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Systems & Structures is an archive of documents used by various FEC communities (including bylaws, decision-making policies, economic agreements, membership requirements, etc.). These documents can help forming communities by providing examples of policies, and reducing the need to "re-invent the wheel."

Click Here to view our Systems & Structures Index.

Children

S&S: Children

Conflict Resolution

S&S: Conflict Resolution

Economics

S&S: Economics

Government

S&S: Government

History

S&S: History

Labor

S&S: Labor

Membership

S&S: Membership

Outreach

S&S: Outreach

Questionaire

S&S: Questionaire

Taxes

S&S Taxes

What is the FEC?

The Federation of Egalitarian Communities is a network of communal
groups spread across North America. We range in size and emphasis from
small agricultural homesteads to village-like communities to urban
group houses.

Principles of the FEC

Each of the FEC communities:

  1. Holds its land, labor, income
    and other resources in common.
  2. Assumes responsibility for the needs of its members, receiving
    the products of their labor and distributing these and all other
    goods equally, or according to need.
  3. Practices non-violence.
  4. Uses a form of decision making in which members have an equal
    opportunity to participate, either through consensus, direct vote,
    or right of appeal or overrule.
  5. Actively works to establish the equality of all people and
    does not permit discrimination on the basis of race, class, creed,
    ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
  6. Acts to conserve natural resources for present and future
    generations while striving to continually improve ecological
    awareness and practice.
  7. Creates processes for group communication and participation
    and provides an environment which supports people's development.

Why We Exist

Because we share so much, and because we are committed to a vision of community which transcends our individual groups, we have joined together to cooperate on publications, conferences, recruitment efforts, community support systems including health care, and a variety of other mutually supportive activities. Our aim is not only to help each other; we want to help more people discover the advantages of a communal alternative, and to promote the evolution of a more egalitarian world.

Connect With Us

We cannot promise utopia, but if you are seriously interested in
our joyous struggle, we invite you to come and see for yourself. To
arrange a visit, read here and then contact the individual community
you want to go to. Other opportunities to connect with us include internships and conferences on community living.

If you are part of an existing community that is interested in potentially joining the FEC, see info on becoming an FEC community.

For other queries, please Email [email protected].

Our Communities

This pages contain information on FEC Full Members, Communities-in-Dialog, Allied Communities, communities interested in joining the FEC, and individuals seeking to form an FEC community.

Full Member Communities

Full Members of the FEC are communities that are fully in alignment with with the
FEC's principles, and contribute significant labor and money to the FEC.

Acorn Community

Founded: 1993
Location: rural Virginia
Population: 16 adults, 3 children
A community of work and play, and distributing rare heirloom seed varieties.
East Wind

Founded: 1973
Location: rural Missouri
Population: 65 adults, 11 children
Doing things ourselves, individual freedom, stewarding our beautiful land.
Emma Goldman Finishing School

Founded: 1996
Location: urban Seattle
Population: 10 adults
A social justice commune in the heart of Seattle.
Sandhill Farm

Founded: 1974
Location: rural Missouri
Pop: 6 adults, 1 child
Organic homestead & child-friendly family of friends with current openings for new members.
Skyhouse

Founded: 1997
Location: rural Missouri
Population: 3 adults
An income-sharing group within a larger ecovillage, dedicated to sustainability.
Twin Oaks

Founded: 1967
Location: rural Virginia
Population: 90 adults, 13 children
A long-term, stable community based on rich culture and diverse economy.

Communities-in-Dialog

Communities-in-Dialog
share most or all of the Federation principles and consider full membership as an option for the future.

Meadowdance (2007 January 4)
2078 Vermont Rt. 15
Walden, VT 05873
802-563-3099; fax 802-563-2105
www.meadowdance.org
Contact: Ken [email protected]
Jenn [email protected]
PEACH Melba: Amanda [email protected]

Allied Communities

Allied Communities
share many of the Federation's values but are not likely to consider full membership.

