We’re ready! We’re ready to start building truly affordable housing that connects people to each other and nature! We’re ready to find LAND to build a village! 

Like a tree— when our roots are deep, we can be strong AND flexible. Over the past year, ecoTHRIVE has focused on strengthening our foundation– building out our plan, policies and organizational structure. We’ve been learning how to communicate in a way that honors all voices. This way, every decision we make is grounded in our collective wisdom and every meeting is an opportunity to share, listen, speak from the heart and express gratitude for each other and what we are learning. This way, we can create a space, structure and culture that involves people in a way that is meaningful, connected AND effective. 

When we say ecoTHRIVE Housing is grounded in community, we mean it’s in our roots and in everything we do.  All of the members of our team have experience working with grassroots organizations. We understand the importance of sharing information, listening to all voices and being transparent. Our focus in 2021 has been on building internal organizational processes that can support, harvest and share the wisdom of our community as it continues to grow. 

ecoTHRIVE’s 2021 highlights include:

Our goal for 2022 is to build a 6-10 unit pilot village. Once the pilot village has been completed, we aspire to create 20-30 unit villages in a way that can be replicated by us and others.

We hold to our values (permanently affordable, community-centered, regenerative, transparent) AND we are flexible in the form the villages take. For example, we aspire to a resident-ownership model, but we are also open to negotiating with landowners who want to retain the land if we can protect permanent affordability (i.e. through a deed restriction) and become partners in land stewardship. 

2022 is the year we will find LAND for our pilot village! We’re in discussions with people who are ready to work with us to create a site plan and start building!  And we’ve been laying the groundwork to raise the money we need, so watch for the launch of our Giving Circle. 

There is a growing awareness that many of our systems are failing us. The combined crises of climate disruption, extreme wealth inequality, racism, misogyny, and COVID are providing us with the motivation we need to transform how we care for ourselves, each other and our planet. In the words of the mystic poet Rumi, “The door is wide and open. Don’t go back to sleep!” Here’s to working together to activate a collective upgrade! 

Many blessings to you in this new year!

Denise Henrikson,
Board President, ecoTHRIVE Housing 

PS: If you are interested in learning more about our work, Emma (our amazing project manager!) has created this Welcome Page where you can see some of the resources we’ve assembled and share some of what we’re learning. Reach out to us at hello@ecothrivehousing.org if you want to explore more!