How can I get closer to the the project?

YOU COULD:

• ATTEND ONE OF OUR PROJECT PRESENTATIONS: We give online and face-to-face presentations. In the real life presentations, we also visit some of the indoor spaces. After you the spoken part of the presentation we address your questions and concerns. These presentations are announced on our newsletter and website.
• PARTICIPATE IN VIDÀLIA’S OPEN ACTIVITIES: It gives you the possibility to come in contact with the group, participate in the activities and our dynamics and you’ll get to know the space. These activities are announced in our monthly newsletter and on the calendar on our website.
• BECOME A “FRIEND OF VIDÀLIA” AND HAVE THE OPTION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEMBERS’ MEETINGS: This way of supporting the project in a symbolic way does not require you to take on any more responsibility. It opens the door for you to get to know more about Vidàlia. https://vidalia.coop/collabora/.
  Once we get to know each other, there is also the opportunity to become a “Consumer member” (a type of member that has a little more involvement, and a status that is essential for living in Vidàlia) and to be able to participate more actively in the life of the inhabitants.
• GUEST VISITING IN VIDÁLIA: Every few months we open “visiting periods”. We announce these only in the e-newsletter. To apply you will need to fill out the form that will be linked.
  In general we give preference to those applicants who wish to possibly become a resident.
  
  

  
  Can I be involved in the Vidàlia project without living there?

• Yes, you can participate in the Vidàlia project in different ways without the need to live there. Being a “Consumer” Member is the figure that allows you to be more involved in the project without living here.
  
  

  
  How can I become part of the community?

• Becomming part of the community is a process. We want the decision to be thoroughly thought and felt out by both sides. We want the group to grow organically, weaving meaningful relationships from love and coexistence, giving space so that people can get to know each other and make the project their own. We envision progressive growth to consolidate the group and the project.
• You must have attended a presentation of the project preferably have participated in some of the Vidàlia activities.
• We need to know each other in meaningful relationships.
• You must be a Consumer Member.
• Once this is procedure is done and in the event that you are still interested in living in Vidàlia, you are invited to write a letter to the community introducing yourself.
• Finally, a trial period of approximately one month must be carried out. Once this period has passed, the project will need a few days up to a month to collectively assess your inclusion. If both parties decide to move on, you will become a Long-Term Visitor, a status with which you can live in the community for approximately one year, before becoming an Expectant Member.
  

What types of members are there?

-Temporary member: becomes a member for a few temporary days in order to be able to participate in short events.

-Amics de Vidàlia (in the statutes it is equivalent to a collaborating member): it is a way of expressing your support for the project without participating in the cooperative activity. https://vidalia.coop/collabora/

-Consumer member: once we get to know each other and you want to be a little more involved, the door opens to become a Consumer Partner. These members have few obligations, but if they want, there are a lot of possibilities to get involved in very different areas of the project. Being a Consumer Member is an indispensable requirement if you want to live in the community and it is a status that will stay on, even if you become an Expecting Member or Resident.

-Expectant Member: it is an intermediate level of member, who applies to complete the process of becoming a Resident Member. To be a Prospective Member you must be a Consumer Member, have completed the process of entering the community and have been a Long-Term Visitor.

Resident Partner: they are the group of people who have more rights and responsibilities in the housing cooperative.

What aspects do you value about people who want to join the Housing and Consumer Cooperative?

–The connection and affinity with the group of people who live in Vidàlia is essential. Living in an intentional community implies a very high level of coexistence, and without this affinity living so closely together would be very stressful.

-Sensitivity to the project, its values ​​and its trajectory. All the people who are part of the community are on the same wavelength with the core values.

-Emotional maturity, the ability to manage conflicts, express, yet also be able to receive discomfort in an authentic and respectful way. Emotional maturity in the relationship with one’s own body.
Coexistence at such a close level often generates conflicts, so the ability to communicate assertively, to be in touch with one’s body and emotions and the ability to discern when oneself is projecting one’s wounds is very important. Conflict is movement and is constantly present in coexistence; it must be understood as a way to grow and move forward together.

-The motivations, capacity for involvement, skills, professional background, the social networks of which it is a part.

We like to maintain certain balances: for example between genders, local people and international people, family units with and without dependent children, different working situations/hours, etc.

How come there is there an entry process in a cooperative project?

We think that facilitating spaces for sincere and thoughtful dialogue, cultivating the power to say no on both sides and choosing those who do fit best in with the project at that moment, because of their values, their temperament or the new composition of the group is caring for the project and the newcomers.

Is renting an apartment in the colony the same as living in the community?

No. Space rental is a separate service within the project. To live in the community of Vidàlia is to be part of a project that is still in it’s first stages and that requires a lot of involvement and dedication.

Can I rent an apartment?

Not for now. It may be an option that we might consider in the future.

What is the governance system?

Vidàlia’s governance system is based on sociocracy and above all on the patterns of Sociocracy 3.0. This is an open source project and if you want to find out more about it, check out the website www.sociocracy30.org

How are decisions made?

Decisions are made through the construction of consent within the Circles (working groups) in all relevant matters of this Circle. The Circles have autonomy to make decisions about the domains that belong to their Circle.
For now we have the following circles:

Governance (administration, communication, vision),
Human (community relations, children, visits, entry and exit processes), Urbanism (maintenance of spaces and streets),
Prosperity (generate and administer economical resources),
Sustainability (supplies, agroecological project).

How is the economic system?

Vidalia uses its own economic model that mixes the shared and personal economy. Resources and assets accumulated before entering the project remain personal.

Upon entry a certain amount of Capital Social (returnable) and an entrance fee (non-returnable) is contributed by each member according to each level, following the guidelines established in the Statutes and the Internal Regulations (RRI).

Residents also pay a monthly fee that cover all day-to-day general expenses, and dedicate a set amount of hours per week to community work.

What languages ​​do you speak?

More than 7 languages ​​are spoken within the project.

The vehicular languages ​​of the project are Catalan and English. Catalan as the language of the territory where the project is based. English allows us to connect with the world beyond Catalonia.

The official documents prevail mostly written in Catalan.

We are working towards bilingual documents and communications.

The people who live in the community take on the commitment to  learn both Catalan and English, or at least to take the effort to study them enough to understand them.

What are your shared values ​​and practices?

Creative and artistic processes

Nurturing relationships and inspiring group culture

Regeneration and Sustainability

Dance and creative movement

Body-positive, body-inclusive

Inclusive and efficient governance. Sociocracy 3.0

Social and solidarity economy

Work culture: work as a source of growth

Nature and spirituality

Glocal