History

On July 28, 2006 the Center for Creative Retirement at the University of North Carolina at Asheville hosted a seminar entitled "Intentional Communities for the 2nd Half of Life) (See Resources page of website for conference summary).  After the conference many attendees had a strong desire to see the conversations started at the conference continue. 

On September 10, organized by Marianne Kilkenny and Alex Mawhinney, about 45 interested folks came together at the North Asheville Library to begin this group.  A questionnaire was designed by Marianne and sent out to those interested and the information was shared in a general way at this first meeting to inspire conversation and discussion about what people desired about living in community as we age.

The group continued meeting every three weeks September through January at the Library, then Greenlife Community Center and, finally, at Grace Episcopal Church, where the meetings are held presently.  (See the Resources section of this website for recaps of the group meetings to date.)  Many introductory meetings have been held for the new people who have heard about the group and were interested in joining.  These introductory meetings give the background of how we got here and the background of Elder Cohousing, cohousing, intentional neighborhoods and intentional community in general. 

Meetings have been bringing people together, introducing them to community living, and supporting groups interested in forming intentional communities in Western North Carolina.   As a result, several groups have been formed and are in various stages of forming and building communities.  (See the Communities Profile page on this website.)

In Fall of 2007 the Asheville Communities Network merged with the Intentional Communities of Asheville group to form the present Asheville Communities Network which focuses on "elder-rich" and "multi-generational" communities.
The focus of the meetings continues to be communication, education, connection, and support.  The meetings continue to be on the second Sunday of each month starting at 4 p.m.

Introductory session are held at the same location before the regular meetings for those who might be new to the concept and to what is going on in the area.

Everyone is welcome to join us. Enrolling in the yahoo group, groups.yahoo.com/group/ashevillecommunitiesnetwork/ gives you email updates on a timely basis and is recommended.

Leadership Group

Marianne Kilkenny, Co-Leader

Joshua Canter, Co-Leader

Linda Siegall, Treasurer and Web Editor

Barbara Beck, Programs

Program Group

Marianne Kilkenny

Barbara Beck

Joshua Canter

Linda Siegall

Mary Silva

Pat Johnson

Jean Marie Luce

Jeremy Schewe

Social Group

Susan Evans

Mary Lou Kemph