Application procedure

From EcoReality

Membership application will include the following information. Gathering this information should be an unobtrusive as possible, striving to make the process fun and informative for the applicant as well as the organization.

This procedure will select for emotional maturity, fiscal responsibility, reliability, and assorted other membership criteria. Obviously, we'll need some written guidelines for interpreting applications that will guarantee consistent treatment -- and to protect us against charges of prohibited forms of discrimination.

It would be very useful for us to go through such a process among ourselves, if for no other reason, to better understand the process and improve it BEFORE it is actually needed!

Please copy and paste information into a text document to complete an application. Sorry, but we don't have pretty, easy forms to fill out at this time!

1. Signed and dated membership agreement
   • This holds our group's working rules and policies.
2. Signed and dated each of the following:
   • Values/Vision
   • Process and Communication Guidelines
   • EcoReality Operating Budget
   • EcoReality Long Term Budget
   • Cost of Membership
   • EcoReality Long Term Timeline
   • Share Types and Information
   • Building Guidelines
   • Official co-op rules of incorporation
3. Resume
   1. Occupational history
   2. Education level and degrees completed
4. References
   1. at least two business references
   2. at least one personal reference, preferably someone you have lived with
5. Financial disclosure
6. Resources inventory
7. Personality/temperment data -- used for insight and understanding only -- not a "pass/fail" assessment! Please complete all four.

   Please remember to copy the results of each of your tests and immediately paste them into your application document!

   • Career Test
   • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Test
   • Enneagram
   • Meyers-Briggs Personality Test
8. Questionaire -- These essay questions are not meant to discriminate against those who are not particularly comfortable with writing, and short answers can be elaborated during the interview.
   1. Have you ever been arrested? List jurisdiction, charges, disposition, and other details.
   2. How often do you use alcohol or recreational drugs?
   3. How often do you expect to eat meat (including fish)?
   4. What are your biggest personal challenges, and how are you addressing them?
   5. What do you see as your greatest strengths?
   6. Describe your life's biggest accomplishment to date.
   7. What qualities do you most value in other people?
   8. What is your biggest fear about ecovillage living?
   9. What do you most hope to find in ecovillage living?
   10. Tell us about your family of origin. List all living members of your immediate family and relationship.
   11. What are your hobbies and other interests?
9. Interview -- preferably with three current members, perhaps as a group
   1. Follow up on areas of application that are unclear.
10. Reading List -- these can be checked out of the EcoReality library
    1. Creating a Life Together -- required reading! Please buy a copy.
    2. Finding Community -- very highly recommended, but not yet on our "required" list
    3. Voluntary Simplicity -- Challenges the complexities of contemporary living by discussing a more simplistic lifestyle that is designed to change one's overall thinking and bring more inner rewards to one's life.
    4. A Pattern Language -- for ecovillage designers, or those interested in learning integrated land use and architecture design
    5. Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability -- for ecovillage designers, or those interested in Permaculture systems design
    6. Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People -- ecovillage overview
    7. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life -- conflict resolution and effective communications
    8. Ecovillage at Ithaca -- inspiring story of a real co-housing project, with ecovillage features