Community of opportunity meet up’s
A mutual learning and support platform for communities of choice and intentional communities
Community of Opportunity is committed to those dedicated to building communities of choice. We aim to provide a learning and support platform and a space for people to share ideas and grow visions.
What is an intentional community?
In essence, an intentional community is a group of people coming together by choice . The variety of intentional communities is immeasurable: Intentional communities can be anything from collectives and co-operatives to individuals united through shared interests, values or faith. They can range from co working spaces, friendship groups, shared living and ecovillages, to communes and ashrams. Intentional communities are often pioneers in sustainable living, personal and cultural transformation, and peaceful social evolution.
What do we mean by platform?
- Contacts and database
- How to guides
- Learning resources
- An online platform to organise, learn and share tools
- Workshops
- Peer learning
- A place to experiment
The Why?
The power of community is growing with the rise of consciousness in our world. We are witnessing the emergence of new intentional communities mushrooming. Each bringing transformation and new ways of living and being; making positive impacts on a local, national and global levels.
What is missing is a lack of collective support: We are yet to gather leaders and others passionate about intentional community together in one space on a regular basis. Where we can develop our skills in building and organising our communities, learn about what is out there and share our challenges and success.
The what?
- Meeting of like minded people who share an interest in learning about communities of choice
- Experiential and peer learning
- Skill and knowledge sharing
- Connect with fellow community leaders and builders
Is this for me?
Are you passionate about your community?
Are you curious about communities of choice?
Are you a leader, or wanting to lead, within a community and need support and or develop your knowledge and skills?
Community of Opportunity invites you to be part of this learning and support platform. Each month we will gather to:
- Learn around a topic-in-focus and investigate what models and resources already exist
- Meet an expert or peer learning
- Discussion around the topic
- Connect with each other;, share, learn and hear about each other’s community related projects
- Develop new resources together
Themes explored in these meetups will include:
*Living in choice: What alternatives are out there? Coops, co housing, shared living *Non live-in communities *How to belong in a deeper way * How to organise community: In the workplace* Mobilising community *Decision making * Governance *Values: The heart of community* Light and dark of community
The meetups will be hosted at the inspiring Impact Hub Islington:
Impact Hub Islington is a co working space and a diverse learning community that drives innovation through collaboration. They value community, host events, cultivate learning and catalyse connections. We know the value of our community increases as the number of connections and the diversity of our members increase.
Dates and topics:
Monday October 10th 7pm-9pm : What is an intentional community and what support is needed?
This is the first meet up held by Community builder Nikki Levitan.We will explore the variety of intentional communities. And then run a listening campaign on where there is need for support and learning. This will be a chance for people to share a short piece about their communities, skills and areas of interest.
Monday November 28th: 6.30pm -9pm: Urban Intentional Communities: Meet a panel pioneers running urban intentional communities in London. We will hear their stories and experiences of what it takes to build a community in London. From this as a group we will extract some key tools that have worked that those who attend can can apply to their own communities.
Monday 23 January 2017:Topic this Month: The importance of a Space when it comes to community.
This month will be discussion based. So you are all welcome to bring your ideas, thoughts and knowledge about spaces out there that could be potentials for intentional communities to meet, gather, do events, live.What is space? And it’s importance?
What are the spaces available to us already?Sharing what we know and looking into what’s missing
Creating links between many of our shared visions and starting to take this energy into action!!!
For more information contact Nikki at nikkilevitan48@gmail.com
Monday March 20th: Topic:Co housing and coops: what’s the difference between co-housing and a co-operative? A learning based evening:
Stories, facts, collecting the information we are seeking.
There will also be time to connect with each other. The evening will be co lead by Katrine Carstens. Katerine was born in Denmark, Katrine grew up in communities — first in a commune and later in co-housing. Her experiences of being a child and teenager in these environments and the values she was surrounded by have echoed through her life, yet only in the last few years has she started to appreciate to what extent.
Tuesday April 25th: Topic in focus: Collaborative housing: The topic of this month is collaborative housing (part 2) following from last months exploration into co housing.
we are lucky to be joined by Jim Hudson, an academic who is researching alternative community models, particular for seniors. Jim’s Masters focused on urban communities and his PDH is focused on Senior cohousing, older people, co-housing and collaborative housing.You can learn more about Jim here: http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/people/research-students/james-hudson
