News/Blogroll

July Neighbors Salon: Bringing the World into the Room

Last modified on 2010-08-08 20:58:38 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

MotiveSpace’s next Neighbors’ Salon is coming up on Friday, July 2nd, from 4:00 – 6:00.

We’re calling this month’s topic ‘Bringing the World into the Room,’ and will hold the space for a brainstorming and discussion about emerging technologies and tools which can help document and support community conversations, without interrupting their flow or focus.

This is a timely topic for MotiveSpace, as well as many of the communities we support.  There are many tools out there for online discussion: forums, RSS feeds, list-serves, and web 2.0 platforms like Facebook or Twitter.  Next Friday we’re going to talk about how these online tools can be integrated with in-person conversations.

How can a community marry the best of both in-person and online dialogue strategies?

For this month’s conversation we’ll be reaching out specifically to MotiveSpace friends with a background in dialogue, communication strategies, and social media.  We’d especially like to meet new friends who have an interest in using social media for community good – if you know of programmers, social media gurus, or others who might be interested, please pass this invite along!

Bringing the World into the Room
Friday, July 2nd, 4:00 – 6:00
Olympic Mills Think Tank, Suite 230
107 SE Washington Street, PDX, 97214

We’ll provide good drinks, wine, and refreshments – feel free to bring extra snacks, friends, and to pass along the invitation to your group’s members or staff.  We look forward to seeing you soon!

June Neighbors Salon: Asset Based Community Development & Place-making– a perfect recipe for Barn-raising?

Last modified on 2010-08-08 04:33:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

MotiveSpace’s fifth Neighbors Salon is coming up next month on Friday, June 4th from 4:00 – 6:00.

This month we’re holding the space for a discussion on the intersections between Asset Based Community Development and Place Making. We’ll talk high-level about the principles and goals of each, and then opening the conversation to a broad discussion on how the tactics utilized by practitioners in both fields can be combined to their mutual benefit.

In 1993 John Kretzman and John McKnight published Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. Since that time an Asset Based Approach to community development has had a profound influence on practitioners from academic, public policy, and grassroots organizing circles.

Most of motiveSpace’s allies know plenty about place-making – we’ve had a lot of good dialogue about the best way to describe it relative to motiveSpace’s mission. Place-making is a term used to describe the more conceptual side of the design and development process. More than a description of buildings or spaces themselves, place-making refers to the process neighbors and builders go through, as they carve out the spaces, materials, and the energy required to create new projects. Place is seen as the emergent effect of collaboration, building and space. More than the sum of the pieces which make it possible, a place is something greater than any of us could contribute alone.

MotiveSpace believes that there’s a world of potential synergy between the approaches of ABCD and place-making. We are honored to have a local leader in the principles of Asset Based Community Development on hand, to drive the conversation with us next week.

We’re inviting Mike Vander Veen of the East Portland Neighborhood Office to share his experience with us. In partnership between the East Portland Neighborhood Office and Second Stories, Mike has performed dozens of ABCD trainings with community groups and nonprofits around Portland.

MotiveSpace ABCD + place-making Salon
Friday, June 4th, 4:00 – 6:00
Olympic Mills Think Tank, Suite 230
107 SE Washington Street, PDX, 97214

We’ll provide good drinks, wine, and refreshments – feel free to bring extra snacks, friends, and to pass along the invitation to your group’s members or staff. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Reflection on June Salon: Asset Based Community Development

Last modified on 2010-08-04 09:29:00 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Place ▪ Flow-energy-info ▪ Block Parties ▪ Extractive/Associative ▪ Friendships ▪ Trust ▪ Endless discussion ▪ Collaboration ▪ Safety ▪ Togetherness ▪ Conflict Resolution ▪ Degree of Connection ▪ Play Space ▪ Rules and Norms ▪ Commonality ▪ Efficient Use of Resources ▪ Support Networks ▪ Small business ▪ Neighbor ▪ People ▪ Peers ▪ Knowing and being known ▪ Compromise ▪ Shared meaning ▪ Cooperation ▪ Socialism

