By: Abby Braithwaite, Cathedral Park Cohousing Neighbor—Previously Posted on the Cohousing US Blog
This is the first in a five-post series about the journey to the feeling of Ahhhh…. I’m home! Cathedral Park Cohousing is an actively forming, unique and exciting community in Portland, Oregon. Please read with us as we share our twisting journey Home!
Cathedral Park Cohousing (CPC) is a cohousing community for everyone—families, young professionals, people of a range of abilities and incomes, first-time homeowners, retirees—built upon shared interests, strengths, and values. Building on the belief that diverse communities are stronger communities, the CPC cohousing community is supported by the nonprofit Our Home, Inclusive Community Collaborative (OHICC) . Founded in 2018, one of OHICC’s goals is to bring inclusive cohousing to people who don’t traditionally have easy access to all of the good that comes from living intentionally together in a diverse, multi-age community. The stated mission of OHICC is to promote, support, and develop inclusive and diverse communities.
Cathedral Park Cohousing is cohousing with an inclusive twist, and as such, our path to where we are today has been, well, a bit twisty—full of challenges both expected and unexpected. Thanks to a foundation of great community relationships, every time we have come up against an unexpected obstacle, the expertise, creativity, and commitment of our supporters, committed community members, and development partners, have been integral to our continuing forward. There are many components working together to help ensure our community’s success as we build our membership.
CohoUS graciously invited us to post a blog series on their website over a few weeks in 2021 to highlight our process, in hopes of sharing some of what we have learned along the way. We will be reposting that series—edited to reflect our ongoing growth and change as our community comes together—here on our new website over the coming days. Cathedral Park Cohousing and OHICC are committed to supporting inclusive and diverse communities and wewould be happy to chat further with you or your community if you want to dig in deeper.