Wasatch Commons Cohousing Vision Statement & Core Values

Vision

We create community by sharing resources and experiences, and through our respect and support for individuals, relationships and the Earth.

Values

Integrity

Right Conduct

Our conduct reflects our integrity. Our actions and words respect the personhood, property, and general well being of everyone in our community.

Accountability and Responsibility

Each of us, as well as all of us as a community, takes responsibility for our actions and their consequences, and for our contributions to the community.

Relationships

Trust and Honesty

We build trust through dependability and through openness and honesty, tempered by sensitivity and strengthened by courage.

Respect

We respect each other’s freedom of lifestyle and personal privacy. We trust members to make choices that do not infringe on the safety or freedom of any other member or the community as a whole.

Diversity and Commonality

We recognize and seek deeper understanding of the full range of our commonality and diversity. We honor expressions of both.

Acceptance

We value friendship and friendliness. We foster a sense of belonging and extended family through acceptance and appreciation of each community member.

Intergenerational Relationships

As a community, we recognize varied contributions from members of different ages; we value all stages of human development and encourage supportive, mutually beneficial relationships between generations.

Support, Growth, and Reconciliation

We welcome and support personal growth in ourselves and in others. We recognize that reconciliation enhances the health and well being of the entire community, and encourage community and individual efforts to embrace healing and reconciliation.

Sharing Knowledge and Appreciation

We are enriched by the knowledge and human resources brought by each individual to our community, and we encourage members to share their unique talents and abilities with the community. We value expressions of acknowledgment and appreciation of diverse community contributions.

Creating Community

Cooperation

Through tolerance, generosity, sharing, and compassion, we live cooperatively. We recognize that working, playing and celebrating together are essential to building relationships. When appropriate, we place the interests of the community ahead of our own self-interests.

Commitment

We are committed to our vision. We recognize that part of this commitment to one another is our willingness to work through conflict as it arises. Creating community is a dynamic process and so we remain flexible to change.

Safety

We work to make our community a safe place – emotionally, physically, and spiritually—and to ensure the safety of each individual within our community. We collectively take responsibility for community safety. In the event that any community member’s safety is breached, we act swiftly to resolve the situation and to restore security.

Equality and Fairness

We make decisions through consensus and depend on each member’s voice and participation. We value each member of the community individually and treat each other with fairness. We share tasks and benefits in a fair and equitable way.

Extended Family (Children in the Community)

We value raising children in an open, nurturing, safe and celebratory environment. As vital members of the community, kids grow into the respect and responsibility modeled to them. We honor the work of parenting and support parents in the community. We also honor those members who have raised children or who choose not to raise children. Kids, like all members of the community, treat others with compassion and respect boundaries of privacy and noise levels.

Balance

We value balance in our community life: between group and individual, between building for tomorrow and enjoyment of today, between hard work and celebration.

Transitions and Milestones

We honor and celebrate individual and community landmarks and achievements such as birth, marriage, anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations. We support individuals through life's transitions and milestones, including grief, loss, illness, divorce, and death.

Extended Community

We value fostering and maintaining relationships with Wasatch Commons’ immediate neighbors, the larger Glendale and Salt Lake communities, and beyond.

Harmony with the Earth

Sustainability

As stewards or as strands in a web, we recognize our interdependence with the Earth and live in conscious gratitude. We work to soften our impact on the Earth through various methods of conservation. We remain mindful that our choices affect other beings and systems.

Beauty

We are committed to the synergy of aesthetic elegance and environmental harmony, both in the ways we live and in how we arrange and care for our physical environment.

See our Community Agreements on how we try to put our values into practice.

3/22/2018

formatting 5/29/2019