Newsletter June 2025
Building a community that enjoys a rich quality of life for all ages, brings a more equitable society, and a harmonious and responsible relationship with the natural world.
Dear Friends,
Moving into a new house has been very difficult and stressful for me, but it has also been a lot of fun. I really like our new neighborhood and the ice cream parlor/cafe right by our house. I also enjoy the other restaurants in the area. I really miss our old backyard and house but I like this house a lot too. I hope we get all the unpacking done soon.
Kind Wishes,
Lorelei, age 10
Upcoming Events
In an attempt to not fill your inbox with unwanted emails, we don’t send out reminders throughout the month. If you would like to receive email reminders before each event, email tcfamilycoop@gmail.com and say “sign me up for reminders.” You can specify if you only want reminders about online events and not in-person events.
Play Day at the Playground - Sunday, June 1 10:00-noon
Bring the kids, bring the sunscreen, and join us at Holmes Park! Holmes Park is just a short walk from our community house and we plan to spend a lot of time there this summer. This event is a very informal one, come when you can, stay as long as you want, feel free to bring a friend. It's just a chance to let the kids play and the adults can hang out and chat. If this is your first time at one of our events, you can find us by looking for our small Twin Cities Family Cooperative sign or Beka in a yellow t-shirt. Please email tcfamilycoop@gmail.com to let us know if you plan to attend so we can keep our eyes out for you.
Community Work Day - Saturday, June 14 9:00am-6:00pm
We want to acknowledge and thank the fantastic friends and family who have helped us move into our community home. It’s coming together … but there’s still a lot of work! We’ll be moving and assembling furniture, cleaning cabinets, unpacking and organizing, doing yard work, and more. Please join us for our June work day or let us know if there’s another time that you would be able to lend a hand.
Online Discussion - Wednesday, June 18 8:00-9:00pm
Our online discussions are a time to dig deeper into the values that we have. They are open to folks interested in Cooperative Culture, regardless of their intent to be a member of Twin Cities Family Cooperative. This month’s topic is Speak the Authentic. Please email tcfamilycoop@gmail.com to let us know if you plan to attend so we can send you the link. See below for more details on this month’s topic.
June Potluck and Open House - Saturday, June 28 11:00am-2:00pm
Tour Twin Cities Family Cooperative and share a meal. There’s still lots of work to be done but we’ve been working hard to create a home and thanks to the volunteer work of many wonderful folks, it’s starting to come together. You’ll be able to see your community dining room, kitchen, living room, kids room, and one of our open living spaces. We’ll provide a vegetarian maid dish, drinks, and dishes. Bring your kids, bring your friends, we can’t wait to see you! Please email tcfamilycoop@gmail.com to let us know if you plan to attend. Also let us know if you have any dietary restrictions.
July Potluck - Saturday, July 12 (time TBD)
Summer Cohousing Potluck - Sunday, July 20 3:00-6:00pm
Twin Cities Family Cooperative is co-hosting this summer’s Cohousing Picnic on Sunday, July 29th, along with Twin Cities Cohousing Network. See their website for more details and to RSVP (make sure to choose the one in St. Paul). There will be games for children and adults, food, and a chance to meet and hang out with cohousing groups and interested folks.
Monthly Potluck and Free Sale Fundraiser - August (date and time TBD)
Check our website or facebook page for events in the coming months. 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.
Life at Twin Cities Family Cooperative
Well, we did it. We’ve been living in our community home for almost 3 weeks now and, bit by bit, we’re getting settled. We’re enjoying the evening meal together each day in our community dining room and we have the dish washer set up now so we don’t have to hand wash all the dishes. The games and puzzles are out in the kids room and there’s almost always a puzzle in process. Soon we hope to have the living room cleared out so we can enjoy live piano and harp music or just have a comfortable place to sit and relax. We’ve really enjoyed being able to show the space to potential new members. We look forward to getting more settled and inviting more people to fill the community.
Cooperative Culture Study Group - Speak the Authentic
For months we have been exploring Cooperative Culture values and practices based on Yana Ludwig’s and Karen Gimnig’s book “The Cooperative Culture Handbook.” If you want to read what we’ve written in past months, check out our past newsletters. This month’s topic is on the importance of speaking authentically.
The authors describe mainstream culture communication as often being competitive and individualistic, used to manipulate or control the outcome. Counterculture on the other hand, can fall into people-pleasing to try and avoid competition and abusing power. This leads to lack of effective action to meet the community’s real needs.
Speaking authentically is allowing oneself to be vulnerable in disclosing one’s needs and feelings. There is risk in doing this as one could be met, not with deep listening, but being dismissed or criticised for one’s needs and emotions. However authentic speaking can allow for deeper connection with others and an increase in needs being met.
Join us online on June 18th to share your thoughts. Want more? Join Yana’s weekly Cooperative Culture Handbook Book Club Series on Sunday mornings. Here is the link with more information and registration. You can find other really great courses and resources on the FIC website. Remember, Exploratory Members can use up to $200 of their $500 member fee to take classes and get reimbursed for them.
August Free Sale Fundraiser
August 15-17 Twin Cities Family Cooperative will be hosting an event to raise money for our community, to pay for things like:
repairing the chimney
installing gutters
repairing bathrooms
replacing unsafe outdoor steps
There will be a few large items for sale but most things will be free. People are invited to donate what they can for the free items. Do you need a bike, a set of dishes, clothes, furniture? You can find this and more when you come to shop our sale! Do you have things that need a new home? Email us if you want us to include them in our Free Sale Fundraiser!
Our Vision
We are an intergenerational community of individuals, couples, and families. We are queer-affirming, gender-inclusive, and multicultural. We value the spectrums of the human experience and each individual’s diverse abilities. We support each other in raising children and throughout all stages of life.
We strive to live out of a place of abundance. We develop internal economic policies that actively push back against capitalist expectations, while also making compromises to allow members to maintain their financial autonomy.
We are committed to nonviolence and environmental sustainability. We believe in the potential for radical transformation of society and see communal living as an element of that change. We strive to make meaningful contributions to society, engaged in dismantling the systems of racism and oppression in our society.
If you would like to learn more about Twin Cities Family Cooperative, please visit our website and facebook page, attend our events (online and in-person), or fill out our Interest Form to connect. All past newsletters can be found here. If you would like to be removed from our email list, please email us and let us know.
