Tara Tribe - an alternative to welfare

[LupaQuince]

Hi everyone,

I noticed the thread about welfare and wanted to share my concept. Here's my dream. Please feel free to send private messages, or to subscribe to my email list (link at bottom of message) if you are interested in hearing more about my dream, or if it sounds like something in which you would like to participate. Also, feel free to forward this post to anyone who might be interested.

In my ideal world, children are welcomed gently into a healthy,
loving tribe. Every new mother has loved ones around to teach her to listen to her heart and to her baby. The entire community
provides for the basic needs of the group. Those without children
of their own don't feel that they are missing out, because all of
the children of the tribe belong to them.

This is my dream, born of my own personal struggles and passions. I intend to manifest this into reality. I am in the process of creating a non-profit organization to establish and support an
intentional community that will provide a haven for single mothers
and their children. I envision this community functioning like a
small village with people of all ages coming together. There will
be a focus on simple healthy living and on attachment parenting.
There should be enough space for organic gardens and animals. A thriving cottage industry provides enough income that the community is self sustaining. It's first incarnation will be within a couple of hours of the Atlanta area. It will become a model as an alternative to welfare and/or daycare.

I share my dream with all of you so that you can help me dream it
into being. I have confidence that the Universe will provide what
is needed in the appropriate time to make this dream happen. I
sometimes feel afraid and sometimes lose my focus. If I know that all of you believe in my dream too, it will help me when my faith wavers. I welcome responses onlist or off. I'll be happy to
elaborate on my idea if there are those who are interested in
hearing more. The more I talk about it, the more it develops and
crystalizes in my mind. I'm including links to a site on intentional community and one on attachment parenting for those who are interested in reading more about those concepts.

Love,
Lupa


http://www.ic.org
Intentional Community is an inclusive term for ecovillages,
cohousing, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban
housing cooperatives and other related projects and dreams...

http://www.attachmentparenting.org/
Attachment Parenting is a philosophy based in the practice of
nurturing parenting methods that create strong emotional bonds, also known as secure attachment, between the infant and parent(s). This style of parenting encourages responsiveness to the infant or child's emotional needs, and develops trust that their emotional needs will be met. As a result, this strong attachment helps the child develop secure, empathic, peaceful, and enduring
relationships.

p.s. I've created an email list for those who are interested in
supporting and/or sharing this dream. To subscribe -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TaraTribe/join

[margebar]

Dear Lupa,

I Love and support your vision and send you all the good thoughts and energy possible toward you manifesting your vision in reality. Your vision is what I hope to find for my son and myself. I have been in contact with a community near where I live in Vermont called Meadowdance (Meadowdance.org) but they are in the start up stage and unfortunately weren't able at this time to accomadate a single parent with child because they needed more workers to keep their business going. They might be a good resource for you to connect with as they are trying to create a new model of sustainable community. I am going to sign on to your e group and maybe I can help you out in some way because I soooo believe in this vision where life as a single parent is not such an issue because there are other committed individuals around who want to share the joy of being part of a childs life. I like where I live in Vermont but would so love to be part of something like this.. I send you lots of love and support and will check the e-group for info on how it's going.

Love Margaret and Curtis

[LupaQuince]

Thanks for the words of encouragement! Tara Tribe now has a website, thanks to our wonderful webmistress, Maka. Check us out at: http://www.maka.net/taratribe/

Lupa

[Jyotsna]

TaraTribe

Lupa,

Have you asked the folks at the IC office to put your website on their community list? Also, are you clearly IC or FEC?

I still want to have my own income, to manage my overall financial business. Some of the communities I have been interested in have car coop's. This would greatly reduce my ability to get around. Some have cooperative meals, and this sounds WONDERFUL to this mother.

I would like to know more about how you see this community functioning, how would the community agree or disagree on something? Where would you live? What type of housing would you have? Would individuals have their own housing? In a village setting? Or on homestead settings or holdings?

What would every individual pay to be a part of this community? Would there be a community house? Or a workshop? Would their be gardening? Raising Animals? Would their be a preference, vegetarian or non vegetarian?

Okay, enough questions for now.

Thanks,
Jyotsna

[LupaQuince]

Wonderful questions, Jyotsna. Do you mind if I share your questions and my responses with the Tara Tribe list?

