Category Archives: Intentional Communities

Gina Coleman shares her thoughts on challenges in the D&I space and PNC objectives.

Northampton, MA --News Direct-- PNC Financial Services Group

PNC Chief Diversity Officer Gina Coleman believes the banks commitment to inclusion shapes how people lead, interact with their colleagues and deliver on business strategies. A former PNC client and community relations director in the Detroit markets office of the regional president, she returned to the bank after nearly two years most recently serving as chief sales officer for MassMutual Great Lakes. Coleman officially began her role as chief diversity officer Jan. 1, 2022 and is looking forward to elevating and strengthening Diversity and Inclusion at PNC.

During her previous tenure at PNC, she not only participated in PNCs Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRG), but she co-founded one the Womens Connect EBRG. Coleman also became a PNC-certified Womens Business Advocate to use her expertise in helping women thrive in their businesses and has worked to drive engagement in PNCs market-level diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Today, Coleman spends her time building strategies and programs that allow PNC to grow and sustain a talented, diverse workforce and works to further advance a culture of inclusion among PNCs stakeholders. She shares her thoughts on some of PNCs D&I objectives and the challenges corporations face in the space.

What do you think are the greatest challenges facing corporate diversity and inclusion?

I see the greatest corporate challenges being centered on the slow progress of diverse representation in senior-level roles, effective measurements of impact within D&I programs, deeper embedding of D&I into talent, recruitment and retention and the drive for inclusion during this current remote and flexible environment. The effects of the pandemic, the great reshuffling of talent and a wave of state legislation impacting segments of diverse populations add to these challenges.

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D&I is one of PNCs core values, can you share its importance from a business perspective?

D&I is a business imperative, and we must approach it and manage it like any other business strategy. Its not just a nice thing to do, but something that has a tangible impact on business success and should be viewed as a strategic necessity.

As we continue to navigate operating in this flexible work environment and with talent being top of mind, I believe now more than ever that fostering inclusion and embracing diversity is an integral component for PNCs success. Even with present-day challenges, I'm excited about the critical role that D&I plays.

Our commitment to inclusion really shapes how we lead, how we interact with our colleagues, how we deliver on our business objectives and how we serve our customers, communities and all PNC stakeholders.

What are your key priorities as PNC's Chief Diversity Officer?

For more than a decade, PNC has been on a progressive D&I journey led by our first chief diversity officer, Marsha Jones. Our focus has been and continues to be centered on our greatest asset, our employees, while being intentional in building diverse, high-performing teams.

We are committed to fostering a culture where every employee is respected, valued, and has a sense of belonging and confidence to bring their authentic selves to work and pursue equitable opportunities for growth. We will continue driving inclusion and increasing engagement of our D&I initiatives through our core pillars of Workforce, Workplace and Marketplace.

Increasing diverse representation within all ranks of our workforce will continue to be a priority. We know that talented teams, with varied experiences, skills and perspectives help us to better innovate, create solutions to help meet the needs of our growing and increasingly diverse customer base.

We look to further embed inclusion and mitigate bias in our policies and practices and advance the integration of D&I with our culture, customer experience and community. And we will continue to strengthen accountability measures across PNC for all employees, especially our people leaders. Advancing our efforts will require more transparency around workforce demographics and sharing measures of progress.

How will you measure D&I success at PNC?

Our success relies on objectives that are measurable, where employees and managers, at all levels, are being held accountable in living our values and meeting PNC leadership standards.

We leverage clear and transparent metrics around workforce demographics. We track engagement in D&I learning and development and survey our employees at least twice a year to garner feedback that informs action and meaningful progress.

Senior leaders are responsible for identifying opportunities to increase diverse representation and develop and execute plans to drive change.

We set an example from the top of the house through PNCs corporate diversity council. This council comprises senior executives across a wide range of busines lines. I serve as co-chair alongside PNC CEO Bill Demchak on the council, which helps define accountability measures, strategizes how we attract, retain and develop a talented and diverse workforce. Council members serve as sponsors and champions for targeted D&I initiatives throughout the enterprise.

In the spirit of accountability, we have an equity and inclusion subcommittee of the PNC board of directors. As the chief diversity officer, I work closely with the corporate responsibility officer, the chief human resources officer and our CEO to oversee these collective D&I efforts at PNC.

What areas of diversity and inclusion will be under the spotlight in the year ahead?

I think its important to continue our D&I work through our three main pillars of Workforce, Workplace and Marketplace, but well also be working to elevate how we deliver and measure the impact of our programs.

Workforce objectives will be to engage more employees and managers by expanding our Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs), especially in our expanded markets. We currently have 12 EBRGs, with over 100 chapters and over 14,000 participants throughout our footprint. We will support retention efforts by growing participation of our D&I mentoring program.

All efforts within the Workplace pillar contribute to fostering inclusive skills and behaviors. We want to drive a best-in-class, inclusive culture that will help to build diverse representation and give all employees a sense of belonging. D&I learning, and development will be centered on building self-awareness and leadership skills.

We will continue to focus on our Listen, Learn and Act framework to keep employee needs, front and center while providing actionable D&I tools and resources for all to participate. Our 20 D&I line of business councils work to further D&I objectives through their respective verticals.

In Marketplace, we want to continue enabling diverse customer and business growth. This allows us to create a compelling and competitive brand within the communities we are a part of and serve. This work will be delivered through the lens of the three tenets of our Corporate Responsibility Group education, economic empowerment and entrepreneurship with our 40-plus D&I regional councils, that align with our Main Street bank model, D&I business roundtables, history and heritage and thought leadership programs.

Those Corporate Responsibility tenets are captured in PNCs $88 billion Community Benefits Plan, which commits to providing better economic opportunities for the communities and people we serve. Its our hope that we can better offer access to capital and resources to traditionally underrepresented individuals and communities specifically low- and moderate-income individuals and neighborhoods, as well as women, veterans, members of the LGBTQ+ population and people from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. That attention to inclusivity will put us on top.

It's important to note that D&I at PNC does not operate in a silo. We have strategic alignment with key internal partners throughout the enterprise, including multiple areas within human resources, supplier diversity, marketing, legal and many more. Everyone in the company plays a vital role in advancing our efforts and meeting key performance objectives.

Its going to take engagement with all our stakeholders to get there. This work is important in our efforts to be a better colleague, a better company, a better community and a better investment.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from PNC Financial Services Group on 3blmedia.com

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/pnc-chief-diversity-officer-inclusion-is-key-factor-in-shaping-business-195302226

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PNC Chief Diversity Officer: Inclusion Is Key Factor in Shaping Business - Yahoo Finance

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Published March 27th, 2022 at 6:00 AM

When Michael Stringer and Jason Milbrandt bought the iconic St. Francis apartment building at 300 Gladstone Blvd., around the corner from the Kansas City Museum, they saved it from demolition just one year before it would have turned 100 years old in 2012.

Eleven years and much reconstruction later, the work isnt quite finished. But now members of a nearby Catholic-based intentional community called Jerusalem Farm are helping to complete the job.

Since that nonprofit community was created 10 years ago to live out principles of prayer, community, simplicity and service, its members have done countless home repair jobs in the northeast area of the city. It has also led a curbside compost pickup program and engaged in other efforts to improve life in Pendleton Heights and nearby neighborhoods.