Ganas (2005 February 22)
139 Corson Ave.
Staten Island, NY 10301
718-720-5378; fax: 718-448-6842
[email protected]
www.ganas.org
Contact: Susan [email protected]

Terra Nova (2005 March 05)
1404 Gary St.
Columbia, MO 65203
573-443-5253
573-874-6855 (2nd house)
[email protected]
Contacts: Claire, Hoyt
PEACH Melba: Evan

Walnut Street Co-op (2007 February 15)
1680 Walnut Street
Eugene, OR 97403
[email protected]
www.walnutstreetco-op.org
Contact: Tree [email protected]

 

 

New Communities Forming

 

Individuals Seeking Community

Individuals and couples who are serious about forming an FEC community may request a listing on this website.

Arguing with Willow

Part of the communities agreements is that children will do small amounts of work for the collective good. The amount they are asked to do is based on age and for a 7 year old, only here part time (because Willow spends part of each week in Cville with Sky) is one hour per week. Next year it will be two hours per week.


For a while we often did part of Willow's quota in the hammock shop. He was getting pretty good at winding shuttles and toddling them over to the welding station. But the economy and our own inability to market hammocks swept the business and now the hammock shop is nearly closed. Hawina has been having Willow do a bit of food processing (where we preserve our harvest for later in the year) and he has been unloading the dishwashers are Tupelo and MorningStar. While we continue to seek places to find labor credits for him.

We had an argument about it yesterday.

Our clothes were up to dry outside MorningStar and Willow and i were taking them down. "You can take labor credits for this." i replied casually. "No i cant." replied my clever son. "These are our clothes and not community clothes" And i realized he understood the system better than i had given him credit for. Indeed, normally one can not take labor credits for work which just benefits ones self.

Consensus in the Courtroom

Twenty-two years ago I was selected to be on a jury. It was a civil case about a local farmer suing a local bank because, the farmer claimed, he'd been coerced into signing over rights to an otherwise unencumbered piece of land as additional collateral when the bank got nervous about the terms they'd originally given him on a loan. The farmer claimed he didn't know his rights and the bank president had taken advantage of him. Presentation of the testimony and evidence was completed in six days. On the seventh day the lawyers rested.

While this story is very much old news, I'm dusting it off for three reasons:
1. The trial took place in the spring of 1987—about six months before I went out on my first job as a process consultant, and my jury experience helped gel in me: a) my interest in group dynamics; b) my sense that I had something to offer; and c) my understanding of the widespread need for something better than the ways we typically make decisions.

2. I was appalled by the gap between the way the jury process is meant to safeguard justice and the way decisions are actually made by the ordinary citizens who comprise juries.

3. This bit of history is on my mind right now because I used the example of this experience during last weekend's facilitation training (Weekend V of the 8-part Integrative Facilitation Training that I'm conducting with Ma'ikwe in North Carolina) to illuminate the opportunities for people to use consensus thinking and facilitative tools in non-consensus situations. While this is an important topic and this was a decent example, I hadn't prepared well to make my points. By writing about it, I figure I can take a second bite of that apple.

Courtroom Curiosities

Memphis Democrat Column Week of 9/14/09

Hi friends. This is Alline with the news from Dancing Rabbit.

BUT! Before I go any further, make note of this date: Saturday, September 26th, 2009. This is the day of Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage’s Open House. Tours begin at 1:00 p.m. and depart every 15 minutes or so through 4:00 p.m. Tours last approximately one hour, and will cover several buildings, a garden, information about natural building, alternative energy (solar and wind), our ecological covenants, our decision-making process and what community life is REALLY like. If that all sounds too serious, we’ll also have snacks and crafts for sale, and the Milkweed Mercantile General Store will make its Open House debut. So rain or shine, we hope to see you then. And please keep your fingers crossed for a sunny day!

Whew. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we can go on with the rest of our business.

We have all been enjoying the glorious fall weather. Just like the baby bear’s porridge, the temperatures are just right – not too hot, and not too cold. The sky is a beautiful shade of blue and the clouds are big, puffy and spectacular. Fall wildflowers are in full bloom, and since many of them stand 7-8’ tall they seem to go on forever. Life is good.

Just one question


Burning Man was quite the bust this year. We had an amazing team and an interesting project to hype. But dear friends were caught up in this crazy sting/entrapment escapade and much of our energy was defused in getting them sprung.

Ironically, with all the amazing art and bizarre contraptions on the Playa, the best part of this years Burning Man for me was a set of conversations i had with my dear friend Crystal which could have just as easily be held in a Santa Cruz coffee shop.

