February 24, 2015
The Whidbey Institute is holding its fourth annual Thriving Communities gathering from March 19 through March 21 with a focus on community through the lens of shelter. The three-day session will provide opportunities for dialog and exploration of community challenges plus practical solutions. Admission is $149 plus optional meals and lodging and scholarship options are available.
The Thriving Communities videography team will share four videos highlighting specific solutions to shelter challenges. These include features on 1) Hearts & Hammers focusing on helping to keep people safe in their own homes, 2) Cocoon House focusing on youth sheltering, 3) Quixote Village focusing on tiny houses as a solution to chronic homelessness and 4) Lopez Community Land Trust focusing on how affordable housing can create new opportunities for community.
The gathering will also include conversation on pocket communities, affordable ecovillages and an introductory presentation by Ross Chapin. Every organization featured in this year’s videos will be represented by in-person delegates, with team members sharing the challenges and opportunities they encountered in their work. Guest artists and activists will include Tannur “Shewrightz” Ali, founder of the Institute for the Love Of Genius In Communities (iLOGIC), founder of Pen Stroke National Poetry Festival and winner of the Judith Stark Creative Writing Award and Antonio Gutiérrez, Housing Coordinator at Casas del Pueblo Community Land Trust in Chicago.
This event is open to all, including participants of all ages and from communities of every type.
The Whidbey Institute is a 501© (3) non-profit working for the common good in the areas of leadership transformation, thriving communities, and ecosystem vitality. The Thriving Communities Initiative is a volunteer-run program of the Institute which works to reveal the ways in which community challenges can become community opportunities through grassroots efforts, and how change in one place can have a domino effect on communities everywhere. They’re making solutions visible to all those who are called to make a difference. Conference fees help fund their ongoing work and allow them to offer scholarships to participants in financial need so that everyone in the community can truly have a voice.
To learn more or register, visit www.whidbeyinstitute.org/thriving-communities-2015, email info@whidbeyinstitute.org, or call 360.341.1884.
