in·tro·duc·tion

if you’re interested in pursuing membership at sherwood, please e-mail sherwoodcooperative@gmail.com to get the process started.

but what is this “process”? 

1. i’ll explain it below
2. please don’t hesitate to e-mail us even if you’re just interested in learning more.

our road to co-habitation

the membership process roughly consists of four parts—

1. coming to three (3) house dinners
2. writing a letter of intent
3. having a one-on-one (1/1) with a house member
4. attending a membership meeting

the time it takes to complete all the steps varies with the prospective’s (that’s you!) schedule and how often you can come to dinner, and when we are able to find a membership meeting time conducive to all house members’ (that’s us!) schedules.

but please do read on.

house dinners

the best possible way to get to know who we are and how we do is to come for a house dinner. it’s so much the best, in fact, that we ask all prospectives to come over for at least three house dinners. dinners start around 6:30/7:00 each night. as a sherwood member we are all required to cook dinners for all other members, so house dinners are usually big, fun, delicious events. these meals allow a lot of us to talk to you, so you’ll get a feel for who lives in sherwood, what we’re like, what sort of grub we eat, and how the house generally works. at the same time, we’ll get to know you better. sounds symbiotic, for sure.

coming to multiple dinners allows you to take time to observe the house and keep thinking of any issues/questions you might have, and meet the most members possible. it also helps you see if sherwood isn’t really a good fit. i mean, let’s say you have a problem with me playing elvis’ “if i can dream” each night before i go to bed. that sort of thing takes at least a couple dinners to learn (but even if it’s true, i’m sure we can work it out).

we know that attending dinner at a stranger’s house (and in this case, strangers’ house) can be intimidating, so feel free to bring along a friend/significant other/family member if you’d be more comfortable that way. whatever would help you be you!

letter of intent

if things are lookin’ good during your dinner visits, we’ll send you some prompts for writing a letter of intent. the letter is mainly about why you want to live in sherwood and a little more about yourself. this will allow all house members to become familiar with you, and give you a chance to say through writing what you perhaps forgot/didn’t want /didn’t feel comfortable to say through speaking.

one-on-one

after we’ve all read your letter, you’ll have a one-on-one phone conversation with a house member. this is where you’ll get to ask questions you maybe didn’t want to ask at a dinner, and one of us will answer them! the phone conversations generally last between 30-60 minutes.

membership meeting

shout out for getting this far. after steps 1-3 are so done and over, we’ll plan a membership meeting. we get all house members to stay after dinner (thus the meetings usually start around 7 or 8 p.m.), and you can join us then. the meeting consists of two parts—us asking you questions, and you asking us questions. nice. after it’s over we’ll say “au revoir” for the night, discuss the meeting as a house, and vote on whether we want to offer you membership. then we’ll give you a call with our decision (and always make sure to call the right number).

con·clu·sion

so—that’s the sherwood membership process. of course, it varies if you’re out-of-state (which is still possible to do!) or if we’re on a tight schedule.

if this perhaps (yes? no? maybe?) looks interesting to you, get on over to the internets and give us an e-shout out (sherwoodcooperative@gmail.com).