Theyve just done amazing work to improve this area, Stringer says.

Jerusalem Farm, located at 520 Garfield Ave., isnt really what you might think of as a farm (though it does have a greenhouse and helps with a Giving Grove orchard). But it has tried to be an urban version of a rural intentional community in West Virginia called Nazareth Farm.

The Foundation for Intentional Community lists similar communities around the world, including more than 20 in Missouri and a co-housing group, Delaware Street Commons, in Lawrence, Kansas.

Like other intentional communities many rooted in a religious tradition, some not Jerusalem Farm brings together people with similar ideas about how they want to live and the values required to live in that way.

Jordan Sunny Hamrick, who has been part of J-Farm for about seven years, puts it this way: One of the things that keeps us together is our common mission. Our mission isnt just trying to live together, but were trying to accomplish something together. Its working together for a better world where we take care of each other. Its acknowledging every day that we need each other, we need to show up for one another. And when we do that we make things better. We want to accomplish something that is bigger than each other.

Jessie Schiele, J-Farm executive director and wife of Jordan Schiele, the communitys project director, says, Catholic social teaching is our guidance for what we do. She isnt Catholic, but she attends a Catholic parish, her husband is on track to be ordained as a Catholic deacon and their children have been baptized Catholic.

At the moment, Jessie says, Jerusalem Farm has the largest community weve ever had 14 adults and five children.

In addition, (when not blocked by COVID restrictions) the farm attracts students for specific time-limited projects. Theyre called sojourners, people who want to commit from one to six months, Jessie says. In the year before the pandemic, J-Farm hosted more than 200 students a year.

Holding together an intentional community can be a struggle. As Jessie acknowledges: We have had people leave over how power is used, over personalities, over how decisions are made. Most people leave communities because of things like wanting to go to graduate school or other reasons. And communities that fail, she says, seem to do so because of bad leadership.

Another J-Farm member, Trinidad Raj Molina, says he has experienced some other intentional communities that werent very healthy, partly because they didnt know how to do conflict resolution among members. Some red flags I saw in other intentional communities I havent seen here.

At the Delaware Street Commons in Lawrence, the community isnt based on a common religious commitment but, rather, on a desire for close community and cooperation.

Rich Minder, who helps guide that co-housing community, says the idea was generated in 1999 but it took until 2007 to build the 23 houses and other structures and green space that make up Delaware Street Commons.

Families buy the homes in which they live, but they own only whats in the homes interior.

When you step outside your home, youre in community space, Minder says. We go on faith that people will contribute time for the community. Everyone contributes in a different way.

Each community funds itself in different ways. Delaware Street Commons, for instance, relies on assessments from homeowners based on square footage, while Jerusalem Farm is funded mostly by fees from participants in service retreats plus individual donations and grants.

And each community even those with shared religious backgrounds serves a different function. Unlike the home repair and environmental work that J-Farm members focus on, Cherith Brook Catholic Worker, near 12th Street and Benton Boulevard in Kansas City, ministers to homeless people by offering meals and showers, for instance.

At Jerusalem Farm, Jessie Schiele says she sees her community more as a bridge. The Catholic Church has pushed a lot of people away for a lot of reasons. We are very approachable to people and we are doing something that people want to be a part of.

What draws people to J-Farm, says Hamrick is a loss of community. I call us a community of liberation. A lot of the work that we do and the way we go about doing it seeks to liberate us from the entrapments we could fall into. Everyone finally gets fed up with being overworked and underpaid. When those things fall away and no longer serve us, we can liberate each other from the demands of a 40-hour work week and even the demands of having to cook yourself dinner.

In some ways, intentional communities resemble monasteries, not in their religious practices, such as silence, but in the way they model behaviors and attitudes that can be adopted by others who feel crushed by life and are looking for more sensible ways to live. In the process, they can feed and shower hungry people and fix up decaying homes and apartments.

Beyond that, they can bring some humor back to life. Why else would Jessie Schiele identify herself on the J-Farm website not just as executive director but also as popcorn-maker?

Bill Tammeus, an award-winning columnist formerly with The Kansas City Star, writes the Faith Matters blog forThe Starswebsite and columns forThe Presbyterian Outlook and formerly for The National Catholic Reporter. His latest book is Love, Loss and Endurance: A 9/11 Story of Resilience and Hope in an Age of Anxiety. Email him atwtammeus@gmail.com.

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Kansas City Area is Blessed with Intentional Communities - Flatland

Last Updated on March 27, 2022 by BVN

Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media

Most people attending a recent community meeting on reparations in the Bay Area had never heard of Russell City, an unincorporated majority Black community in Northern California that local authorities bulldozed in the 1960s, causing the displacement of most of its Black residents.

Many of Russell Citys African American residents had relocated to the Northern California town, located in present-day Hayward, to escape segregation and sharecropping in the South.

Russell City

Marian Johnson and Michael Johnson, sister and brother, testified at the meeting co-hosted by the Coalition for A Just and Equitable California (CJEC) with the support of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans. Both their grandparents and great-grandparents lived in Russell city.

CJEC is a statewide coalition of organizations, fighting for reparations for the descendants of enslaved Black Americans.

The Johnsons explained to the audience what Russell City meant to them and why they are supporting the push for reparations in California.

Russell City had a population of 1,400 people and 400 homes. It was a redlined community, and all the properties were taken by eminent domain, Marian Johnson said. In California, a lot of this happened and a lot of people did not know it happened. Its a secret. Now, its coming to light.

Task Force member Don Tamaki attended the meeting. He said the information shared during the discussion is pertinent to correcting the injustices that prevented Black families from building generational wealth.

What you are describing is what happened to the Fillmore District, the Harlem of the West, in the 1950s, where 20,000 were actually displaced and almost 900 Black businesses were destroyed because of eminent domain, Tamaki told California Black Media, referring to the historic majority Black San Francisco neighborhood known as the Golden Citys foremost Black cultural and political hub.

Russell City started as a farming community in 1853. It was founded by a Danish immigrant who provided sanctuary to African Americans before and after the Civil War.

As the community grew, it became independent, and culturally vibrant, Michael Johnson said. By the 1950s, though, Hayward leaders considered Russell City a blight to the surrounding area and sought to rebuild it as an industrial park.

On Jan. 8, 1963, Alameda County and Hayward officials began hearings to discuss the forced removal of Russell City residents. Soon after, authorities wiped out the entire community with bulldozers, and rezoned the land for industrial use.

Michael Johnson said one of his grandparents moved to Russell City because urban renewal pushed them out of the Fillmore District in San Francisco.

Ultimately, they moved those Africans, indigenous, and people of color into Russell City because they couldnt buy homes in Hayward or Oakland. Then, they determined it was a blighted area and forced them out, said Michael Johnson.

Bruces Beach

Since the reparations task force started holding meetings in June 2021, numerous accounts of private and state-backed land grabs targeting African Americans have surfaced. Some of the property was taken from Black landowners through eminent domain in the name of urban renewal projects. Others were stolen through fraud, intimidation and violence.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to return Manhattan Beach property to descendants of the Bruce family who owned a beachfront resort in Los Angeles County before it was forcefully taken from them in the early 1920s.

