Meet Us
We are a forming group of interested “cohousers” — a group that will inevitably evolve as we research and explore various opportunities, while learning about/from each other. We are excited to share a bit about ourselves.
We gather monthly for a potluck meal and invite you to join us in co-creating an intentional community in Philadelphia!
Ann
I spent the first 10 years of my life in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia until my family moved to Ohio. I came back for college in 1983 and have been here ever since, living in many parts of the city, and eventually settling in West Philadelphia in 2002. I’m currently enjoying a strong sense of community as a business owner in West Philly. I started my business as a wholesale distributor serving chefs and retailers, but at the beginning of the pandemic I opened my doors to the community to help folks access fresh food during the citywide shutdown. While I receive thanks all the time for offering this service, the reward is all mine. This small effort has brought me close to many wonderfully kind people and made me feel rooted in my neighborhood.
Jabir
I’ve lived in Philadelphia for 15 years, and have been in Powelton Village for 3 years. I’ve experienced strong communities during travels in Maui and Mexico, but also right here in Pennsylvania in Bryn Gweled Homesteads. During the winter of 2017, I rode my motorcycle from Philadelphia to the Belize/Mexico border. The place where I experienced the strongest sense of community was in Chan Chemuyil, Mexico, an expat community near Tulum, where a friend invited me to stay for a while. While meeting other members of the community I realized that they were truly a community. Spending the whole day together, enriching each other’s lives, and taking care of one another and each other’s property strengthened their community ties. I imagine a future like that in a cohousing community in Philadelphia.
Lisa
I love the natural world – it’s at the center of what brings me harmony with others, joy and inner peace. Fostering connections to the larger living world around us in professional pursuits and volunteer or social collaboration is the primary avenue to and experience of community for me. This ethic for living arose in my early years on the family farm in the vast, open plains where Mother Earth shows her power and living as an individual was not an option. I brought this sense of self within a larger whole with me to West Philadelphia where I have lived with my husband and son for more than twenty years.
Myriam
I’ve lived in West Philadelphia for the past 30 years, after growing up in Paris. In addition to being raised in an environment that promoted extended family and open hospitality, I’ve experienced a strong sense of community during recreational family camps. My husband and our two kids have been participating in cooperative family camps for decades and this is where I’ve seen the positive impact of community building and sharing on my family and myself. Being in community through meal sharing and recreational activities creates deep connections – these connections transcend traditional family boundaries and build lifelong friendships across generations. The tasks of planning programs and running camp activities also provide the opportunity to be intentional about our values and create the environment that reflects these values. I wish that the “villages” we create during these family camps can be year-round!
Tim
I’ve lived in West Philadelphia for the past 30 years after growing up in Drexel Hill. One of the places I experienced a strong sense of community was during my time in Central America. In Nicaragua, folks lived with the group in mind rather than an individualistic approach. Community is when we are all facing the same challenges, when we know each other, when we help others when we can, when we share ideas about solving problems, when we are concerned about each other’s health. I visited many intentional communities in my twenties, and I’ve always looked for communities in various ways throughout my life. I love building communities and being part of them. I’ve been part of the Quaker community, the food co-op, the DIY solar group, political activism groups, nursery school coop, and a recreational co-op.
Uzma
I relocated from Boston to Philadelphia for a job in late 2017. Living in the East Falls/Manayunk neighborhood, I feel quite isolated, especially given the drawn out pandemic, making it harder to foster friendships as a working single adult. I still think of The Golden Girls TV show I watched when I first immigrated to the US; it was an introduction to a warm and welcoming community I could imagine as I grew older. I have read about communities with multi-generational living to curb loneliness in an aging population. I dream of being part of such a setting, living next to others and sharing in activities (gardening, traveling, dancing, etc) while learning from and supporting each other. I would like to leave this world surrounded by friends, and not alone.
Zami
West Philadelphia has been home to me for more than 24 years. Through my community-focused work and network of friends in the neighborhood, I’ve cultivated a series of overlapping connections that inspire and fuel me. A memorable sense of community that still resonates with me is from my college years, when I lived at a cooperatively run house on campus with 25 undergrad residents and 25 “eating associates” who were mostly graduate students involved in all aspects of the house except for living there. Management of the house meant that all 50 of us were responsible for cleaning, cooking, stocking the kitchen pantry, ordering house supplies, planning activities, and maintaining social cohesion. Daily dinners cooked by members of the house were undoubtedly the most meaningful activity that gathered us and led us to cultivate deep friendships while eating together, along with the conversations and communal studying that spilled over afterwards into the living room and outdoors on the front steps.
Read about us in The Shuttle, the December 2022 newspaper of Weavers Way Co-op:
