Hello 
I am Nina, living currently in Slovenia and I come from Montenegro. I would love (it seems to me, I havenāt so far tried) to live in an intentional community and maybe even establish one (as it seems to me there are not many in the Balkans).
I work as an assistant researcher and PhD student in Slovenia, focused on ecosystem services. My hobbies are photography, walking and hiking, personal data drawing (fresh hobby), etc. Love cooking.
I am here because I want to learn about intentional communities and eventually be a part of one.
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Iām Kasey, I currently live in federal housing in Eastern Oregon. I have experience in a handful of community living arrangements, including crisis communities from domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, a food coop, and medical marijuana farms (before rec was legal here). I have a lot of experience managing childcare, support for disability inclusion, universal design for accessibility, and LGBT+ events.
Iām here as part of an ongoing effort to either find or create a community that has space for families like mine - I have two children with a wide variety of disabilities, and it is a constant struggle to keep them out of residential facilities or institutionalization. Behavior disabilities are the only one I frequently find no access or inclusion for, especially when you take into account the financial aspect of caring for someone in this context. I am also neurodivergent and disabled, and this adds itās own layer.
Iām currently exploring starting a therapeutic community. In my state if an adult has a developmental disability, there is an inclusive independent living option that supports them and their children, their whole family of choice, regardless of income. While the funding pathways already exist, there is no such program that provides the same arrangement for children who are disabled. As it sits, over 60% of children in my states foster care program are disabled - most of them surrendered voluntarily due to this specific lack of support.
Intentional community is the way forward here. Iām just not sure how to start.
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I wish you great success in your goals, most children are best off being with family, when children have to go live in residential it just adds trauma to their already complicated load of challenges, so I applaud your efforts. The only community in Eastern OR I know of is Pinen Healing Arts, but I donāt think its very far along in its formation and its very remote geographically, so may or may not be relevent depending on what you seek. Thereās also a cohousing community in Bend, which some people would view as Central OR rather than Eastern, but admittedly Iām west of the Cascades so in my mind everything east of the mountains is Eastern OR in my brain.
Wishing you success and happiness for you and your family.
Hi Cynthia,
I want to send you an email but the email address you provided seems incomplete. Perhaps itās a gmail so Iāll try that.
Hi Jonah, how is your new community going? Iā interested to hear of it.
Hi I am Stephen living in Boulder, Colorado and a recent former member of and Ecovillage and intentional spiritual community since 2004. I left due to the religious dogma and control.
I still believe in the need for true community as defined by M. Scott Peck in Chapter V of The Different Drum. It really is a no brainer when we consider our resources of land, water and other environmental resources consumed faster than Mother Earthās replenishment. The increasing need for mental health care has also skyrocketedā¦.IT TAKES A WHOLE VILLAGE TO RAISE A HEALTHY HUMAN BEING!
I had is a dream of a council of Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs when zI was in NY for part of one winter. I took a bus to the Onondaga reservation road. From there I walked the unplowed road through a snowstorm to the Smokeshop and informed the young man that I had a dream and wanted to speak with Chief Oren Lyons. He acted like I was a ghostš¤ . Shortly, I was picked up by Orenās brother and settled into his motherās home for Four days and then Oren asked why I was there. I explained the dream and that I was seeking community ā¦.
I was enquiring how I and my family could become members of the the Six Nations confederacy because it was my understanding that the confederacy was the only tribe with a Treaties with England and France predating the Constitution of the USA, before that colonization of Turtle Island. I had walked through a snowstorm following a dream I had of the Council of elders there at Onondaga. Four days I stayed in his motherās home and on the fourth day Oren met with me. We went to the Longhouse and he spoke about the teachings of the Peacemaker. His teachings were inclusive not excluding anyone. There was an event that happened on February 27, 1973, the Wounded Knee Occupation. Eventually, Dennis Banks, a founder of the American Indian Movement sought political asylum at Onondaga who followed the White roots of Peace back to the shores of Lake Onondaga as wellā¦he was allowed to stayā¦there were inter-marriages thereā¦eventually bitterness arose within the community and a division between the āfull bloodedā (FBI) Indians and the mixed families and children. The two opposing sides argued their cases in the Longhouse for months until the closing argument of an Onondaga born and raised woman stated, āI am full blooded Onondaga so before I, my husband, and our children should be asked to leave our tribe and home hereā¦then everyone who is NOT full blooded Onondaga (including Dennis Banks) must leave as well!ā Or words to that effect. Oren said that in the Longhouse was complete silence (a sign that all agree) so he stated that one could hear a pin drop! That was the consensus of the people! So the Chiefs had no choice but to support the decision of the people! ā¦ Oren went on stating that due to that decision, there were still many wounds that hadnāt healed as of 1986 when we spoke.
I share this story so you have a little idea about me.
I also just returned from the Amazon of Northern Peru where I went to be in ceremony with traditional healers and indigenous people there thinking perhaps my feelings of alienation were a result of some unknown past trauma but I realized that society is very messed up. Not that I am all set, but that the unity and belongingness is very limited in mainstream societyā¦.
Enough for now.
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Clearly community is a very important value to you, I hope you can find the next community, or start the next community, youāre meant to be part of.