Chris Lodgson, a member of CJEC, said he is asking other Black Californians like the Johnsons to come forward with their stories.

CJEC is one of seven organizations across the state that will hold listening sessions involving Black Californians from different backgrounds and regions of the state.

The community partners of the Richmond event were Parable of the Sower Intentional Community Cooperative (PSICC), Richmond Progressive Alliance, and the Bay Area Black Alliance for Peace (BAP).

Members of the National Black Liberation Movement Network (NBLMN) and AfroSocialists also attended.

The Richmond testimonies mirrored other accounts that have been shared with the task force. Another Southern California eminent domain case coming to light and to the attention of the task force had been obscured for over six decades.

Silas White and the Belmar Triangle

In 1958, Silas White, a Black entrepreneur, had a grand idea to open a recreational venue on Santa Monica Beach called the Ebony Beach Club. White had a vision for entertainment and leisure that would include golf tournaments, talent shows, and fishing trips.

Before White could move ahead with his plans, Santa Monica officials used eminent domain to take his property at 1811 Ocean Avenue. The facility was near a tight-knit community of Black Californians that lived, worked, and attended churches in the Belmar Triangle.

The city of Santa Monica demolished the building in January 1960 after White lost a court battle to keep the property. Subsequently, homes in the vicinity owned by Black people were burned to the ground to build the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

In 2021, Hayward City Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution apologizing to African Americans and other people of color for the citys real estate and banking industries racially disparate impacts and inequities resulting from past City policy and decision-making, the council said in a statement.

The resolution also cites Haywards participation in federally sponsored urban renewal initiatives, which frequently resulted in the mass displacement and dislocation without fair compensation of largely Black households, neighborhoods, and entire communities across the country during the 1960s and 1970s, the council stated.

The Hayward Community Services Commission has drawn up a list of 10 steps the Bay Area City could develop to address past unfairness and complicity in historical racism and social injustices.

The program would also include working with surviving Russell City to determine appropriate restitution.

Michael Johnson said restitution should be reparations.

There are a number of things we want. No. 1, we want our land back. We have proof that we own the property, said Michael Johnson, who grew up in East Oakland. Secondly, we want all the leases turned over to the rightful owners of that land and the taxes collected over 58 years. The other form of reparations, that we see fit is maybe not having a tax on the land for the next 50 years.

Lodgson said more stories like Russell City will emerge as the listening sessions get underway.

There is so much work to be done. There is no turning back, Lodgson said.

The Reparations Task Force next two-day meeting will be held March 29 at 8:30 a.m. and March 30 at 9 a.m. You can participate or observe here.

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Town Hall on Reparations Reveal Stories of Land Theft - Black Voice News

Eight young Big Island leaders are acting to drive change in their communities by taking part in a national service program that builds the next generation of leaders.

Since Lead For Hawaii began last summer, fellows have tackled some of the Big Islands most pressing challenges, such as cultural and natural resource management, resiliency and disaster recovery and sustainable land planning. Lead For Hawaii is a Hawaii-based affiliate of Lead For America.

We believe young leaders who are born and raised in our local communities are best equipped to solve Hawaiis unique challenges, said Alexis Ching, Lead For Hawaii co-director and Lead For America senior community partnerships manager, in a press release. Lead For Hawaii recruits, trains and retains our most dynamic and innovative homegrown talent to solve old problems in new ways. In collaboration with government, nonprofits and private sector partners, our fellows create sustainable solutions informed by and aligned with Hawaiis unique culture, heritage and history. Through our work, Lead For Hawaii seeks to change the narrative that says success requires leaving Hawaii.

Prior to becoming a Lead for Hawaii fellow, Kevin Paka Pakamiaiaea Davis just completed his masters degree and was working in real estate. As a Native Hawaiian, Davis always planned to come back home after getting his education.

The reason I pursued my masters degree in sustainability and development was to be able to come home and contribute to creating a more sustainable future for our island, but there were no clear opportunities to bring my experiences back to Hawaii, said Davis in the press release. Lead for Hawaii presented the perfect opportunity for me to come home and continue learning, while applying knowledge gained during my undergraduate and graduate studies.

Today, Davis is one of two community impact planner fellows working under Hawaii County Planning Director Zendo Kern. In this role, he is focused on the county General Plan update, land use research and long-range planning. He is tasked with hearing from the community through a listening tour to create a project that serves and addresses a need in the community. Hes often thinking through large, complicated issues, such as climate change, affordable housing, preservation and resilient economic development, that can be difficult to deconstruct and simplify into meaningful action steps. He serves as a connector, building bridges between people and ideas in whatever spaces that he can.

From my first day, I have been honored and humbled by the experiences Ive been able to have in this fellowship role! Ive been able to sit in and contribute to discussions with key leaders and change makers in our community, Davis said. I feel like this fellowship is constantly challenging me to grow and expand my capacity for leadership and service in our community. Whether its through intentional training and exercises or through my daily assignments, I can sense my kuleana to our community and the people I care deeply about. I thank God for presenting me the opportunity through Lead for Hawaii to be working towards improving life in our community.

For Kuunahenani Keakealani, the Lead for Hawaii fellowship program was an opportunity to connect with Puuwaawaa as a lineal descendant by working on the lands that are her ina hnau (birthplace) while earning a paycheck. It also gave her the incredible opportunity to work alongside people with many years of experience in conservation.

As a Lead For Hawaii fellow, Keakealani is playing an active part in a partnership between the Akaka Foundation for Tropical Forests, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife and lineal descendants in a project called the Puuwaawaa Community Based Subsistence Forest Area. It is the first community-based subsistence forest area in the state.

While working alongside mentors Nehu Shaw, Katie Kamelamela and Kainana Francisco, Keakealani has learned different conservation techniques, strategies and methods of fieldwork, data management and native forest restoration planning. The group is currently in the first stages of preparation for future outplanting of thousands of native plant species.

It is a privilege to step into my line of succession and later to pass the lamaku (torch) to the next in line. This project is something Ive known about since I was young and now that Im a young adult I am able to physically work the lands that give my ohana and myself life, said Keakealani in the press release. For me, working at Puuwaawaa is something I hold special to my heart because it is the land my grandfather has worked for generations. This is more about family tradition and continuation and certainly about the love we have for our aina and forests of na puu.

Recruitment for the 2022 cohort is underway, and Lead for Hawaii hopes the inaugural fellows work inspires others to join the next cohort of emerging leaders. Those interested in applying for the 2022 cohort have until April 15 to do so online.

In addition to serving in a paid, full-time role with a local nonprofit or government entity to address a critical community challenge, fellows begin their training with Lead For Americas Summer Institute in Washington, D.C., where they will learn about history, the most significant challenges facing the country today, how to build relationships across lines of difference and how to be an effective local leader in the community they call home.

The Kohala Center is one of the hosts for the 2021 cohort. According to the press release, Cheryl Kauhana Lupenui, president and CEO of The Kohala Center, appreciates the the opportunity to invest in leadership for Hawaii, from Hawaii.

Cindi Punihaole, director of the Kahaluu Bay Education Center for The Kohala Center, agrees.

