Rainy Day People Project - Going Forward

We're beginning to hear from people interested in the Rainy Day People Project.  If you'd like to join, please contact us using the contact box to the right.  I will be posting a series of short blogs.  You can respond via the comments section. If you'd like to contribute blog entries, contact me to find out how.  The project will take some time to pull together, but will follow this sequence:

1. Discussion Phase:  This will take place on this weblog.  We will recruit interested individuals, experts and get a sense of what a community like this will look like.
2. Organization Phase:  During this part we will look at funding the project, finding participants who will commit to the project, we'll create a budget, locate a property, prepare grants, find contractors, an architect (I've actually got a good one - perfect for this), create a nonprofit homeowner's cooperative and do all the ground work.
3. Funding Phase:  Put together the funding, start accounting system, set up bank accounts, hire director, contractor and buy the land.
4. Construction Phase:  Hire general contractor, begin construction work on community center, manager's offices and grounds.  Begin building cottages as homeowners obtain their funding.  Build rental units as income generators for the community as the project continues. 
5. Population Phase:  Begin move in.  This phase will overlap with the construction phase as cottages are completed and families begin moving in.
6. Operations & Development Phase:  Begin setting up community support services, recreational activities, maintenance and homeowner's co-op governance. Also continues to work on improving the community, expanding operations if desired by community members and even creating new co-housing projects for other groups.

We're serious about creating this experiment in supportive co-housing for people with bipolar disorder and other disabling conditions.  If you'd like to join us, follow this website, comment, submit blog entries and share your ideas with the group.  We're going to use the more linear blog approach so we can manage the discussion and don't lose good ideas.  Periodically, we'll do wrap up blog entries synthesizing the group's ideas for inclusion in the overall development plan.  In this way we can benefit from the group's collective brain power.

I'm excited about this.  Welcome aboard.

Tom King - Project Leader