​We are thrilled to introduce our two newest members who both share a history of cohousing and Sacramento.  Bea, joining us from Flagstaff, was a resident of N Street Cohousing in Davis many years ago.  Cathy, joining us from Sacramento, was involved in the formation of Southside Cohousing in Sacramento and is excited to be joining our community.  

N Street Cohousing in Davis was my home for part of that time and I’m grateful to my friends there who taught me the joy and rewards of community living.

​Washington Commons is now affording me the opportunity to come “home”.  My heart has longed to be back among friends, water, fabulous bird watching locations and gorgeously blooming gardens in Sacramento.  Living almost beside the Sacramento River, but steps from the Capitol, restaurants, arenas and with my new family at Washington Commons is my heart’s desire.  Sharing much of daily life while having my own private home will be icing on my cake.”

I am a retired clinical social worker writing a book about my work with veterans at the VA, which was terrific, and VA mental health policy, which needs improvement. When I’m not writing I enjoy gardening, music, and the Sierra Nevada to ski, hike, and camp.  I’m looking forward to the possibility of visiting some wineries with other members, having buddies to cycle our American River Bike Trail and sail at Lake Washington Sailing Club, just ten minutes from Washington Commons.  It’s hard to beat an evening sail when the Delta breeze kicks in after a hot summer day in Sacramento."
 
WELCOME Bea and Cathy, it is a joy to be creating community together!

According to Erik's research, the hallmark of projects that succeed in creating cohesive community is ‘connection-centric design’. Erik identifies 2 types of connection-centric design: Overt and Covert. Overt design is represented in the physical features that create intentional engagement with your neighbors such as the common house, dining room, commercial kitchen, and guest and reception spaces. These are spaces which feature planned events such as community meals and meetings. Overt design facilitates intentional bonding.
 
Covert design elements, by contrast, are those design features that result in incidental bonding among community members. They don’t require community planning or intention to be effective. They work continuously, affect everyone, go unnoticed and don’t create undue annoyance.
 
What are these “Covert” design elements?

• Walkways and courtyards that support circulation - where neighbors pass each other as they go about their daily routines. They have the opportunity to say “Hi” or stop and chat. In Washington Commons our courtyard deck provides many “pathways” for such connections as will our walking from the parking areas to the living spaces. We will be connecting many times a day as we go about our business.
  
  
• Scale and spacing - Erik’s research ascertained that in communities of 40 homes or less, people generally know all their neighbors. In larger communities this wasn’t the case.  Washington Commons with 35 homes will have the sense of scale that Erik says is so important.
  
  
• Sight-lines - the ability to see common spaces from a distance so that residents have a sense of what is happening in the community, what spaces are and are not being used at the specific time. In Washington Commons we will easily be able to check out what is happening in the courtyard just outside our doors.
  
  
• Proof of Life – Seeing the lights of our neighbors’ windows creates a sense of warmth and connection. Erik noted how this creates a sense of belonging as we come home after a busy day; the lights enlivening our community.  The windows in our homes will look across the courtyard to our neighbors.

• Identity and ownership – the ability to create personal space outside the entrance to one’s home with chairs, plants, artwork provides a sense of belonging and ownership. These personal areas become special places for more intimate one-on-one gatherings. All of our homes provide such spaces outside their doors.
  
  
• Passive communication – another element Erik noted, represented by community bulletin boards, name plaques on homes, and mailboxes.

​Erik left us with the sense of how beautifully our community is designed – both for planned events and unplanned, magical connections.  Thank you Erik! 

“Joyous!” was how longtime cyclist and member Stu P. described the March 20 biking and social event.

​The tour visited the closest of the Three Sisters' urban farms where peas, chard, lettuce and carrots were thriving and the weeds were non-existent! An additional highlight was bicycling on the Clarksburg Branch Line Trail.  When we returned to the Treehouse Cafe everyone was treated to more fruits of the Central Valley; member Becky shared her labor of love; Kumquat marmalade.

​Many of the newer members and explorers were meeting the long-term members in person for the first time, and even the long-timers did not recognize the faces they had been seeing on Zoom for the past year behind their masks! It was a fun event, nurturing on all levels this unique gathering of individuals that wants to know their neighbors and build community together.

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  Karen Gimnig, Imago Facilitator and co-author of ’The Cooperative Culture Handbook’, led a large workshop  of Washington Commons’ members and Explorers interested in building community and deepening our connection to one another. Karen asked each of us to write 10 responses to the prompt, “Our vision is realized, we have moved into our new homes, and we have fabulous relationships. I can tell because I see, hear, or feel…”. She created the image above with our responses.

Karen asked, “What gets in the way of attaining our vision”? She showed us how our conditioned survival strategies on a biological as well as a social level kick in when we feel our sense of belonging threatened. These strategies put us in our competitive habits where we inflict rules, employ power, and judge right and wrong. Such strategies have kept us alive but are counter productive to communication or creating connection. Even when we are not in fight or flight response, Karen told us, “only17% of what gets said gets listened to”.

Then Karen taught us the simple but powerful technique of‘Mirroring’ or ‘Active Listening’ which to do at all we had to get out of our competitive habit of preparing our rebuttal. We practiced using this tool in breakout rooms with one other person for 2 different 20-minute sessions. This single tool enabled us to begin to hear each other in ways that brought people back from the breakout rooms bubbling with cheerful chatter at what they had learned, savoring the connection they had made with their future neighbor, and childlike joy that, “my partner really got me”.