It is wonderful to see our young adults develop a sense of responsibility and embrace what is pono, Punihaole said in the press release. For they are our future and will become the movers and shakers of Hawaii nei.

For more information about Lead For America or the Hawaii fellowship, click hereor email [emailprotected].

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Lead For Hawai'i Fellows Champion Change in Their Communities - Big Island Now

Its no secret that the U.S. has been marred by a housing crisis for decades. In the face of the housing shortage, architects have proposed higher density, modular construction, and even shipping container apartment complexes. Now, a new exhibition in San Francisco explores the potential for one of humanitys oldest forms of living to ease the countrys housing crisis: cohabitating.

[Photo: Henrik Kam]Titled House of Commons, the exhibition presents more than 35 examples from the Bay Area but also Baltimore; Berlin; Seoul; and Saint-Cloud, France. These case studies informed the design of five new proposals representing a range of flexible strategies to support social interaction and varying levels of privacy.

In San Francisco, the research has already been used to inform new policy around the definition of group housing, which was being exploited by developers and will now mandate a minimum of 33% shared spaces. The proposals, however, offer myriad approaches and layouts that can be used to inform co-living design in other cities as well.

The exhibition is on view now at the David Ireland House in San Franciscos Mission neighborhood. It was developed by local architecture firm the Open Workshop, based on research done by the firms founding principal, Neeraj Bhatia, and Antje Steinmuller, an associate professor at California College of Art.

When Bhatia moved to the Bay Area in 2013, he was immediately faced with the citys housing crisis and became interested in how different living arrangements could allow people to have control over their lives. I value my privacy and my solitude, and what I found through looking at various case studies is that there is a range of ways that people live together, and many of them embrace privacy as much as they do coming together, he says.

The exhibition is the culmination of five years of research into communities like R50, a six-story co-living project in Berlin, and the Jystrup Sawmill in rural Denmark, an L-shaped complex of townhouses connected by internal streets. One of the earliest examples that the team analyzed dates back to the 1960s, when the 80-acre Black Bear Ranch was born in Siskiyou County, California. Around that time, Bhatia says, about 1 million people in America were living in communes.

In the 1960s, there was . . . an emphasis on shared ownership, raising kids together, sharing labor, he says. Today, the motivations are much broader: Some people do it to bring down costs, others seek a community of like-minded people who share their lifestyle, values, and politics.

Many co-living developments are built in preexisting structures, like Chaortica, which is part of an intentional community network in San Francisco located in a century-old single-family residence with a garden and a greenhouse. Others, like the 18-story Starcity co-living startup in downtown San Jose, California, built their own buildings. Bhatia says that the Starcity development is geared more toward short-term stays for residents who are new to the city and want to meet new people while saving money.

Drawing lessons from all the examples the team studied, Bhatia created five speculative co-living designs. Each city has a unique set of cultures and challenges, so the architect eschewed context-specific proposals, but he says the different schemes relate to different densities, making them suitable for both urban and suburban environments.

Grids, for example, offers the most private scenario. It envisions a community organized around an urban grid, except in this version the streets are replaced with housing and the central blocks form courtyards, gardens, and shared spaces. Here, Bhatia was inspired by the idea of a collective outdoor room, much like the constellation of internal courtyards in Barcelonas Eixample district.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Surface scheme portrays an extreme example of people living together with very few walls, and boundaries defined primarily through curtains and movable furniture. The idea that walls are the sole mechanism to define these territories is eradicated, Bhatia says. This would be a scheme for those who are more willing to live together.

[Photo: The Open Workshop]The easiest way to implement any of these proposals would be to build them from scratch, but Bhatia could envision them fitting into existing buildings as well. The linear layout of Grids could lend itself well to former single-room-occupancy buildingswhere tenants rent out a room and share amenities like kitchens and bathroomsor hotels, which already come with long corridors flanked by rooms.

And Surface, which requires an open space that can be subdivided as needed, can be well suited to converted warehouses. Its about thinking about paths of least resistance and where development might get you more for less, Bhatia says. How do we produce something simple that can offer huge amounts of complexity?

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The takeaways from 35 co-living projects were distilled into these experimental designs - Fast Company

The real estate industry has long had a whiteness problem. An emerging developer of color challenges the state to help fix the appraisal gap and other injustices.

Bree Jones rolls deep. Her nonprofit real estate firm, Parity Homes, has a buyers collective of 60 households. They have all gone through a proprietary 6-month curriculum Jones built from scratch, covering everything from financial planning to maintenance, community building, and the history of redlining and how those factors continue to shape the Baltimore neighborhood where they all want to buy homes.

Its about building an intentional, mission-driven community, Jones says. We talk about common principles anti-gentrification, the importance of shared cultural assets, green space assets, things that arent part of our common dialogue in America anymore. Older generations did it in the 1940s-50s-60s.

Jones says her buyers collective members have all come through word of mouth so far. She talks about her work everywhere she goes like volunteering with a local church where a pastors family is now part of her collective. Some are from the area of West Baltimore where Parity Homes is focusing its work; others are originally from the area but moved out when they were teens and now want to move back.

Parity Homes keeps an architect on retainer to help buyers select one of six floor plans for Baltimores signature rowhouses. Options include splitting the home into a two-flat, to create some extra income for the homeowner and another affordable housing unit. Three buyers collective members have made their selection, and Jones hopes to deliver their homes later this year, hopefully by July.

They call me every week [to ask] hows the house coming along, Jones says.

For all that Jones has made possible so far, its not yet sustainable. For now, Parity is selling the homes for less than what the firm has paid to acquire them. Thats because the homes suffer from the appraisal gap, which disproportionately affects historically Black neighborhoods. After generations of disinvestment, which started with redlining in the 1930s, the homes today require significant rehab, the cost of which can far exceed the values that the homes will appraise for even after rehab.

Some help may soon be on the way. Last year, Maryland state legislators passed a bill to create the Appraisal Gap From Historic Redlining Financial Assistance Program. Jones says it started with a conversation between her and Maryland State Senator Antonio Hayes.

He had asked me to testify about a related issue and after I did that he asked if there was anything he could help me with and I didnt know better so I brought up the appraisal gap, Jones says. It was a little bit of beginners luck.

The funds would fill in the gap between the costs of rehabbing a vacant home or constructing a new home on a vacant lot and the appraised price at which the home eventually sells. However, the bill did not go into effect until the start of the fiscal year in Maryland on July 1, which meant the new program never made it into budget negotiations for that fiscal year.

Jones is banking on it being funded in this years budget, which is currently under negotiations. She knows other potential emerging developers like her especially other women of color would appreciate the support to do similar work in other disinvested areas across Maryland.

Financing mechanisms for entry-level housing stock are still few and far between, Jones says. Big federal programs like low-income housing tax credits or new markets tax credits dont really do it. Why not try to make something that fits us?

The real estate industry has long had a whiteness problem. According to Enterprise Community Partners, just 2% of real estate industry firms are Black-led. At the Urban Land Institute, one of the countrys major real estate developer networks, just 5% of its members are African American, while 82% are white and 69% identify as men.

