Draft Former Member Returning Membership Process
Depending on the time that has elapsed since the former member was a member, we would expect the former member to spend more or less becoming familiar with material on these websites and going on a tour.
Familiarization with the following websites
· www.urbansoil.net LA Ecovillage Wiki
· www.laecovillage.org includes historical information and CRSP programs presented through the Institute for Urban Ecovillages
· gen.ecovillage.org on ecovillages in general
· www.ic.org for intentional communities
· www.cohousing.org for co-housing
Expect
· Former member to go on a two-hour tour.
· To fill out a former member questionnaire.
· To request to rejoin the community as a member
We expect former members to participate by:
Attending potlucks
Attending Building Community Meetings
Volunteering for work parties
We inform former members about our minimum participation expectations. If the person did not actively participate when a member before, we need to determine that the former member now wants to participate.
We should review these expectations with former members to make sure they are ready to commit to the following:
a) Regular participation in community activities
b) Abide by decisions and policies made by community (includes rental agreement and addendum)
c) Commitment to civil and peaceful conflict resolution
d) Commitment to meet financial obligations to community
e) Commitment to consensus process
f) Commitment to LA Eco-village Values
g) Commitment to the LA Eco-village Vision Building Blocks
If the former member has a history of fulfilling these commitments then we should look favorable on readmitting them. If there have been problems with how the former member fulfilled these commitments then we need to engage in a process to see if we can establish trust that the former member will fulfill these things if readmitted.
Former Membership Acceptance Decision
· After a former member has gotten to know those who have become members during their absence, a meeting can be scheduled to decide about readmission.
Provisional membership phase would proceed normally but could be shortened by the community.
Former Member Application Questionnaire
a) Describe what about living at LAEV before worked or didn’t work well for you.
b) How long term are your residency plans for living at LAEV?
c) Why do you want to live at LAEV again? Are you interested in being part of the demonstration project? part of the Intentional Community?
d) Describe your experience, studying or working on ecological/ environmental issues.
e) How do you deal with conflict?
f) Have you had training in consensus decision-making or working with conflict?
g) What personal growth issues do you feel you need or want to work on, if any, during your residency at LAEV?
Possible Omit these questions
h) Do you smoke (We don’t accept smokers for residency in CRSP-owned buildings)
i) Do you have an animal? (Currently we do not accept any new animals although there are occasional exceptions on a case-by-case basis with exclusively indoor cats.
j) Do you have a car? How attached are you to it?
k) Where are you from?
l) What have you studied?
m) What languages do you speak?
n) What are some of your skills, hobbies, aspirations, work/life aspirations?
o) What are some of your favorite things to do for fun, recreation, and leisure?
p) Are you familiar with the cohousing concept?
q) Are you interested in the possibility of purchasing a co-op apartment unit in LAEV that would be permanently affordable?
r) Tell us about how you relate to children
s) Because LAEV is a demonstration project, how do you feel about being accessible to the public (e.g. public tours, media, interviews..) on a fairly regular basis?
t) What are some of the projects or activities that are of particular interest to you ?
u) Would you say that you fall in the low, moderate or middle-income category (with middle income being about $30,000 for a single person household)? What income level do you expect to be earning three years from now?