ABCD is a powerful tool, and one definitely worthy of more detailed training, reflection, and focus. In collaboration with

the Portland based nonprofit Second Stories, Mike is offering trainings to community groups who wish to host him for the deeper 8-hour training. Mike is holding a training with Transition Towns coming up on June 30th, from 7:00 – 9:00. Contact MotiveSpace director Jim Newcomer at jnewcomer@spiretech.com to learn more. You can also reach Mike at mjonvv@yahoo.com.

Bringing the World into the Room: Background considerations + questions

Last modified on 2010-08-04 05:51:27 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

MotiveSpace has had a great series of conversations this year, and we’ve heard a lot of good feedback about future topics you’d like us to address.  It sounds like everyone values the chance to come together in-person, but would like better ways to keep the conversation going after the Salons.  MotiveSpace is also getting contacted more frequently by non-local and busy allies, who can’t make it to the Salons but who want to get involved.

This is a timely topic for the communities MotiveSpace supports, as well.  Some of the Seed Teams (project teams) MotiveSpace has been working with this year are doing such a great job of reaching out to friends and neighbors that they’re growing faster than anyone could have expected.  As new allies come on board and a Community Story begins to emerge, it becomes increasingly important to document the conversations which took place along the way.

Some of the questions we’ll talk over on the 2nd:

What social media tools exist which can help document a conversation, without interrupting it?  It’s a well-known fact  that once a camera clicks on, conversation dwindles.  What tools are out there which can address that challenge, and keep in-person conversation both flowing and documented?

How can tools involving online streaming and web-cams be integrated with in-person conversations, creating a true portal to the world wide web?

How can we integrate the best aspects of online list serves, RSS feeds, and discussion forums to create a simple place for MotiveSpace members and friends to support each other?

Here are a couple of links to websites and organizations who are making the most of online media, and using a smart blend of in-person and online communication strategies:

• How to make video amplify and authenticate community activity

• Outside the wire – why the google video plugin will be transformative for education

• Open source café menu

• Video streaming brings events to a much wider audience

May Neighbors Salon: Learning from Portland’s Cohousing

Last modified on 2010-08-05 17:00:05 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

MotiveSpace’s fourth Neighbors Salon is coming up next month on Friday, May 7^th from 4:00 – 6:00.

April’s discussion on Portland’s community spaces was extremely fruitful – about 35 neighbors came out from cohousing communities, community gardens, community cafes, and other mission-driven spaces to talk with other members about what makes their spaces strong.  We got a lot of good feedback about principles, use-types, and design characteristics, and also heard strong ideas about the spaces currently listed on the ‘Portland’s motiveSpaces’ map.  Read more about the discussion and the next steps for the mapping exercise below.

In the coming month’s we’ll begin focusing on the specific lessons that different types of community groups (and their spaces) have to offer.  See the draft list of future Salon topics further down in the newsletter, and please give us your feedback!

This month, we’re going to take a deeper look at Portland’s cohousing communities.  Cohousing communities can look like any other neighborhood – except they are developed, designed, and occupied by a group of people working together at the outset, with a shared vision and common goals.  They represent people-led, people responsive development.

Because motiveSpace’s mission is to get more neighbors involved in building their neighborhoods, we believe the Cohousing movement has

invaluable lessons to teach us.  Come join us for the next Salon to discuss the strategies, tool, and dialogue tactics that cohousing groups use to build trust and cohesion among their members.

We’re inviting Terri Hugget, the lead developer and ‘burning heart’ of  North Portland’s Daybreak Cohousing to help host the Salon, as well as several members of different cohousing communities already existing in Portland.  Come and join us:

MotiveSpace Neighbors Salon-

Learning from Portland’s Cohousing

Friday, May 7^th, 4:00 – 6:00

Olympic Mills Think Tank, Suite 230.

