FIC Communities Directory
5 ratings since posting on Thursday, December 29, 2005
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Overall Rating based on 5 ratings |
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Unsu...
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best effort to date on the web - Unsubscribed , posted 08/08/06 |
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lots of useful info in there... definitey use the online for updates, and the print version for reference [full disclosure: I serve on the FIC board] - Raines , posted 01/05/06 |
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This directory has contact and descriptive information on more than 1500 Intentional Communities (ICs) in North America and is unquestionably the best available directory for Intentional Communities (ICs) online. I've lived in an IC for many years and this Directory was VERY important to me - and perhaps using this will be so for you. If you live in a "nuclear family" (or live alone), you can dramatically improve your life by joining and/or starting an authentic community. And adding your energy to one of the communities in this directory could even be your best way to help save the world! This directory is maintained by the Fellowship for Intentional Communities (FIC), which has published print Communities Directories for years, along with Communities Magazine - the only magazine that directly addresses the IC movement. The data in the online directory is now largely maintained by the communities themselves. Unfortunately, the ease with which the many contributors can now add/edit information is not balanced by much fact-checking by FIC editorial. The biggest errors probably involve listings which claim larger community memberships than they actually have. For example, one community claims 8 members in their directory listing... and shows many more than 8 faces and biographies on their website. Talking with the community's founder, I learned that it actually has just one member who has been in the struggle of "building community" for many years, without much progress. Another challenge is the inclusion and mixing of many different types of communities - in all stages of development. While it mostly contains residential communities (what most expect when they think of an IC), the directory also includes (1) community networks (groups of ICs - associations), (2) non-residential communities, and (3) even some fairly typical charities. And since the descriptions were written by many individual contributors, it can be difficult to tell the difference until you further research the group... visit their website, etc. Even among the residential ICs, "forming" or "reforming" ICs are intermixed with ones which actually have groups of people living together... right now. Specifically, the directory has listings for communities with people with years of established culture, e.g. East Wind (commune of 75 people, formed in 1970), Nyland (cohousing of 140, formed in 1990), Ecovillage at Ithaca (162 people, formed in 1992), which appear side-by-side with MANY "forming" communities of just 1 or 2 people - that are trying to grow into ICs - some for just a few months and some for many years. All of this means to get the most out of this directory requires research on your part and that its data should be considered critically and not assumed to be factual... Perhaps it goes without saying, but people seeking a life in an IC should be cautious when they choose with whom they will live. In conclusion, this directory proved an important way for me to connect with the IC movement. I think it may serve that purpose for you as well - why don't you go ahead and buy your copy and start making your life better by living IN COMMUNITY! - Craig , posted 12/30/05 |
FIC Communities Directory was recommended for:
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- Tribe: Radical Urban Planners
- Tribe: Tryon Life Community Farm
- Tribe: Alternative Money and Economics
- Tribe: The City Repair Project
- Tribe: ! Simple Living !
- Tribe: Co-ops
- Tribe: Eco-Pioneers : Community Cultivators
- Tribe: Sustainable Practices and Technology
- Tribe: intelligent cooperation
- Tribe: Cohousing
- Tribe: Think Globally, Act Locally
- Tribe: Permaculture
- Tribe: GAIA - the earth is alive
- Tribe: tie-dye-diaper babies
