The Community Builders Forum – Webinar series

We host monthly webinars, which members can participate in live. These webinars cover a wide range of topics of interest and importance to intentional communities and their allies. Recordings of past episodes can be found below.

For information on becoming a member click here.

Upcoming Webinar

Stay tuned!

Past Webinars

Episode 4 – Together Resilient: Building Community in the Age of Climate Disruption

What are the underlying causes of climate change? And what can we do about it?

Drawing on her new book, Ma’ikwe Ludwig will talk about community-building from two angles: how it can help us reduce our carbon footprints, and how it can create pockets where we are more likely to do well in the face of sweeping climate disruption. This talk will touch on three intersecting causes of climate change (culture, economy and inequality) and then turn to examples of viable options, particularly those examples of successful, low-carbon intentional communities.

We will also look at some principles that can be applied anywhere to create more socially and ecologically resilient systems, drawing directly on new research from Ma’ikwe and a team at the University of Missouri about social systems in community.

Episode 3 – Landing your Community

The practical and spiritual aspects of real estate for intentional communities

Cooperative real estate pioneer Cassandra Ferrera will be our guest presenter in this webinar dedicated to all things land and real estate related. Cassandra will address the very practical aspects of finding property, working with real estate agents and dealing with zoning. She will also share about the spiritual aspects of having a profound relationship with the land… even before you acquire it. This webinar will be helpful for people in groups seeking to create intentional community, and will hold pieces of insight for “landed” communities as well.

Episode 2 – Consensus: Learning to Think and Act Cooperatively

For most people consensus is an unnatural act. It calls for participants to listen deeply, and to put the good of the group ahead of personal agendas. Because consensus thrives in cooperative culture, it requires personal work to undo our competitive conditioning—to learn to think and act cooperatively. We’ll cover the essential ingredients for consensus to work well, explore the nuances of blocking and the dynamics of voting back-ups, offer a productive way to tackle tough issues in the group, and make the case for why consensus can be the most efficient form of decision-making in cooperative settings.

Episode 1 – How do we get people to join our community?

Lots of groups struggle to attract members, and this can be for a wide variety of reasons. There might be financial barriers, unaddressed interpersonal dynamics, lack of clarity in the membership process or mission, founder’s syndrome, or any number of other things. It could also be that your outreach efforts aren’t enough or focused in the right way. In this webinar we’ll go over some common issues, discuss outreach strategies, and help you figure out how to both get people in the door and want to stay once they’re there.