Even the real estate sub-sectors of community development and affordable housing that serve many Black and Latino neighborhoods have helped perpetuate those disparities. In New York where Jones was born the nonprofit Community Preservation Corporation has financed tens of thousands of affordable housing units in communities of color since 1974, but according to its internal analysis, less than 10% of its lending had gone to developers of color.

Often lenders cite the lack of collateral. But that is a chicken-and-egg situation, given that the persistent history of redlining means white homeownership rates and typical white household wealth levels in general remain far beyond that of nonwhite households.

Jones wants to help break that cycle by getting the homes shes developing into the hands of primarily though not exclusively Black households. When otherwise talented but less experienced developers of color approach lenders with little to no wealth from family or friends as a starting point, most lenders find it challenging to work with them while also satisfying their regulators or rating agencies. Those number crunchers come in on a regular basis and scrutinize each and every loan that a lender has made since the last time they were there for an examination or rating update.

Its not impossible, but its very challenging for lenders to battle with regulators or rating agencies over and over again to defend multiple acquisition and construction loans to multiple emerging developers of color with little to no personal collateral even more so when everyone can see down the road that the developer may not be able to sell the properties at a price that can cover the cost of acquisition and construction. Often the lenders who are most willing to work with borrowers in these situations will also charge the highest interest rates on the market as compensation for taking on the perceived risk.

Bank regulation isnt inherently evil. The point is to ensure the safety and soundness of the banking system. But the reliance on personal collateral as a risk management factor to dominate all other risk management factors isnt necessarily set in stone, though it can seem that way if you dont have any collateral.

Jones has relied on corporate donors, state grants, philanthropic fellowships and a few personal connections to very patient seed investors to get Parity Homes going. Shes amassed a portfolio of 40 properties half through foreclosure auctions or private sales, and half via Baltimores annual tax lien sale. The lien sale is currently undergoing a major overhaul after complaints that its become a predatory means for big developers to snatch up large batches of properties.

Jones says the tax lien process could also be a lot friendlier to smaller, mission-driven developers like herself. In one ten or so block area shes been examining closely, she says shes identified at least 300 properties with tax liens, maybe 70% of them with liens in the six figures. Properties can take up to two years to drag through the foreclosure process. Theres so much inventory in Baltimore City, but its all locked behind liens, encumbrances and other barriers, Jones says.

The most recent statements from City Hall count 15,032 vacant houses in Baltimore City. Jones says the true number could be much higher perhaps four times as many. For every 50 vacant properties, Jones says, there may be 50 different owners, half of whom are deceased, a third are in defunct LLCs with outdated if any contact information, and the rest are owned by speculators who are trying to profit off other peoples trauma.

The situation bears similarities to other predominantly Black urban areas, like Chicagos South Side, where local community organizations and small emerging developers face a maze of tax liens upon mortgage liens layered in with a tangle of LLCs and dead-end brokerage phone numbers.

In this post-COVID housing market boom, Jones sees more speculators swooping in with all-cash deals in the neighborhoods where she has properties in the pipeline. Blocks where empty shells used to go for $5,000 are now selling for close to $100,000. Those sales might be connected to the technology-fueled passive real estate investing boom in single-family rental properties.

In its sales, Parity Homes puts in a soft-second mortgage essentially a slice of seller-financing that the buyer doesnt have to repay unless they sell the home later or refinance their mortgage. It helps keep the primary mortgage affordable for the homeowner while serving as a disincentive against house-flipping.

Given all the cards stacked against her woman, Black, new to real estate development, focused on neighborhoods faced with ownership challenges Jones is taking all the help that is worth her time. Shes an alumna of the Equitable Development Initiative, a program of Capital Impact Partners, a community development financial institution (CDFI) based in the D.C. area. The initiative is one of a bevy of similar initiatives created by CDFIs in recent years to help diversify their base of developers.

JPMorgan Chase funded the Equitable Development Initiative, which recently awarded a $2 million recoverable grant to Parity Homes, in conjunction with a larger $20 million commitment to Baltimore-focused investments, intended to support more women of color in real estate.

Were building the bench for diverse developers in this region, says Dekonti Mends-Cole, vice president for the Mid-Atlantic at at JP Morgan Chase Global Philanthropy.

The $2 million infusion enables Jones to finally hire her first full-time staff and get her the runway to acquire and sell at least 200 formerly vacant homes. If the appraisal gap program from the state kicks in, or perhaps new federal support from the proposed neighborhood homes investment tax credit, Jones might be able to acquire, rehab and sell even more.

Jones is also hopeful that with larger institutional support, the city will take emerging mission-oriented developers seriously as part of the solution to fix longstanding vacant property challenges.

The issue is so big it creates a feeling of helplessness, but an institutional partner makes it seem like we can actually do something about it, Jones says.

Oscar is Next City's senior economics correspondent. He previously served asNext Citys editor from2018-2019, and was a Next City Equitable Cities Fellow from 2015-2016. Since 2011, Oscar has covered community development finance,community banking, impact investing, economic development, housingand more for media outlets suchas Shelterforce, B Magazine, Impact Alpha, and Fast Company.

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This Baltimore Developer Is Breaking Down Barriers to Rebuild Communities - Next City

SEATTLE Visit Seattle and Seattle Bank today announced a partnership to bring tourism revenue to Seattles small businesses and diverse communities. A first collaboration between the organizations, the Community Partnership Program will provide support to 20 locally owned businesses including restaurants, cafes and shops within Seattles vibrant Chinatown-International District and Central District neighborhoods.

Seattle Bank and Visit Seattle partnered with Intentionalist, the Central Area Collaborative and the Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area (CIDBIA) to identify the selected businesses focusing on establishments owned by women, people of color and LGBTQ+ community members in the easily accessible Central District and Chinatown-International District neighborhoods.

Through the partnership, the 20 businesses will receive waived membership dues (funded by Seattle Bank) to join Visit Seattles partnership network. As members, each business will receive direct promotional support through Visit Seattles marketing channels (website, social, publications), access to leads and referrals from Visit Seattle to encourage leisure visitors, business travelers and conference and meeting attendees to dine and shop at their locations, and focused B2B strategies to expand business opportunities within the regional hospitality and tourism industry. In addition, Seattle Bank will offer complimentary financial consulting services to each participating business.

As we welcome back visitors to Seattle, we must think about how we can effectively invest in and increase access to the incredible, diverse businesses and neighborhoods that are fostering our economic growth and cultural vibrancy, said Rob Leslie, director of partnership and destination services for Visit Seattle. We are proud to partner with Seattle Bank to increase access and resources for these businesses to expand their presence and visibility with our visitors.

Seattle Bank a boutique bank focused on the needs of individuals, families, businesses and community organizations in the Pacific Northwest developed the business support model in partnership with Visit Seattle.

Seattles small business owners are the heart of our city and our path to recovery depends on giving them the right resources to thrive, said Mary Grace Roske, senior vice president of marketing communications and community relations for Seattle Bank. Its something we should all have a stake in. Thats why we built this cohort of mission-minded organizations to invest back in a stronger Seattle. The model weve developed with Visit Seattle will give our vibrant businesses the foundation to sustain and grow through this period of recovery and beyond.

