See the Photo Album for more cookie bake pictures.

November 10, 2007 - Vision Workshop with Mike Winer

Mike smoothly guided us through a day of Visioning.

Terri, Sterling, Karen and Rich (!) cooked up some Mediteranean delights and Elissa's dessert topped-off the celebration of 2 birthdays!

Ecomotion was a terrific host for our Sunday Social. We had some new guests and saw some faces we hadn't seen in a while! A short presentation on what makes Daybreak a sustainable form of housing with sustainable design elements led to good discussion. Our guests offered some great insight into what would make our presentation even better.

Great weather graced the Market! Bonnie & Roger, Chris & Sterling and Tiffany offered information on cohousing and enjoyed sharing our dream.

Sterling hosted our second sharing supper. Much of the talk focused on Portland's vibrant arts scene.

Several new people joined us for lively chat at out social at the Victory Wine Bar, from as far away as Vermont and as close as St. John's in North Portland. Kristin brought a scale model of our new home that helped us to envision our future life together.

Tiffany hosted our first sharing supper. 2 old friends, Jeff and Liliane, were part of the evening's treats! Lot's of cheese, good food and great company!

Our social at Ecomotion, the new "green" car dealership in NE Portland, attracted many new people, including four families with young children, some of whom entertained themselves drawing on a blackboard. The new scale model of our future home generated lots of questions and excitement, too. Several new people found us on the Internet, at the Alberta Street Fair, and through friends of friends.

One comment overheard: "We always figured we'd check out cohousing at some point...what's the best way to get to the Overlook neighborhood?"

Nearly everyone made it to our first annual retreat. It was at Lost Valley, an intentional community east of Eugene. Except for the Bocce ball casualty, all enjoyed spending time as a community, experiencing living as a community. Check out the photos in the Photo Album.

We enjoyed another cozy evening at Chapel Pub with friends. Erik impressed us with his music knowledge. Quote of the evening: “Cohousing, it makes so much sense.  And yet it is hard to let go of our supposed independence and come together to make it happen.  I’m impressed with what Daybreak is creating.”

Fall was in the air at the Alberta Street Fair and as we engaged in yet another busy day of outreach to the community. Many people expressed an interest in the socially and environmentally sustainable lifestyle that cohousing provides. We also met people from several other cohousing communities including one as far away as Tucson, Arizona

When we go to the farmer's markets, we tell people about all of the cohousing communities in the Portland area. There were so many community-minded people at Interstate and Eastbank farmer's markets this week that we heard as many stories as we told!

Our social at Pause, a cafe on North Interstate Ave., was a great success! People came from near and far to meet us and talk about the rare opportunity Daybreak provides to live in community, sustainably and in an urban setting. We were happy to meet 10 new people who were coming to a social for the first time.

We had a beautiful day for meeting people at this event and a non-stop stream of folks coming to our table to find out about Daybreak. We met families, people interested in sustainable living and many who have dreamed of living in community. It was great to connect with the Belmont community on such a beautiful day.

Daybreak received a warm welcome from our neighbors and other community members at the Arbor Lodge Symphony in the Park. We were delighted at how many people said, "I've heard about Daybreak" or "I read an article about cohousing in the newspaper." The word is spreading!

It seems that construction is not just in our near future. Our planned Patton Square Park gathering was thwarted by a chain link fence erected to support some long-planned park renovations. So, Terri, attired in her Daybreak T-shirt, "manned" the fence with our Daybreak banner and steered folks to Pause, a nearby cafe.

Eight folks joined five community members at the Plan B location. Part of the discussion revolved around the enormous value of the common house in cohousing. Shared amenities such as guest rooms and workshops make it possible for people to live in smaller private units.

We shared space with a circus workshop - how many hula hoops can you spin at one time?! Many visitors to our booth seemed acquainted with the idea of cohousing, but did not know that there were so many existing cohousing communities in the greater Portland area. Since we were close to a kids' event, we saw more families and were able to share with them about the features of our project that make it family-friendly.

We had an information table at the Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association Fair at Peace Lutheran Church. It was a lively event with food, music, information boths and face painting. Daybreaker Sterling got a sunflower painted on his cheek to start out the event. Alex and Tiffany joined in for a lovely evening at this yearly event in our next door neighborhood. We had many enthusiastic visitors come talk to us, including people who had connections to existing cohousing communities, and people keenly interested in the idea.

Eleven "guests" came to our Sunday afternoon social in lovely Overlook Park, not far from our future home. We shared the park with a softball game in a faraway corner, and picnickers. Tiffany organized games for the kids, Alex spoke about the Daybreak Vision Statement and there was lots of engaging conversation, as usual. One overheard comment: "We've been looking at the idea of cohousing for years, and finally it's coming to North Portland!"

Tiffany and Dave shared the Daybreak story at a Living Earth First Friday picnic. Dave, one of Daybreak's founders, first learned of cohousing at a Living Earth event several years ago. In the discussion about cohousing, people talked about how they were reminded of the importance of past community experiences in their lives. Some spoke about how excited they were to hear of our goals and progress!

We met some interesting folks and saw some familiar faces at the Division/Clinton Street Fair. Plus, our new red canopy protected us from the sprinkles and sun!

A throng of newcomers--26 to be precise--attended our mid-July social in the lovely garden of the Overlook House. After an enthusiastic recap of our project, we spoke one-on-one with our guests. A comment heard many times was, "I've been looking for a community that matches my values. This seems like the one!" The regard our community has for families was demonstrated by the time some of our members spent with our "smaller guests" while their parents were engaged in conversation.