107 SE Washington Street, PDX, 97214

We’ll provide good drinks, wine, and refreshments – feel free to bring extra snacks, friends, and to pass along the invitation to your group’s members or staff.  We look forward to seeing you soon!

Mark your calendars for First Fridays, from 4:00 – 6:00- we’re asking a lot of big questions this year, and we need you to help us tackle them.

Learning from Portland’s Cohousing: Background Reading and Considerations

Last modified on 2010-08-05 17:47:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Some of the questions we’ll be talking over at next month’s Salon:

• What is cohousing– how is it different than a commune, an eco-village, or an intentional community?
• What dialogue strategies do cohousing groups use, to facilitate group process?  How has the typical
• What early-stage strategies do cohousing groups use to build trust between members?
• How can the strategies we learn from Cohousing be applied to non-residential situations?  That is, how can groups learn from cohousing in order to form new food coop, co-working spaces, or other community facilities?
• What are some specific tools that cohousing groups use to make decisions?
• How can all Portland neighborhoods be designed to be more like cohousing?
• What are the pros & cons of senior co-housing projects?
• Can the cooperative model help lower income folks get into co-housing communities?
• How many co-housing projects embody the co-op legal model?

Bring your questions and ideas on May 7th!  You can read up on the 6 defining characteristics of Cohousing here.  This information is reprinted from the Cohousing US website at www.cohousing.org/.

Reprinted from the Cohousing Association of the United States website, the nations’ primary resource for forming and building cohousing in America.  The CohoUS Executive Director Craig Ragland participated in motiveSpace’s first large event, the 2008 motiveSpace Symposium in Portland’s Historic City Hall.  Prior to the event Craig generously granted interviews with Sara Garrett, helping her understand the foundations and basics of Cohousing.   MotiveSpace is honored to consider the Cohousing movement a foundational piece of our story, and a continuing piece of the puzzle as we work together to craft inclusive, responsive, and healthy community spaces for all neighborhoods.

While these characteristics aren’t always true of every cohousing community, together they serve to distinguish cohousing from other types of collaborative housing:

1. Participatory process. Future residents participate in the design of the community so that it meets their needs. Some cohousing communities are initiated or driven by a developer. In those cases, if the developer brings the future resident group into the process late in the planning, the residents will have less input into the design. A well-designed, pedestrian-oriented community without significant resident participation in the planning may be “cohousing-inspired,” but it is not a cohousing community.
2. Neighborhood design. The physical layout and orientation of the buildings (the site plan) encourage a sense of community. For example, the private residences are clustered on the site, leaving more shared open space. The dwellings typically face each other across a pedestrian street or courtyard, with cars parked on the periphery. Often, the front doorway of every home affords a view of the common house. What far outweighs any specifics, however, is the intention to create a strong sense of community, with design as one of the facilitators.
3. Common facilities. Common facilities are designed for daily use, are an integral part of the community, and are always supplemental to the private residences. The common house typically includes a common kitchen, dining area, sitting area, children’s playroom and laundry, and also may contain a workshop, library, exercise room, crafts room and/or one or two guest rooms. Except on very tight urban sites, cohousing communities often have playground equipment, lawns and gardens as well. Since the buildings are clustered, larger sites may retain several or many acres of undeveloped shared open space.
4. Resident management. Residents manage their own cohousing communities, and also perform much of the work required to maintain the property. They participate in the preparation of common meals, and meet regularly to solve problems and develop policies for the community.
5. Non-hierarchical structure and decision-making. Leadership roles naturally exist in cohousing communities, however no one person (or persons) has authority over others. Most groups start with one or two “burning souls.” As people join the group, each person takes on one or more roles consistent with his or her skills, abilities or interests. Most cohousing groups make all of their decisions by consensus, and, although many groups have a policy for voting if the group cannot reach consensus after a number of attempts, it is rarely or never necessary to resort to voting.
6. No shared community economy. The community is not a source of income for its members. Occasionally, a cohousing community will pay one of its residents to do a specific (usually time-limited) task, but more typically the work will be considered that member’s contribution to the shared responsibilities.

