Donna Niemann and Claudia Hartman, co-founders of VESTA Community Concepts, will present at the National Cohousing Conference in Washington D.C. on June 15-19th.

During their talk, "Demographics and the Next Generation of Cohouser,"  Donna and Claudia will discuss how major shifts in the economy and demographics are causing millions of people to rethink the fundamentals of how we eat, work, relate and live harmoniously on the planet. They contend there is a rising tide of people such as women, millennials, singles and elder who could be drawn to the Cohousing model because it is about sharing resources,  active neighboring and living lighter on the planet. In their presentation they will share key findings from their road trip last fall where they travelled 2500 miles and interviewed 20 Cohousing communities for best practices. Lastly they will reveal VESTA: an ecohybrid housing project done in collaboration with Jillian Brooks from Taliesin School of Architecture.

Vesta Community Concepts is a think tank seeking innovative solutions for collaborative housing options and is working on it's first urban prototype.

More info on the  Cohousing Conference

The Cohousing Association began in 1997 with this mission: to promote the awareness and development of cohousing and to provide sustenance to existing cohousing communities in the
United States. Cohousing offers sustainable housing solutions with huge health economic and social benefits from elders to young children and everyone in between. It is more relevant today than ever and the conference will focus on how Cohousing offers potential solutions to aging successfully, living lighter on the planet and growing together in community.

The conference brings together hundreds of cohousing residents, leading cohousing professionals, community organizers, sustainability experts, educators, and people interested in learning more about living in community.

Over three packed days feature 40 workshops on a wide range of topics from sustainability and affordable housing to co-farming and senior cohousing. Attached is a one-day flyer specifically designed to make it easy for people working in the Washington DC area to attend and learn more about cohousing.

(for more on the conference go to http://www.cohousing.org/)

Here’s our latest press release

http://www.cohousing.org/docs/2011/pressrelease2011conf1.pdf

regarding the conference.