What is it? The Second Annual Daybreak Picnic! We gathered for good food, good friends and twisted games designed by Terri. See the Photo Album for more pictures.

The Mississippi Street Fair was hot! We met many people interested in Cohousing and living in community. We had fun!

We filled the Chapel Pub conference room with enthusiastic conversation and several first-time visitors. New faces included Ken and Scot, who live in North Carolina but plan to move to Portland. A new 3-D graphic of our beautiful future home was shared. We talked about how great it will be when we can socialize every day in our common house!

Daybreak joined other cohousing communities and advocates at a friendly mixer that was sponsored by Unitarian Universalists attending the national General Assembly in Portland. We enjoyed learning from each other and sharing our cohousing experiences.

Daybreak hosted a community table on cohousing at the Interstate Farmers Market in North Portland on June 13. We had information from the Cohousing Association of the U.S. as well as brochures and leaflets from all of the cohousing communities in Portland. We received such a positive response!

Many people had heard of cohousing and wanted to learn more, while "cohousing" was a new word for others. We were glad to meet so many of our future neighbors.

It was so good to see families at this social. There were two families with four children and many new faces as well. We talked about intergenerational living and how everyone benefits from it. Quote of the day: “It takes a village to raise a child.”

We had a great time at the Village Building Convergence – our table was up for all nine days. We met so many people (local and from out of the area) who were enthusiastic about cohousing and glad to see a community like Daybreak coming to urban Portland.

Several of us participated on work sites during the day and enjoyed listening to speakers and talking with folks about cohousing at night. One person left a note on our table: cohousing = community = sustainability.

Every Cohousing community knows or learns that effectively facilitating group process is essential to building a healthy community and Daybreak Cohousing has made a commitment to developing that skill set by supporting professional training and development in facilitation. In May, four members of the community (Adin, Karen, Kristin and Terri ) participated in a Dynamic Facilitation Skills workshop by Jim Rough & Associates. They will be seeking ways to integrate the goals of Dynamic Facilitation to "elicit, sustain, and enhance self-organizing change" and encourage "choice-creating" instead of decision-making when and where they can be effective.

Terri was again at a loss for words when it comes to community! Not!
Thanks to members of Trillium Hollow and Cascadia Commons who joined us to talk Cohousing.

We met at Overlook House and sat outside on the lovely lawn while we enjoyed perfect spring weather and the setting sun. People came who were new to the area, in life transitions and who were just plain interested. It was great to get a feel for our new neighborhood!

Consensus decision making takes commitment, skill, and practice. Some really good training helps too! Daybreak hosted a consensus training workshop with Tree Bressen (www.treegroup.info) on May 13 for members and friends. Since Daybreak uses consensus, future training will be offered as the community grows.

We had a wet, but wonderful time at the Earth Day 2007 celebration in April. Over 130 people stopped by our information table and spoke with us! We had a 3-D rendering of our future home and details on the sustainable features. Rain might have dampened the crowds but not the enthusiasm for cohousing that was present.

Photo Courtesy of Portland Ground

The Victory Wine Bar on SE Division Street turned out to be a fun place for a weeknight Daybreak social. Conversation was lively, as usual, and the food and beverages generated many happy faces. A gaggle (okay, a lot...) of Daybreak members and prospective members showed up, including several people who were new to Daybreak or returning to visit us again. Overheard were getting-to-know-you conversations, talk about our community, about Daybreak membership efforts, about green design and the design process now occurring for our project.

We enjoyed another evening with friends at the Chapel Pub Wed night, February 21. Gathering in the “conference room” was a great way to balance meeting in a fun, public place while having a sense of privacy and intimacy. Had to interrupt plenty of lively conversation to hold brief introductions.

Each of us read a fortune we selected at random and noted how we thought it applied to living in community together. It was a quick and fun way to get a glimpse into each other. 20 people attended, with members and prospective members in the majority. We relished the chance to get to know several people better and to meet those who joined us for the first time.

On February 4th, twenty folks gathered at the home of Alex and Tiffany for tea and community conversation. We were really pleased with the turn out. We tried something new and took a break from conversation to do a round of introductions. In addition to saying our names and whether we were members of Daybreak or not, each person said something about why they were interested in co-housing. A partial copy of our vision statement was posted and that sparked a lot of conversation.

We tried out a new place, closer to our new property, to get a feel for the neighborhood.  We met at the Chapel Pub in their west wing.  Five new people joined us for the first time!   We enjoyed talking about community and what we have accomplished so far.  Good discussions about the considerations and tradeoffs that have to be made in the design process were had at one end of our table. 

We also let folks know that Daybreak has now consensed on a Membership Policy.  The policy wasn't available at the Social but will be soon.

On Thursday, January 11th, at Powell's Books, we held an informal, round-the-table social. Twelve guests joined seven Daybreak members for some one on one conversation about community in general and about the development of Daybreak.  Topics discussed by different small groupings included: what it means to be a community and also open to your neighborhood; why people are drawn to co-housing but don't always stick with it; what accessible design means; and, what we want the community we live to be and what we want to offer it.  It was a delightful mix of topics and people.  A suggestion was made that at at some future socials, we try to accommodate having everyone meet everyone else there--it is easy to get into a captivating conversation at one part of the table and not meet those at the other end!