Welcome back to Northern Silicon Valley Cohousing! We're back, and wanted to share info on an upcoming event that may be of interest. If you're no longer interested in cohousing around Silicon Valley, just use the link at the bottom to manage your MeetUp account preferences to unsubscribe.

I'm Raines Cohen, a Cohousing Coach and assistant organizer for this MeetUp group - I've visited more than 90 cohousing neighborhoods across the U.S., lived in two, and helped develop one as a member. My wife Betsy Morris, who volunteers as Research Director for the Cohousing Association of the United States (Coho/US), is the main organizer. I know we've met some of you... for the rest, we're looking forward to doing so soon.

We finally sorted out the technical problems keeping Patri Friedman, this MeetUp's original founder at Tortuga (formerly Williams Way Cohousing) from handing it over to folks ready to bring fresh energy to the group, and we've renamed it to clearly focus on the San Francisco Peninsula and Northern Silicon Valley Cohousing, so to be distinct from the newer Silicon Valley Cohousing MeetUp (organizing community in San Jose and points South) that our friend Robert is taking the lead on.

Think of this group as serving area code 650 (and maybe some 415 -- I just spoke at the second meeting last night in San Francisco of folks working on "backyard neighborhood" retrofit block-at-a-time community organizing), and the other as being more focussed on 408. And if you're more interested in 510 (Oakland, Berkeley, and beyond), be sure to hook up with us over at East Bay Cohousing, now the world's largest intentional communities MeetUp, with more than 900 members and more than 200 events.

With a small retrofit (using existing apartments) community established in Mountain View, and a new-build one in the approval process, a long-established mini-cohousing-style EcoVillage in San Mateo with rental and purchase openings, and a potential "shovel-ready" (approved/entitled/fast-track to construction) 29-unit ultra-green community site just 15 minutes from downtown San Francisco with ocean views in Pacifica (more on this shortly, we're sorting out details with the architect and owner), the time seems ripe for cohousing in the area.

We're delighted to kick off what we believe will be an exciting series of regular events, speakers, workshops, and match-making opportunities designed to finally bring cohousing to the area, with the announcement of a talk next month by cohousing movement co-founder, author, and award-winning architect Chuck Durrett.

This free event is organized by the folks at Mountain View Cohousing (formerly Calderon Cohousing), who are actively working to create sustainable community designed for Aging In Community (but not exclusively Senior Cohousing -- their vision is intergenerational) at a site near downtown Mountain View, working with Chuck.

Chuck has designed over fifty cohousing communities in North America that have received acclaim for their vibrant and environmentally sustainable design.

Even if you can't make it on Thursday evening, October 1, please do click the MeetUp link below to RSVP and answer any of our survey questions you think are relevant, so we can start to organize more events designed to meet your needs... and get you involved in helping to create them. After all, that's what sustainable community is all about.

Raines Cohen and Betsy Morris
Cohousing Coaches, Planning for Sustainable Communities
living at Berkeley Cohousing, with offices at the Hub Bay Area coworking space