Every lasting community can answer two questions: why are we here, and how will we live together? The first answer is a shared vision. The second is a set of written agreements.
Many groups put off both because the conversations feel awkward, or because "we're all friends and we trust each other." But friends can hold very different dreams without knowing it, and trust grows stronger, not weaker, when everyone knows where they stand. This lesson walks you through writing both.
- 1Explain the difference between a vision, a mission, values and aims.
- 2Write a shared vision statement with your group.
- 3List the agreements every community needs.
- 4Design a fair path for joining and leaving.
- 5Track your group's agreements from first talk to adoption.
Vision comes first
In Creating a Life Together, Diana Leafe Christian urges new groups to create their "vision documents" before buying land or spending serious money. A clear vision draws the right people and helps the wrong fits recognize it early, before anyone has sold a house or moved across the country. It's also the touchstone the group returns to when a hard decision comes.
The world we hope for
A short picture of the life you want to build together, in words that inspire.
What we’ll do
How you'll make the vision real: grow food, raise children together, host retreats, teach.
How we’ll act
The handful of qualities that guide everyday choices, like honesty, hospitality and care for the land.
What we’ll achieve
Concrete goals with dates: buy land within two years, build the common house by year five.
Writing your vision together
- Each household writes alone first: why are we here?
- Share the drafts aloud, without debate
- Circle the words and hopes that appear again and again
- Two volunteers write a combined draft
- Read it aloud together, then sleep on it
- Adopt it, and read it at the start of big meetings
"Cedar Hollow is a village of families who grow food, raise children and care for the land together. We welcome guests, share our harvest, and keep a day of rest each week. In ten years we hope to see an orchard in fruit, a full common house and children who know every tree by name."
A made-up example, to show the shape.
Draft your vision statement
Fill in each part in plain words. The draft appears below, ready to read aloud at your next gathering.
The agreements every community needs
Agreements turn good intentions into a shared way of life. They don't need to be long or legal-sounding. Start with the ones that matter most, and add others as real questions come up. Some of these become part of your legal documents in Lesson 4.
| Agreement | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Membership | How people visit, join, and become full members. · Lesson 2 |
| Money | Buy-in, monthly dues, and how shared costs are split. · Lesson 4 |
| Leaving and buyout | Notice, how a departing household is paid, and how fast. · Lesson 4 |
| Shared work | How many hours a month each adult gives, and what counts. |
| Decisions | Who decides what, and how. · Lesson 3 |
| Land use | Where homes, gardens, animals and wild places go. |
| Shared spaces and tools | Booking, cleaning, and what happens when something breaks. |
| Animals and pets | Which animals, where, and who’s responsible. |
| Children | Shared expectations and safety on common land. |
| Guests | How long visitors can stay, and who hosts them. · Lesson 6 |
| Quiet, vehicles and noise | Quiet hours, parking, speed on shared roads. |
| Conflict | How problems are raised and worked out. · Lesson 5 |
| Changing agreements | How often agreements are reviewed, and how they’re changed. · Lesson 3 |
- Specific: “eight hours of shared work a month,” not “pitch in”
- Written in plain words anyone can understand
- Says what happens if it isn’t kept, starting gently
- Has a review date
- Was made by the people who live by it
- Fits on a page, or close to it
Joining and leaving
A slow, clear membership path protects everyone. Newcomers get time to see real life, not just the shared-meal highlights, and the community gets time to know them. Just as important is a kind, fair way to leave, agreed long before anyone needs it.
A community that sells or rents homes must follow fair housing law. The federal Fair Housing Act forbids turning people away because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or having children. California adds many more protected characteristics, including age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and source of income. There's a narrow exception for non-commercial housing run by a religious organization.
Choose members by what they agree to do, not who they are: keep the written agreements, give the shared work hours, pay dues, and take part in decisions. Apply the same path and the same expectations to everyone. That's both the law and the heart of a welcoming village. Have an attorney review your membership process.
Track your agreements
You won't write everything at once. Use this tracker to see where you stand, and return to it as you work through Lessons 3 to 6.
Our agreements tracker
Mark where your group stands on each agreement. Come back as you work through the course. Your answers save in this browser.
Draft your vision and first agreements
Write your shared vision together, then draft the three agreements your group needs most. Most groups start with membership, money and shared work.
You'll need
- The vision builder and tracker above
- Paper and pens for each household
- A shared document everyone can read
- A shared meal before business
- A calendar for a review date
Do it together
- Each household writes alone: why are we here?
- Read the drafts aloud and circle shared hopes.
- Write a combined vision with the builder, and sleep on it.
- Adopt the vision at your next gathering.
- Pick your three most urgent agreements from the tracker.
- Draft each one on a single page, using the good-agreement checklist.
- Set a review date six months out.
Include the young
- Ask children to draw the village in ten years
- Let teens draft the agreement about children and shared spaces
- Read the finished vision aloud at a family dinner
Save your adopted vision and first agreements for your progress record.
Words that hold a people together
A vision written together and read aloud often becomes something close to a family motto: a few lines that remind everyone, on the hard days, why they chose this life. And clear agreements, kept faithfully, make it possible to trust each other with land, money and children.
Next: how to make decisions together, fairly and clearly, so that every voice is heard and the work still gets done.
Your Lesson 2 worksheet
Work through these together. Your answers save on this device as you type, and print cleanly for your records.
Progress record
What this lesson practices:
- CivicsWriting founding documents and agreements; rights and responsibilities of members (NCSS theme 10).
- English language artsCollaborative writing and revision (Common Core W.4, W.5, SL.1).
- Social studiesFair housing law and civil rights (NCSS themes 5 and 6).
- Life skillsShared goal-setting and responsible decision-making (CASEL).
Standards mapping is a draft. If you use charter or ESA funds, confirm it with your education specialist.