Cohousing communities open their common houses for outside events.

Get up off the couch and engage with others by doing good, doing no harm and being nice. These days, those can be challenging in the face of widening cultural and social divides.

At a recent Cohousing Association of the U.S. board retreat, the “why” of cohousing was discussed at length.

The phrase “it will save the world” was often thrown out there as we really do believe that if everybody poured the cohousing “secret sauce” over their neighborhoods and live in community, know their neighbors and truly care for each other’s well-being the world would be a much better place to live.

Cohousing neighborhoods facilitate social change by their very existence. We don’t hear reports of how a community helps out at a food bank, or homeless shelter, or fights social injustice on a daily basis.

Cohousing communities are poised to easily contribute in ways that extend outside of their boundaries.