Intentionalist, an online directory and marketplace that makes it easy to find and support local small businesses and the diverse people behind them, will also support the businesses by hosting tabs jointly funded by Seattle Bank and Visit Seattle of $250 per business. Visitors will be able enjoy a free taste of the business by putting a treat on the tab until the limit is met. Intentionalist will share tab information on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Intentionalist.com.

As travel opens back up, its important for visitors to think about how being intentional about where they eat, drink, and shop can enrich their experience and make a positive impact on the city theyre visiting, said Laura Clise, founder and CEO of Intentionalist. The 20 businesses selected offer travelers an opportunity to explore the diverse cultural fabric of our neighborhoods.

This program gives us an opportunity to share our story with a broader audience to welcome more people to experience the true origins of coffee and the rich history of coffee in Africa, said Efrem Fesaha, CEO and founder of Boon Boona Coffee, an African inspired coffee shop that prioritizes community education and engagement. Visitors may know Seattle for its coffee culture, but theres so much more to uncover and learn about much like there is with Seattles entire food scene. Were excited that Visit Seattle and Seattle Bank are putting a spotlight on our businesses and creating opportunities for visitors to go deeper into exploring our citys beautiful and diverse neighborhoods.

Were so grateful to be part of the Community Partnership Program, said Diane Ung, co-owner of Phnom Penh Noodle House, a Cambodian restaurant in the Chinatown-International District. Its giving us the opportunity to introduce our cuisine to those who are traveling from afar, and neighbors we have yet to meet. The program allows us to reach a whole new segment of guests. Thank you to Visit Seattle, Seattle Bank, and Intentionalist for prioritizing and advocating for small businesses.

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Visit Seattle and Seattle Bank Announce Community Partnership Program to Support Small Business Owners and Bring Tourism Revenue to Seattle's Emerging...

Throughout the history of the United States, there has been one industry above others that seemed to be immune from recession, wars and other major national and global challenges. Were talking about youth sports activities.

That was the case until the COVID-19 pandemic, when even the youth sports industry came to a grinding halt.

For our Springfield community, we will never know the total implications of the loss of youth, high school and collegiate athletics from spring 2020. From local teams losing the ability to compete in high school state championships to collegiate national tournaments and spring sports not coming to fruition, students, parents and our community were negatively impacted emotionally, socially and economically.

In our return to normalcy, if we can borrow a term from former President Warren G. Harding, the spotlight has shone even brighter on the sports tourism industry.

According to the National Association of Sports Commissions, sports tourism is a $1.4 trillion industry worldwide. It is expected to grow to $5.72 trillion in the coming years. Within the trillion-dollar industry, the youth sports category represents $15 billion. Sports tourism is big business.

With so many issues today, why is it vital for community leaders to come to the table to realize the full potential impact of youth sports? Sports tourism is a revenue generator for a community. On average, an out-of-town visitor spends $150 per day in the community for a sporting event. This impact is felt from convenience stores to hotels and restaurants, and from city attractions to retail. Revenues generated from sports tourism can be poured back into communities to help with infrastructure needs. It also can help to fund programs that are not revenue generators but are needed services in the communities.

For example, an event that attracts 10,000 visitors with an average length of stay, a city could conservatively realize $4.8 million in visitor spending. A more traditional sports tournament over a weekend with just 70 out-of-town teams (800 participants, with about 2,000 visitors total), could generate $600,000 in visitor spending for two days. Funds generated by sports tourism can help improve local sports infrastructure as well as create recreational opportunities for the community and increase the tax base for a city or county through the spending generated by out-of-town visitors.

Successful communities are intentional and collaborative when attracting events to their destination. In order to effectively lure events to a city, organizational leaders must collaborate not only in the bidding process but also in the planning, development and renovation/construction of sports infrastructure. These collaborative relationships often encompass parks departments, colleges and universities, cities, counties and other civic organizations with the support and efforts of the private industry in their community. Event organizers often select communities that have a more holistic strategy and approach for hosting their events.

It is no secret that sports tourism is big business for communities large and small. Communities that rest on their laurels are in jeopardy of losing events they have hosted, and not winning desired bids or landing that marquee event. It takes an intentional effort to build partnerships and improve venues, while also keeping an eye on emerging sports and activities, not just traditional sports. The sports tourism industry is vibrant. It is extremely visible, and it can be game changing and transformational for a community. Sports connects people to their community.

Lance Kettering is executive director of the Springfield Sports Commission, and Josh Scott is chair of its board. Scott works as athletic director for Springfield Public Schools. They can be reached at lkettering@springfieldmo.org and jescott@spsmail.org.

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Opinion: Youth sports more than just a game - Springfield Business Journal

Sam Zeff had always considered himself a pseudo-runner a guy whod go for a jog somewhat consistently but who never signed up for a race. There was always a part of him that was afraid he wouldnt be accepted among other runners. Finally, Zeff, now 31, embraced the fear head-on and joined the Philadelphia chapter of November Project, a community-oriented fitness group. Instead of rejection, Zeff found a supportive group of athletes of all levels whose hard work inspired him to finish his first marathon in 2019.

Since then, Zeff has joined other organizations based on his values: a group for men to discuss their emotions, and a virtual mentorship program where members of all ages from across the world offered insight and advice on how to live more authentically. Not only have these communities empowered him to explore different parts of himself, but he entered into a mutually beneficial relationship with people who celebrated him just as he celebrated them. I always felt like I was too much and like I was doing things to get attention, Zeff says. The people in this group have been fanning my flames rather than trying to put them out.

Now, as he plans a move across the country from Philadelphia to San Clemente, California, hes relying on his ability to find community once more. Hes reaching out to other members of his groups whove moved to California and also mining his interests, like yoga and meditation, to figure out which classes he should take in his new city. Community, he says, is proof hes an essential gear in a larger social machine. Youre part of a bigger picture that really wants to see everyone succeed, Zeff says.

As social creatures, humans need interpersonal contact to survive. These connections range from your inner circle of family and close friends to the outer rungs of your social network other pet parents at the dog park, for example and its important to have this variety. To try and count on one person to fill all of your emotional and psychological needs is not a good thing, says Gillian Sandstrom, a senior lecturer in the psychology of kindness at the University of Sussex. Theres research showing that you thrive more when you have lots of people to fill up various emotional needs. Becoming a member of communities helps build this social diversity. However, finding community is much different from just making friends.

According to clinical and community psychologist David McMillan, a community is defined by four criteria: membership, influence, integration and fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. To be part of a community, you must feel a sense of belonging (membership), feel like you make a difference to the group and that the group makes a difference to you (influence), feel like your needs will be met by other group members (integration and fulfillment of needs), and feel that you share history, similar experiences, time, and space together (shared emotional connection). High school, college, and retirement communities, McMillan says, are examples of community: In college, the world is organized around satisfying you, he says. From extracurricular activities to communal living, the entire experience centers around group collaboration and satisfaction. While a community can consist of pairs or small groups of friends and help foster those connections community members dont necessarily need to be friends.

In contrast, friendship is an invested, dedicated, platonic relationship where two people who are friends with each other are committed to the growth, the well-being, the support, the thriving of each other, explains Kat Vellos, a connection coach, speaker, and author of the book We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships.