April’s “Mapping Existing MotiveSpaces” Conversation: Background and Considerations

Last modified on 2010-08-04 09:15:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

At the next Salon we’ll explore basic questions:  What makes a space welcoming?  Is it the people, the process which began it, or something in the way it’s designed?

MotiveSpace, being one part advisory network, and one-part project incubator, is dedicated to helping neighbors build neighborhoods.  That means we help communities build collaborative visions, and we help builders find communities who need them.  We believe in people-first, people-responsive development.

To better understand the spaces already existing in Portland neighborhoods, we’re coordinating a Community Spaces/Places mapping, kicking off at next month’s Salon.  We’d love to hear your ideas about community spaces already existing in your neighborhood- where do you feel inspired, welcome, and empowered?  What is it about those spaces that you love- is it the people?  The food?  Something about the way it was designed, built, or the way it’s run now?

Start considering the types of spaces you want us to include on the base map.  To get started, we’re dividing them into three distinct categories.

Type 1: Open Spaces. Public spaces where everyone is welcome are the foundations of community in every neighborhood.  The basic layer of the map will include:

• Parks
• Community Gardens
• Community Centers
• Farmers Markets
• Public Squares

Type 2: Collaboration Spaces. Spaces which enable collaboration by encouraging users to share resources, or ideas:

• Cohousing or Collective Housing Communities like Daybreak Cohousing, or Portland Collective Housing
• Co-working Spaces like NedSpace or Hacker Spaces.
• Nonprofit Artist communities like the Falcon Art Community, the Milepost 5 project, and the Everett Station lofts.

Type 3: Mission-driven spaces. Some spaces exist to support cooperative action, to support specific social missions, or unite communities around shared principles.  This list could be a big one – to begin, we’re prioritizing communities whose values are in-line with motiveSpace’s Mission.  That is, not only do the communities value mutual support and solidarity internally, but they value openness and collaboration with other neighbors, as well:

• Cooperatively owned or operated spaces like the People’s Food Coop, or the Red and Black Café.
• Community-oriented Churches like the Tabor Space @ 60th/Belmont, or St. Francis Assisi Church.
• Spaces like the Pixie Project office and doggie day care, where nonprofits have partnered together to strengthen their individual missions.
• Grassroots projects on public streets, like City Repair’s Intersection Repairs

What are we forgetting, Portland?  And what do you want to see more of?

March Neighbors’ Salon: Community Design Session on “Hatch! An Innovation Incubation Lab”

Last modified on 2010-08-08 04:41:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

MotiveSpace is looking forward to our next Neighbors Salon, coming up this Friday, March 5th, from 4:00 – 6:00.  Last month about 30 people came out to see our new space and kick off the discussion, and we look forward to keeping the conversation going!

This month we’re holding the space for a project review and design session for the Hatch Lab project, in collaboration with Springboard Innovation.  After a 20 minute presentation on the project status, program, and goals, we want to hear from you!

Hatch’s mission is to provide an environment where new or experienced changeMakers and social entrepreneurs can come to use tools, resources, and facilities, get support for their project, be inspired by others, or to work closely with community leaders, developers, and business owners who know how to make big projects happen.  We are cooking up a stellar program and list of services intended to help Portlander’s do well, by helping others.

We want to hear how YOU would use Hatch – what amenities excite you the most, how you want to be involved, and what you think we’re leaving out.  Come and join us:

MotiveSpace Neighbors Salon:

Community Design Session on Hatch!

Friday, February 5th, 4:00 – 6:00

Olympic Mills Think Tank, Suite 230, 2nd floor

107 SE Washington Street, PDX, 97214

We’ll provide good drinks, wine, and refreshments – feel free to bring extra snacks, friends, and to pass along the invitation to your group’s members or staff.