Yulupa Cohousing: Our Vision

Yulupa Cohousing is an intentional, self-governing, self-managing cohousing community where members explore the process of living, learning, and growing together. We aspire to create a welcoming environment that fosters respect, support, connection, and a sense of belonging. Our buildings and gardens offer a joyful, engaging, inclusive environment where we thrive in relationship with one another, and care for our shared home, our community, and our planet.


Yulupa Cohousing: Values
PARTICIPATION
Participation is the heart of cohousing and is essential for us to thrive as a self-managed community. Engagement is the responsibility of every member. Participation includes stewardship of our homes and gardens, self-governance, social activities, and fun. Through participation we build ongoing relationships within YCH and beyond, promote community resilience, and keep our shared expenses affordable.
 
How we do this:
  • We count on members to participate at general meetings, serve on committees, perform community maintenance tasks, and join fun events, meals and work days.
  • We encourage members to take on leadership roles to support the community.
  • We understand that each member's participation will vary depending on skills, abilities, circumstances, and interests. We strive to find ways for everyone to contribute, and to acknowledge all contributions.
  • We support each other to be of service to our wider community and the world, including working for social and economic justice and environmental sustainability.
​communication
We are committed to truthful, effective, inclusive, and kind communication that fosters the mutual trust and understanding essential to intentional community. Everyone’s voice counts and needs to be heard.
 
How we do this:
  • We strive to listen carefully to each other and respond with openness, sensitivity, and curiosity.
  • We value diversity of opinion and communication styles that are vital to understanding each other’s ideas and experience.
  • We are committed to learning how to engage in difficult conversations, recognize and honor emotions that arise, and resolve conflicts in a caring way.
  • Because human communication can be imperfect, we aspire to practice acceptance of difference, reconciliation, and forgiveness.
Self-governance 
We work together to develop shared goals, make inclusive decisions, and evaluate past actions. We value everyone’s input and use the Consensus-Oriented Decision-Making (CODM) process to craft the best decisions possible.
 
How we do this:
  • In planning and decision-making, we strive to solicit broad input, listen to one another, and put the interests of the community before individual interests. We also consider the impact of our decisions upon future residents and the broader community.
  • We recognize that self-governance requires training and practice, and are committed to learning and using the CODM process.
  • To enhance our collective decision-making, we work to foster mentoring relationships among members, lifelong learning, skills-building, and volunteering.
We understand that shared decisions may differ from our preferences, and nonetheless strive to support actions based on those decisions.
sustainability
Our human behaviors are causing disastrous climate change. At YCH, we seek to support the health and well-being of our land, air, water and all species responsibly and creatively, practicing sustainability, while addressing climate change at every level.
 
How we do this:
  • We work together to understand and mitigate our negative impacts on the natural world. We value science-based, regenerative, and resilient stewardship within our community and beyond.
  • To live more sustainably, we share resources and spaces, compost, garden, recycle/reuse, and use renewable energy.
  • We encourage advocacy and action to address the climate crisis on a local and global scale.
Diversity & Equity
DIVERSITY AND EQUITY
 
We value diversity and equity. We work towards inclusivity, belonging and alliance with those who have diverse identities. We want our community and its activities to feel safe, accessible, and welcoming to everyone - particularly those who have been traditionally marginalized.  We aspire to understand and value what each person believes and experiences. We want people to feel safe being fully themselves.
 
How we do this:
  • We value living with, learning from, and collaborating with diverse people.
  • We welcome new residents who contribute diverse perspectives, experiences, gifts, and skills.
  • We work to remove barriers to being a diverse and equitable community. We offer opportunities to explore our privilege, blind spots, and biases so we can grow and benefit from a rich variety of community viewpoints. The growth, healing, and evolution that results are essential to our community's well-being.
  • We promote Diversity, Equity and Belonging skills, resources, and opportunities in our community.
LIFE STAGES & TRANSITIONs
As a multigenerational community, we value the gifts of each stage of life and support one another through life’s many transitions.  We equally value long-time residents and those newer to our community. 
 
How we do this:
  • We foster a generous, kind, and accepting spirit towards one another.
  • We accept and value each resident’s unique contributions, interests, abilities, and needs in each stage of life.
  • Our awareness of the community’s history and values helps guide our path forward.
privacy
We honor each person’s need for privacy and solitude. We respect members’ wishes for time independent from the community in their own homes and in common areas. ​