I just sent an email to the people who manage ic.org requesting that we be listed. My vision of Tara Tribe is more FEC than IC, but I am open to working those details out within the community after we research more about what is and isn't working in existing communities. I'm aware that there are a multitude of ways to structure communities.

I hope that we can find a way to present options based on individual needs. Initially, we will form a board of directors, write a business plan, and apply for grants and/or loans to fund this endeavor. Those who have no source of income and wish to live in Tara Tribe will contribute to our cottage industry, and to the maintainence of the community. Those who have their own income may choose to contribute financially instead of working the community business. Everyone will be expected to help take care of the tribe, just as everyone in a family is expected to help with cooking and cleaning.

I see no reason why you couldn't keep and maintain your own vehicle, though residents may choose to share such resources. It would be a matter of choice and not something that is expected.

As far as the physical structure of the community, much depends on the site that we ultimately choose and what existing structures are there. My vision is to have a communal building with shared kitchen, dining, and living space and bathing facilities, and have individual bedroom/private spaces for each family unit. Again, how this manifests will depend greatly on the individuals who come together to make this happen. I visited a community recently and saw a beautiful structure that was being used as a bedroom. Check it out at: http://redskyshelters.com/ Simplicity and environmental responsibility are important to me. There are many ways to accomplish those goals in building. I hope that we will have a variety of creative ideas for the physical structure of our home.

Yes to shared meals. We will definitely have organic gardens and animals. Vegetarian - not necessarily, though I would like for meat consumption to be moderate and from healthy sources, and for those who wish to avoid meat and/or dairy to have that option. I would like to have chickens, maybe goats. Pets and other animals would be considered, but would have to be handled very responsibly.

Yes, we will definitely have a workshop and creativity will be encouraged. We may support ourselves through our creative endeavors. That remains to be decided based on the skills and interests of the community members.

As far as an actual dollar figure that each member would need to contribute, I have no way of estimating that until we create our business plan. We will have to look at property costs and the cost of building and maintaining our community. Some members will contribute financially, some through work exchange, and some - mothers of newborns and pregnant women - will not be expected to contribute fully until their babies are older.

I hope this helps explain my vision in further detail. Feel free to ask more questions.

Lupa

[Jyotsna]

Lupa

Lupa,

Feel free to post my questions to the list. Personally speaking, I am looking for a community like Dancing Rabbit that is an Intentional Community, but has and plans to have more subcommunities. One of their subcommunities is called the Sky House, and they are egalitarian minded. The entire community is called an Eco Village. They have some excellent thoughts. As with most communities, they are looking for members with capital. That is where I realize I can't join. Also, while I like the entire set up of Dancing Rabbit, and their local of southern property with multi-seasonal experiences, they don't see where a single women with young children could survive. They are a young community, are in the process of building their first community co-housing, while others are building their own private huts or houses with straw bale building. I would never survive there, and I know it. But their ideas are so wonderful, and they have a great concept, and this Eco Village concept allows many types of individuals to live on the property.

I am now on your list, so I will post some of these questions there as well.

I highly suggest that your committee travels around the south, visiting communities this summer. My sister and brother in law have a holding in an intentional community. They are outside of Birmingham, AL.

Jyotsna

[LupaQuince]

Yes, that's the problem I encountered and why the concept of Tara Tribe came into being. None of the communities in the Southeast could accomodate a single mother with children at this time.

I look forward to your input on the email list. My time at the computer is somewhat limited, so forgive me if I sometimes take a little while to respond.

Lupa

[LupaQuince]

Re: Lupa

Originally posted by Jyotsna
I highly suggest that your committee travels around the south, visiting communities this summer. My sister and brother in law have a holding in an intentional community. They are outside of Birmingham, AL.

Jyotsna

I just realized that your sister and brother in law are not far from me. I'm near Atlanta, Georgia. I would love to hear more about the community they are associated with. Is it near Birmingham?

Lupa

[madison]

Lupa, what a fascinating concept and ideology!

Have you heard of the project for single moms called Co-Abode? It's housesharing for single moms. They also have an interesting idea.

I love both these ideas, of creating community and built-in support for alternative families!