Newsletter November 2024
Building a community that brings a more equitable society, better quality of life, and a harmonious life with nature.
It’s fall and the weather is gorgeous! We’re focusing most of our attention these days on raising the last 10% needed to purchase a property for our community. We are so close but we need the support of our wider community to make it happen.
Upcoming Events
Online Gatherings See below for more information. Email tcfamilycoop@gmail.com for the zoom link and to let us know which session(s) you will attend.
Sunday, November 10th 4:00-5:00pm - Cooperative Culture
Sunday, November 24th 4:00-5:00pm - Community Life
Harvest Feast Potluck - Saturday, November 16th 3:30-6:30pm
Let’s celebrate good food and good company! Very family friendly, indoors now that it’s chilly. Please email tcfamilycoop@gmail.com to let us know if you plan to attend and we will send you the address. Also let us know if you have any dietary restrictions.
If you can't make it to these events and you want to connect, email tcfamilycoop@gmail.com. We’d be happy to connect in person or online.
Online Gatherings
We will be holding online gatherings to dive deeper into Cooperative Culture and Community Life. We would like anyone interested in these to join us, whether you plan to become a member or to be a part of our wider community.
Our monthly newsletters have highlighted different aspects of cooperative culture. This month we highlight making decisions as a community that align with our mission: Finding the Aligned Way.
This month’s Community Life conversation will focus on the impact of sharing meals together. The U.S. Surgeon General has issued several advisories over the last few years on loneliness and the mental health of parents (among others concerns) and how they are a serious health concern, not only for individuals, but for our nation. At the same time, it has been shown that living in intergenerational and intentional communities can improve individuals’ health and well-being. We’ll look at how our way of living together can improve the lives of our members and the wider community.
Property Update - The News is Mixed
The offer we made in September on the property in St. Paul was not close enough to the asking price. At the same time, the seller hasn’t accepted any other offers either and is very interested in selling to us. She has said she will let us know if she receives one she would like to accept. She continues to receive other offers so we need to make a better offer as soon as possible.
Investors
Since our last newsletter where we shared that we are looking for investors, we have had 3 people express interest in investing money in Twin Cities Family Cooperative and we are ⅓ of the way to our goal! Having investors is really a win-win-win. Investors allow Twin Cities Family Cooperative to make a downpayment on a property where our community can live and grow. In return, investors receive preferred stock shares which grants them monthly dividends, and when TCFC buys back their shares, investors get back their initial investment. In addition, the wider community also benefits. See this slideshow about the benefits of investing in TCFC. If you want more information about our community plans, the property we intend to purchase, our budget, or anything else, please reach out and we would love to set up a time to talk with you about this. Our goal is to be able to make another offer that will be accepted in early November. We are still looking for more people to be investors!
Cooperative Culture - What is it?
Finding the Aligned Way. Continuing our conversation about Cooperative Culture - What Is It? based on Yana Ludwig’s and Karen Gimnig’s book “The Cooperative Culture Handbook,” this month we look at the difference between “one right way” (mainstream culture), “all the ways” (counterculture), and “find the aligned way” (cooperative culture).
Our political climate today is one of the most stark ways of the “one right way” dynamic. When we operate with dichotomies, we end up with “either I’m right and you’re wrong and I have to convince you of my right answer” or “you’re right and I’m wrong and I won’t get my needs met.” Counterculture on the other hand, in an attempt to be all inclusive and get away from mainstream culture dichotomies, leans into viewing each person’s idea as equal in value and importance to each other person’s idea in the group. The downfall of that is that this can ignore the data or someone’s wisdom earned by experience.
Cooperative culture seeks to provide “space for multiple good answers, and a thoughtful consideration of what is best aligned with our mission and most likely to be effective.” (p.165) Each person is valued and discernment is applied to the various ideas presented. A person’s value is not dependent on their idea being included in one particular final decision. Over time, the various decisions will reflect the experience and wisdom of various individuals in the group. There are a variety of tools that can help us form well thought-out decisions. The consensus model that we use at TCFC (talked about in our September Newsletter) is one example. Other models are discussed in “The Cooperative Culture Handbook.” They look like fun ways to work toward a decision, and I’m sure that we will employ them over the course of our community life together.
Our Vision
We are an intergenerational community, raising families together: committed to connection with each other, environmental sustainability, and living in harmonious relationship with the land. We share governance and work by consensus decision-making. We are queer-affirming, gender-inclusive, multicultural, and multigenerational individuals, couples, and families. We value the spectrums of the human experience and each individual’s diverse abilities. We strive to live out of a place of abundance, working to dismantle the systems of racism and oppression in our society.
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