Fellow community members can lend a hand in unique and surprising ways. A neighbor can lend you the oddly specific pan you need to try a new recipe. An older person in your book club may have valuable insight into how to handle a conflict with your in-laws. You could find the rsum proofreader youve been looking for in another student in your cooking class. When people talk about a 401(k) or insurance, community is that for your social life, says Adam Smiley Poswolsky, a workplace-belonging speaker and author of Friendship in the Age of Loneliness. Think of it as a group of people who uplift one another and form a safety net for all of lifes moments.

Crucially, community is not strictly a collection of people who have a similar affiliation, interest, or shared experience with each other, Vellos says. While fans of certain shows or musicians or even consumers of specific products, like Peloton may feel they are members of a community, they are not always invested in other members lives and well-being. (Fans or followers would be more appropriate terms for many of these groups, Vellos says.) While many communities exist online, there must be an element of reciprocity all parties contributing information and support equally for the group to thrive.

Finding and becoming ingrained in a community doesnt need to be an arduous task, but it does require time and self-reflection. Vox spoke with four experts who provided tips on how to identify and find your place in a community.

One of the easiest ways to find a group youd mesh with is to figure out where you wouldnt mind spending a few hours of your time. Consider your talents and interests or a skill youd like to learn, and seek out places to do those activities. If you love dancing, do some Googling to find dance clubs, studios, or meetup dance groups in your town. Maybe youve always wanted to learn to throw clay; a pottery class will put you in contact with others who value art, working with their hands, or learning a new skill and you could specifically seek out a studio that hosts social events or otherwise attempts to facilitate wider connections.

Poswolsky suggests seeking out groups that create together; the act of making something as a group facilitates closeness and brings you into contact with people of different ages, backgrounds, and stages of life. Whether its a performance or a neighborhood coat drive, anything youre creating together is a beautiful way to build community, Poswolsky says.

Neighborhood associations, religious and spiritual groups, and charitable organizations typically hold frequent meetings you can attend to learn about the groups mission, meet others, and volunteer at future events. Knowing what your values are is crucial to finding a community where you truly fit, Poswolsky says, and that can take work and soul-searching. If youre not religious but have strong political views, joining a political organization can help you find a community where you and others are working to promote change that aligns with your collective values.

While its easier to join an already established group, you could also start one yourself based on your interests. If you want to build a community around hiking, for example, McMillan suggests posting online (say in a neighborhood Facebook group or retirement community portal) mentioning youll be hiking in a nearby park on Saturday if anyone would like to join. Others looking to make connections and get outside may take you up on the offer. Start small: Your budding community doesnt have to be hundreds deep. Real nurturing community starts in small groups, McMillan says. It doesnt start with 100 people, it happens with a few. Finding those people and cultivating their interests and your interests thats harder in a big group. And dont panic if the first people who show up differ from you in terms of age, background, or ability. Part of the beauty of community is its ability to draw people from varying stages of life who can help open your eyes to new points of view and wisdom.

To forge a true connection with the group and vice versa youll need to continually show up and add value. Youll develop closeness more quickly if you have that regularity and you dont have to agonize over scheduling, Vellos says. Immediately add the next meeting date to your calendar and make it a point to consistently attend. Coming early with a snack or staying late to stack the chairs shows youre invested in the community.

Humans have more positive feelings toward familiar people, so seeing the same people on a repeated basis helps you both ingratiate with an already established group and with people you see regularly in your day-to-day life. Even if you dont interact with the baristas or other patrons at your neighborhood coffee shop, there is an unspoken sense of camaraderie. You can feel like you know someone even if youve never talked to them if youve seen them enough times, Sandstrom says. Focusing on your already established routines and the people you encounter while doing them like walking the dog can be the basis for community. If you go at the same time to the same place, youre going to see the same people over and over again, Sandstrom says. Even learning the names of fellow dog walkers and striking up a casual conversation can be enough to improve your mood.

Because communities are made up of lots of people with varying opinions and life experiences, being an active member means regularly interacting with others in the group. But dont expect other members to immediately support you in your endeavors, want to do you a favor, or even engage in conversation with you. Forging these connections takes time and effort, and you risk rejection, McMillan notes but to fully integrate into a community, you cant be a wallflower. Its my job to put energy into other people and not just wait for them to put energy into me, he says.

When Sandstrom joined a community orchestra, she made a point of talking to a different person each time the group took a break in order to ease her way into the group. Shes also a fan of eavesdropping. Its okay to admit that you overheard people talking, she says. If you catch a few people at yoga class discussing your favorite podcast, take that as an opportunity to jump into the conversation and meet a few people in the process.

Poswolsky suggests identifying one or two community members youre interested in getting to know better and asking if theyd like to have coffee. Those simple gestures of reaching out create intention, they put out what youre looking for, and they dont overwhelm you, he says. Suddenly, other people are going to be inviting you to things because youre saying, Im going to take the time to have a conversation with someone.

You dont need to join a dozen clubs or societies or introduce yourself to every neighbor on the block to have a community. Consider the time youre able to commit and how much energy youre able to bring to each meeting. Maybe becoming the organizer of a weekly canoeing group is too great a responsibility, but a monthly movie club where you can sit back and watch and discuss films is more your speed.

Each new person you meet at your local mutual aid organization might not blossom into a deep friendship and thats okay. The goal of community building isnt necessarily to make new friends (though that definitely can happen), but to build a network. The people who are a part of that network can remain acquaintances, Sandstrom says.

This is Sam Zeffs approach as he considers his community-building plan in California: focusing his energy toward worthy people and causes. The rest will come naturally. Im not married to having to be everyones friend, he says. Im going to be intentional with my time and make sure that the people that I am investing my time with are the individuals that I see as part of my future who can not only help me grow, but people who are willing to be helped as well.

Original post:

How to find your community as an adult and why it matters - Vox.com

Ill begin with a story: One day, the venerable Ananda, the Buddhas first cousin and beloved attendant, sat by the Buddhas side beholding all that was before them. Ananda said to the Blessed One, This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.The Buddha replied, Dont say that, Ananda. Dont say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When one has admirable people as friends, companions, & colleagues, they can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path the path leading to the release from suffering.

From the Buddhas perspective, spiritual friendship is the whole of the holy life. What are the implications of this?

First off, I want to take a moment to tease myself about the images that come to mind when I hear the word holy. It has no doubt been shaped by many Christian influences the word can evoke images of angels, halos, priests, monks, & nuns in prayer, the clouds parting and a beam of sunlight shining down upon a particularly pious person Its interesting to notice how foreign it can feel to me to even consider my own life as holy.

I mean, come on I like to swear. I fart. I am not pure. I can have mean and sometimes violent thoughts. Mother Teresa, I aint.

But in writing this talk and reflecting on the automatic associations I have with the word, my understanding of the holy life shifted. To me, all life is sacred. It is also messy and painful. Perhaps living a holy life is more about a commitment to trying to recognize and remember the sacredness, the emptiness, the Buddha nature that pervades the whole universe, existing right here and now in ourselves and all beings. And of course, falling short, again and again. And then returning, again and again, to that commitment.

From this perspective, its easier for me to think that yeah, maybe this very Mo, this very life, as messy and imperfect as it might be as many mistakes as I make maybe this is a holy life, farts and all.

