Governance Values

As with most cohousing communities, Village Hearth is committed to cooperative self-governance. The values that inform our governance include the following:

• Maximum Engagement-- We want all community members to feel engaged with the business of running the community.
• Every Voice Heard--Every member deserves a chance to speak and be heard on matters that come before the community for decision-making. This applies equally to all units of governance such as circles and work teams.
• Consent-based Decision-Making-- We believe that better decisions emerge from consent-based processes.
• Clear, Broadly-Understood Governance Structures and Processes-- Full engagement can't happen unless members are clear about how those structures and processes operate. We hope to facilitate that clarity through a combination of accessible documentation and member education.
• Effective Decision-Making-- Processes should enhance rather than obstruct our efforts to govern ourselves. Excessive bureaucracy and overly-specified processes can make it difficult to solve problems.
• Transparency--The actions and decisions resulting from every governing process are published and available to all members.
• Constant Evaluation--Both our governance processes and the decisions we implement require regular, formal evaluation for their ongoing effectiveness and relevance.

Community Agreements

We are still developing policies that govern how we will live together, and in fact we expect to be doing that as long as the community stands. For now, the following policies have been consented to by the community:

​Smoking Policy
Pet Policy
Parking Policy
Home Alteration Policy
​Amended Declaration
By-Laws

Village Hearth Governance Structure