Vol xxi 22 Wenge Nel Community Service NewS letter May, 925 Conference on Models of Economic. Su ciency ~\liston and - is the subject of this year's Community Service Conference. - 18 - 17 August 1975, Yellow Springs. - to be held in tne comprenensive facilities of wooded Glen Hel- en's Jutdoor Education Center. A series of statements will be made from communities with distinctive economic ways of life. These pres- entations will pe the basis of pan- el and group discussions, with small-group sessions focussing on individual aspects of economic ord- ers. Katnleen Kinkade of tastwind and Twin Uaks, Francis Francaviglia of Antiocn College, and Helen Zipper- len of Camphill Village will talk on major aspects of tne subject. Registration will start at 5 PM Friday, August 15th at the Outdoor Education Center Lodge. Those who wish may bring their own picnic sup- per and start getting to know each other (tne conference provides meals Saturday tnrougn Sunday noon) The conference will convene with a get-acquainted session at 7 PM. This will be followed by an address from Helen Zipperien on “Vision and its Practical Implementation", and oy folk dancing. Realiza tio = Saturday will include community presentations, panel and wnole- Group discussions, followed by spec- ial topic meetings. There will also be two major talks on Saturday. Sunday the whole conference will have fellowship of the spirit, following which small groups will finish up their deiiverations and report back to tie conference in final session, after lunch, Everything will wind up by mid-afternocn. Folk dancing and otner celebrations will find their way around the work sessions. On the last page of this news- letter is a registration form - the total fee is $30, of which we'd like to ask you to send $5 in advance, as early as conven- jent. Upon receipt cf your reg- istration, we will send you a wap and more detailed program. "The pressure of life is uni- versal, and will not be fully relieved by any social organ- ization." . - Arthur €. Morgan, 19372 AIC. Meeting leven intentional communities tock part in the annul meeting of the Fellowship at Bryn Gweled Hocesteads, near Philadelphia, on March léth. Representatives reported on their home communit ies, including an array of life- styles, community crganizations, purposes and guiding philosophies: tow Creek Fellowship in Tiskil- way inois, an vusgrowth of Evanston's Reba Place Fellowshia, sharing its Anabapt’st Christian focus, and located in a farm set tings - Downhill Farm Community, Hancock, Maryland is anarchist and makes weoden flower pots as an industry; - Bryn Gveled and Taaguy Homesteads outside of Pailadelphia are disting- wisned from the rest of suburbia by their land trusts (and hence, non-speculative, ncn-commodity re- lation to the land) and by their sense of community cooperation and mutual supports - Th? School of Living, Freeland, Maryland teaches rural living skills and a sense of simple soc- jety, in accordance with Dr. Ralph Bursodi's philosophy; - The Vale Community, Yellow Springs, Ohio is a collection of rural homesteads on trust land, ith a shared commitment to a better order betwsen nature and man. The Vale has its own school for kindergarten and primary grades; - Camahill Village in America incl- udes three therapeutic communities in Pennsylvania and Wew York (both Pennsylvania units were represent- ed), serving mentally handicapped people, based on Rudolph Steiner! educational and philosophical prin cisles. - Shannon Farm, starting up Afton, Virginia, with plans large-scale organic farming and an zrray of appropriate, rural indus- tries for a fairly jarce and diver~ se membership. near for - The Life Center in Philadelphia, a group of living and of working collectives, is aimed at non-vio- lent revolutionary reform of our society, while living simply in an old and worn-down section of the city. Berit Lakey in her talk pro~ vided much insight into the Life Center and into the movement for 2 New Society, modeled on the Life Center and with identical aims and processes, with the objective of peaceful transformation of society through personal and local develop- ment within an overall radical per spective. Berit noted that conflict is not only a fundamental part of communal living (as it is in larger, more open groups), tut that dealing creatively with it opens the way for solutiors to problems more use- fully and elegantly than when it avoided; where conflict is suppress- ed, she addad, energies are entrap ped. Re-evaluation Counseling, 2 form of two-people peer therapy is practiced in the Life Center helping folks to get in touch with their inner feeling and to deal with increasing fullness and dire ness with their fellows.The formal meeting wound up with Community Service Board member Morris Milgram, of Green Belt Knoll, Philadelphia - a beautiful inter-racial housing group in itself - talking about develop~ ing racially mixed housing around the country on a pretty large scale. His message was that if you wanted to do a thing like that, Yt was do-able through fairly orthodox forms of procedure. The changed ingredient is the will to do it and the faith to stick with it from the beginning and not get side-tracked with compromises. He reported that while people are in- tially skeptical, results just- iffed investments and fears of catastrophe just aren't approp- riate. Pete 40.0. Principles In going through the records of the Fellowship of Intentional Communities, We ran across a statement of principles for mem- bership. It was first written in 1953, and we now take it from the 1959 Yearbook of the FIC, and off- er it without change, because of its relevance. INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY PRINCIPLES AND MEMBERSHIP For purposes of membership in the Fellowship of Intentional Commun ities an intentional community shall be a group of people assoc- iated together for the purpose of working out a whole way of life in general harmony with the concepts and principles set forth as char- acterizing the spirit and purposes of the communities at present mem- bers of the Fellowship. While the practice of community should be visible in all fields, we feel it must in this age emphasize partic- ularly the economic on the one hand and the spiritual on the other and it must include both produc- tion and use. Size - the minimum size should be three families or five adults. Organization - the group should be sufficiently organized to be a rec- ognizable social entity acting with responsibility and effectiveness Location - the group should share land and housing or otherwise be close enough together geographic- ally to be in continuous active fellowship and be able to work out effectively the total way of life to which they are dedicated. Basic Concepts Most of the following concepts are in the background thinking and feeling that has gone into the est- ablishment of each of the commun- ities belonging to the Fellowship. 1. Community means mutuality and sharing in a whole way of life, in all its responsibilities. 2. The essence of community is spiritual, that is, the feeling of mutuality, the practice of mut- ual respect, love and understand- ing. No physical forms or pract- ices will create community, but forms, methods and practices will grow out of the spirit 3. The ultimate worth of person- ality; the importance of respect- ful, understanding, and kindly relationships; the superiority of living, emotional, cultural and religious values; the ultimate com- munity of all mankind: these con- cepts enter into the purposes and goals of intentional community.