Crystal wants to build an international camp at next years burn. US nationals could participate, but everyone who is there must pass a short admissions test, which is in it's entirety the question "Are you a revolutionary?"

Massage Therapist looking for Community

Hi, been looking for an intentional community. If you have an interest, I can forward a copy of my resume to start a conversation. Thanks.

[email protected]

Coffee, Tea, or Me?

Ma’ikwe and I unreservedly agree that we have a great sex life. However, when she asked me yesterday if I thought that was one of the main reasons our partnership worked well, we didn’t have the same answer. And that got me thinking…

For me, sex has always been confusing. While I’m generally sure of my footing in most things I undertake (which means I’m either confident in my ability to do a thing well, or confident in my ability to find out how to do a thing well), that’s not the case with sex.

I’m mystified why anyone finds me sexually attractive (though thankful that some do). And while I really enjoy sex (mysterious though it is), I do not have much confidence in the outcome of any particular engagement. On the up side, as I’ve gotten older—I’ve been doing this for more than four decades now—I’ve gotten more sensitive to reading my partner and tuning into what she wants. On the down side (so to speak), my erections have become increasingly erratic and undependable. By unlinking the concept of sexual pleasure from the imperative of male orgasm, Ma’ikwe and I have been able to achieve a highly satisfying sex life.

I give Ma’ikwe a lot of credit here—when it comes to sex she has catholic tastes without Catholic guilt. I’ve had past partners who found my inconsistent erections highly frustrating—even to the point of accusing me of withholding erections (for what reason I cannot fathom).

Memphis Democrat Column Week of 9/7/09

Greetings from Cob at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage with the latest news and views from out on the prairie. After a fairly quiet week of lime plastering, tree mulching, committee meetings, gardening, canning, pickling, cooking, cleaning, shifting wet straw bales, coordinating errands with neighbors, visitor workshops, and the occasional yoga class or evening conversation with friends, it was great to sit back a little bit and observe the excitement and enthusiasm our many new residents and members have brought to our community.

The Labor Day weekend was an unintentionally appropriate time for the entire population to come together and review our "Wonderwall" of committees, tasks, and responsibilities for doing the work of the community, advancing our educational mission, and maintaining and growing our infrastructure to accommodate increased numbers of rabbits. After a quick review of what each committee was responsible for, and whether they felt they needed additional folks to help with their work, we reviewed the myriad tasks that keep our daily lives running smoothly.

For several hours we played with the Wonderwall like a large jigsaw puzzle...adding our own names where we had interest in helping, sometimes removing our name from other places in order to do so. The many new residents and members who were not here the last time we held this exercise back in February plugged their names in as well...providing us all with a general sense of bounty and reminding us of the power of our collective labor and thought. I think most of us focus naturally on our own tasks or personal labors on a day-to-day basis as we juggle the many demands on our time. It's easy to lose sight of the big picture in the midst of to-do lists, shopping lists, bandaging skinned knees, soothing children, food preparation and preservation, and so forth. This past Sunday was truly a celebration of how far Dancing Rabbit has come since our inception!

FIC as a Home for the Halt and the Lame

As the Fellowship for Intentional Community's main administrator, part of my job is to play center field. That means that if something comes our way that's sufficiently unusual that it doesn't fall into someone's defined bailiwick, then I'm expected to field it. This past week I got two communications as the FIC center fielder, which, together with a third dialog that I've been conducting for several months, showcase both the entertaining and frustrating aspects of my job.

Example #1
I opened a letter from a foreign correspondent last week, who is an FIC member and recent purchaser of Geoph Kozeny's Visions of Utopia video. So this is someone familiar with intentional community.

They were writing with an urgent request. This person was concerned about the Earth's impending shift into the Fifth Dimension, which will commence Dec 21, 2012. They wanted my help (as FIC administrator) to get space on the program at two upcoming events—the Continental Bioregional Congress to be held at The Farm Oct 3-11, and the NASCO Institute to be held in Ann Arbor Nov 6-8—to pass along vital information about the Fifth Dimension. Oh boy.

The writer had three pieces of evidence in support of their claim:
a) The growing support for belief that there are other sentient beings in the universe.
b) The emergence of indigo, crystal, or starseed children—all born since the '80s and who are markedly more intuitive and psychically open.
c) The presence of "walk-ins" such as himself who come from other dimensions,a nd are here to serve as go-betweens.

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