And maintaining this aspiration and commitment to living in an upright and compassionate way definitely requires help. No one else can do it for us, but we also cant do it alone.

According to the Buddha, spiritual friendship is the whole of the holy life. Friendships like these are regularly seen in sanghas. Sangha is a Sanskrit term that means community, and originally referred to the Buddhas ordained followers. In fact, the Sutra of the Wheel of Dharma tells us that after the Buddhas enlightenment, his very first public teaching about the four noble truths was to 5 former friends ascetics he had studied alongside for many years, who then became the first Buddhist monks and members of the first sangha.

As Buddhism has spread to the west, the word sangha has evolved to refer to Buddhist communities as a whole, lay and ordained alike. Fellow walkers of The Way, now with vastly more householders, forming communities of spiritual friends.

This is where we can find people who are learning and studying and practicing the Buddhas teachings people who have perhaps clarified some things in their lives, who continually seek a deeper and more intimate understanding, and who can help guide others.

Fellow walkers of The Way who make compassion and ethical living an active and intentional practice.

And while this can sound somewhat ideal, much like my original associations with the word holy, do not be fooled every sangha filled with great people is still very much human, still 100% subject to grappling with greed, anger, ignorance, distraction, ego, miscommunication, and mistakes. Good people who can still fuck up and hurt each other.

And it is for this very reason that I believe the Buddhas words to be true: Admirable friendship, companionship, and camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. Because its not just about our relationships when things seem to be going well importantly, critically, its also about how we navigate conflict and difficulty.

I used to collect rocks growing up, and one year I got a rock tumbler as a birthday gift. It was this small drum-like bucket that I put some of the stones Id collected into; added a bit of water, closed the bucket, turned on the little motor, and the tumbler would turn the drum round and round, knocking the rocks into each other over and over again. In time, the rocks eventually became smoother and more polished; they were still very much the same ol rocks, but through the process different qualities were brought forth. This was only possible because they tumbled together, knocking into one another and helping to smooth out each others rough edges.

I did not grow up with a strong understanding of community. While I was very close with my immediate family, we lived over 500 miles away from our nearest relatives; 800 miles away from my nearest grandparents; and almost 1,200 miles from my nearest cousins. I had friends in my neighborhood, but there was no real sense of community. I went to an Episcopal church and Sunday school as a child, but there was no strong sense of community there either it was just something my parents made us do on Sundays until middle school, when they got divorced. The closest experience I had to feeling like part of a community back then was at my high school.

Thankfully I learned about Buddhism during these years, and met people who claimed to be Buddhist, but really Zen was just conceptual at the time. Lots of fascinating ideas, but it was definitely not a verb not something I understood or knew how to do. It wasnt until I met Tom our freshman year of college (and who is now my husband, also a senior dharma teacher in Empty Moon), that I first encountered an authentic practitioner who studied and sat zazen. I didnt at all understand the scope or importance at the time, but among many other things, meeting Tom completely altered the course of my spiritual life. Hes the one who really introduced me to the Buddhadharma and Zen practice one of many things I am endlessly grateful to him for.

So to become a Zen Buddhist, one must receive and uphold the precepts, and take refuge in the three jewels: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Tom really introduced me to the first two, and of these three jewels, I came to sangha last many years later.

I want to pause here and unpack what it means to take refuge for a moment.

Taking refuge means to find a place of shelter and protection from some kind of danger. In Zen, we seek refuge from the many passions that jerk us around; from our cravings and aversions; from feeling distressed, broken, fearful from suffering at large. We seek shelter from the wheel of samsara, the endless cycle of death and rebirth.

But how can we find any measure of safety and security in this inherently unsafe and unstable world? What solid ground is there to be found?

You might recognize this from chanting The Three Refuges: Buddham Saranam Gacchmi, which means I take refuge in Buddha. The literal translation of those Pali words is not I take refuge in Buddha however the literal translation is, I will undertake to find my home in the Buddha.

To take refuge in Buddha is to accept that we can realize and awaken to our true buddha-nature, just as the man Siddhartha Gautama did. Buddha was not his name, after all; it was a title he received after his enlightenment, meaning One who is awake or the Awakened One.

Taking refuge in Buddha means we will undertake to find our home in Awakening.

To take refuge in the Dharma is to undertake finding our home in the teachings the Four Noble Truths, and practicing the Eightfold Path. Its a commitment to seeing things as they really are, an intricate web of connections beyond all concepts of Self and Other; an awakened way of seeing the world that leads us out of suffering and to the opening of the heart.

And taking refuge in Sangha, the jewel that I came to last? Here, we undertake to find our home among spiritual friends. Here, we vow to look for and offer support, inspiration, and guidance among those who practice the Eightfold Path fellow walkers of The Way.

When we practice living our lives like this an aspirational way of living that we are sure to fail in, again and again what were really saying is, I promise to do all I can to uphold and embody these teachings, to live with an open heart.

Tom was my first true spiritual friend in Zen, and for many years I studied and practiced with few others. My spiritual life was very much a personal practice, not one that I wanted to share with a wider community.

Years later this completely changed when I was introduced first to the Zen Peacemakers, then to the Boundless Way sangha (where we first met James, Jan, and Ed), and now these past 6 years with Empty Moon, meeting Janine and Chris, and practicing with all of you in this vibrant sangha. These communities have had a profound impact on my life, shaking the ground of a practice that at first Id held quite close to my chest.

In a way, discovering the jewel of Sangha has been like moving into technicolor the experience of regularly sitting zazen with other people; having interviews with teachers; engaging in koan practice; participating in precept and study groups; learning how to chant and do kinhin; the humbling experience of learning how to bow; finding opportunities to contribute and learning to receive (not easy); joining and serving in retreats, both in-person and virtual; and above all, forming friendships with other beautifully flawed practitioners.

Ive been continually gobsmacked by the ways that Sangha breathes life into the other jewels, Buddha and Dharma. This has brought a wholeness to my practice that I didnt even know I was missing in those early years. And not because its all sunshine and lollipops even among spiritual friends, people are still people: they can be as encouraging and inspiring as they are frustrating and disappointing. But thats part of our agreement as a community to lean into discomfort and difficulty together, and to support each other in our mutual aspiration and commitment to living in an upright and compassionate way.

Practicing together, in this community of spiritual friends, is precious. And pretty incredible that weve achieved this while anchoring ourselves as a primarily virtual community these past couple of years. Each one of us contributes to the life of our sangha in a meaningful way. We are mirrors, encouraging and challenging each other, always aiming to deepen our practice and our intimacy with just this even when just this aint so pretty. We explore what it means to be human together, returning again and again to curiosity, compassion, and to our breath.

No one else can do this for us, yet we cannot do it alone. Please, reflect on the implications of this; do not take it, or each other, for granted. Together, we seek to find the perfection of the wise heart. We make our way through this one continuous mistake, tumbling together and smoothing out each others rough edges, while navigating the many passions that jerk us around. Together, we practice.

Our sangha, our spiritual friendships it is here that we find not half, but the whole of this sacred and holy life, farts and all where we undertake to find our home in Awakening. How can we be anything but grateful?

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The Holy Life, Farts & All | James Ford - Patheos