Our process for acceptance can take several months and includes the steps outlined below, during which applicants have an opportunity to be in dialogue with Eco-Villagers. These conversations with Eco-Villagers can help both you and community members know one
another at a deeper level than would ordinarily happen among casual
neighbors.
Note that once you have decided you’d like to enter this
process, have submitted the 24 item questionnaire in item #8 below,
have come on a tour of LAEV, and have made an announcement at a
community meeting that you want to be in our process, you will be
assigned an LAEV liaison. The LAEV liaison will help you through the
process. Also note, that if you choose to enter this process, you are
under no obligation to move to LAEV if and when accepted. Also note,
that in general, we do not have formal conversations with applicants
about availability of units and/or specific units until after you have
been accepted for residency.
The following steps do not need to occur in the order that they are
listed, but all steps, as appropriate, are expected of the applicant.
1. Do an internet search for Los Angeles Eco-Village in addition to
visiting our website http://www.laecovillage.org/. Read the materials that come up
that are of interest to you. Think about or make a list of questions
based on what you read. You can ask various Eco-Villagers your questions
during your process with us. You will get several different
perspectives. Some materials may be significantly outdated, but they
will give you a sense of the history, philosophy, direction and
accomplishments of LAEV.
Also, note the article in the Whole Life Times about us at
http://www.wholelifetimes.com/2005/wlt2709/ecovillage2709.html
You may also be able to engage in some dialogue on-line with
Eco-Villagers at our new wiki site, a good place to ask questions and
possibly get a number of different perspectives. The wiki site is:
It is also recommended that you familiarize yourself with the following
websites for general background and information on intentional
communities, cohousing and ecovillages if these are unfamiliar terms to you:
- www.ic.org
- www.cohousing.org
- www.ecovillage.org
There is quite a bit of media on the internet about LAEV which you can
access through a google search for <los angeles eco-village>. Remember
that everything you read in print is filtered through the eyes and
experience of the particular journalist writing at that particular
moment in time. So please check out your impressions from the media
things you see with a variety of people who actually live at LAEV.
2. Come on an L.A. Eco-Village tour to learn about:
- the history and potential of our neighborhood
- our initial vision
- what we have accomplished
- what some of our visions, concepts and plans are
A tour is also an opportunity to meet some neighbors, and ask some of
your initial questions face to face. Check our website for upcoming tour
schedules www.laecovillage.org. Tours are generally on Saturdays from
11 am - 1 pm. A $10 fee is charged (sliding scale is ok), but
you must have a reservation (call 213/738-1254). Soon we hope to have
special gatherings specifically targeted for people interested in being
in our process or joining other local eco oriented intentional communities.
3. After you have been on a tour and have submitted your questionnaire
(see item 8 below), request an invitation to a community potluck dinner
so you can get a better feeling for the social aspects of the community.
You should coordinate your dinner invitation(s) with Lois or another
Eco-Villager you have gotten to know who will make sure that your
questionnaire is accessible to other Eco-Villagers (see item 8 below).
When you introduce yourself in the dinner circle, you may want to
announce that you are exploring potential residency.
4. After you have been on a tour and at least one or two dinners and
enough other community events to have met most active members of the
community, make an appointment to come to the community meeting.
Generally there is a meeting each week on Mondays. Attending
Eco-Villagers will be encouraged to read your questionnaire prior to
your attendance at this meeting. This is the place to formally let the
community know that you are applying for residency. There may be several
questions in the meeting. However, your announcement at this meeting is
an indicator to the community that:
- You intend to get to know members of the community, and that you will
visit fairly frequently. - You want to become familiar with the projects going on in the
community, and will select opportunities to work with a variety of
Eco-Villagers during your process. - You want to get a realistic assessment of our stage of social and
organizational development - You expect to be available for social events, work parties, and
educational events in the community as an important way to get to know
people better and demonstrate your commitment. - You want to explore the potential contributions you can make to the
community - You want to learn about the demonstration aspects of LAEV.
5. Ask Lois for a rental application. Fill it out and return it to her
with your $25 resident application fee. This is a standard rental
application that checks your credit and personal references.
6. If you are unable to spend sufficient time with the community
because of distance or other prior commitments, you should arrange a
one to two week visit (at the then current fee for short stays for
potential residents) to get a much better feeling of what life is like
in the community, and for community members to get to know you face to
face.
Obtain from Lois a copy of the resident “Memorandum of
Understanding” and/or the Rental Agreement Addendum. Ask Lara or Lois
or other long term Eco-Villagers to go over the items with you, point by
point.
7. In thinking about and exploring the possibility of residency, you
should know that the community has an expectation of the following:
- You will fill out a standard rental application form authorizing
personal reference and credit checks (see item #5 above). - Regular participation in community activities
- Your agreement to abide by the decisions and policies that have
already been made in the community - Your commitment to work out conflicts in a civil and peaceful way
through processes established in the community for doing that (e.g.,
directly with the person, through 3rd party mediation or group process). - * Your commitment to learn and practice processes for non-violent
communications - Your commitment to perform your financial obligations in the community
(e.g., paying your rent and security deposit on time). - Your commitment to learn and practice the consensus processes that we
use for community group decision making. - Your commitment to be an on-going positive influence in the community
- Your commitment to work on manifesting the core values which many
members articulated in a March 01 Values Clarification Retreat. Get
copy from Lois, or from our website.
http://www.laecovillage.org/values.html
With these points in mind, the Los Angeles Eco-Village neighborhood
(including the intentional community and the broader two block
neighborhood) is diverse in a variety of ways:
- Many generations in the two block neighborhood(from young children to 80s)
- Different household compositions (singles, couples, single parents,
nuclear families, roommates, extended families) - Different ethnicities (Chinese, Japanese, Nigerian, African-American,
Philipino, German, Guatamalan, Mayan, Mexican, Indian,Austrian, El
Salvadorean, Ecuadorean, European, Korean, Vietnamese, Persian) - Different religious and spiritual backgrounds (Christian, Catholic,
Buddhist, Islam, Sufi, Jewish, pagan, atheist, agnostic, others) - Different income levels (very low income to middle income but
primarily lower income) - Diverse formal education backgrounds (from 3rd grade to post college
graduates) - Different levels of skills and knowledge about cooperative and
ecological living - Different sexual orientations
We try to maintain some balance in all of this diversity within the
intentional community in addition to trying to maintain a gender
balance. We also prefer to have people live here without owning a
private automobile. For some persons, there is a discount on rent for
not owning a car. Note that there are opportunities for informal car
sharing, as friendships and trust develop. There is also excellent
public transit in the area. In addition, a car co-op could be a
wonderful business to start up in this area.
8. WHAT WE WILL WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOU
We are always interested in the following when people initially approach
us for residency in the community, not necessarily all at once, but
eventually, some of us will want to know all of these things about you*.
Please provide written answers to the following questions via email or a
letter. This information will go into a loose leaf binder accessible
to community members to review and refer to as you move along in the
dialogue process with us.