthetics—in ways that express a sense of place and an intention to live in harmony with the environment.
We strive to live in ways that nourish the spirit of community, yet respect the individual needs for privacy.
We seek to: reflect diversity; to honor our connections to the land and locale; to make decisions in general by consensus; to negotiate differences in a principled fashion; and to share the daily and weekly work of keeping things going.
We believe that the creation of this community is a process that is evolving and will continually evolve as we grow and learn from one another.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Cohousing

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1992
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 1999
  • Started living together

Gallery

  • 34 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
40

How to join

Visit community, participate in one or more common meals, attend a business meeting, become familiar with official documents, policies and procedures, fill out a questionnaire, have an interview with the membership committee.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Please send a message on our Contact page: http://www.villagecohousingcommunity.com/contact/

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Full Consensus

Everyone must agree before moving forward.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Conflict resolution approach

The Steering Committee includes a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Committees are also empowered to make some decisions.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Labor: Yes
8-12 hrs/month community work contribution
Condo fees which vary by year depending on anticipated expenses.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Library, Large Scale Kitchen, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Gym or sports area

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Substance use culture

  • Substance use is frequent and public in the community
  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies

Gender composition

  • Majority cis (over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Multi-generational (all ages well represented)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    0.7 acres

Guest Book

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Location

  • Wisconsin, United States

Needs and Offers

Offer
  • Communities with Openings
7 months ago

Worktrade Opportunities on Big Island Hawaii

We are continuing our work-trade program at Bridge Hawaii for the right people on this beautiful 86-acre land located along the Hāmākua Coast. Ideally, we want to host those individuals who can help with the garden and who can support with build projects for up to a 3 month stay. This work-trade would include lodging, food staples, community kitchen, running hot water showers, off-grid electricity, and laundry. There is access to high speed wi-fi. We often have a car that can be reserved. We also have full bar signal strength with Verizon cellphone service. We have about 2 acres of permaculture garden that needs to be cared for including; weeding, planting, picking up mulch, some tree trimming, ect. We are currently in a building stage on the land. We have a few current grant projects we are working on and some build projects that are underway. We are an intentional community with about 8 permanent residents. There are rescue dairy cows, mini cows, mini donkeys, horses, a donkey, cats, dogs, and active bee hives. We are a drug and alcohol “free” space. A glass of wine or beer with dinner is fine, but absolutely no day drinking or parties. We have a meditation temple and many waterfall pools that are wonderful for swimming. Close to some of the nicest beaches on island. We have snorkeling gear and a kayak. Since this is an animal sanctuary, we limit the consumption of meat on the land. Fish, eggs, honey, and dairy are fine. Let me know if you’re interested by sending an email or text for our application. Maomi (801) 623-0738 ma***@*****************ii.com

Information

Communities

A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

Organizations

An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

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