Ganas Community

xidai

The word "ganas" is a Spanish word meaning "motivation sufficient to act".

We chose it as a name for our community after watching the movie “Stand and Deliver”, about a teacher in LA who inspired his underachieving students to become motivated to work hard to surpass obstacles to their learning and growth.

Community living is full of interpersonal challenges and opportunities.

With “ganas” we use our energy to focus on working out problems together.

This allows us to embrace diversity, which makes community living sustainable.

        
Our purpose is to bring reason and emotion together in daily problem solving, in order to create our world, with love, the way we want it to be.

Open minds make it possible to talk together and understand each other better. Ongoingly, we are learning how to cooperate, care for each other and share resources.

We welcome those who want to join us in learning together.

Ganas Community started on Staten Island in 1979. Our population has grown from 6 to about 75. The original founders came together to form a self-selected extended family based on an intention to care for each other while sharing the work, having fun and addressing together whatever problems come up.

Life at Ganas

For the better part of 35 years, we have worked to create the secure, comfortable, rewarding environment we thought necessary for a good life together. We share 8 large, mainly adjacent residences on Staten Island in a racially mixed, working class neighborhood, a half-hour free ferry ride from downtown Manhattan. The bus and train system on Staten Island provide easy transportation.

Work. Some community members work in and around NYC or Staten Island at a variety of fields, including social services, medicine, education, healing arts, culinary arts and information technology. Others of us work in our three Every Thing Goes stores nearby, where we sell used clothing, books, furniture and a variety of related merchandise, or for the Ganas Community in housekeeping, food distribution, cooking or building maintenance and renovation.

Indoor Spaces. We’ve renovated all of our buildings to suit our needs and our pleasure. Our living spaces are comfortable, attractive and relatively well maintained. Bathrooms are shared among floormates in each house. Public spaces are shared, and some can be reserved for special gatherings.

Outdoor Spaces. Boardwalks connect most of the houses. We have some flower and vegetable gardens. There are several porches, a hammock, an outdoor clothesline, and lovely spots for sitting. We have many trees (some fruit bearing) and berry bushes, and the yards are kept somewhat wild, not heavily manicured. Ganas sits on a hill, from which we can catch the sun and moon as they rise and set. Year round, there are breathtaking views of the sky, the bay and the city. In summertime, we enjoy the shade and shelter of the large trees which surround us, and the option to cool off in our small dipping pool.

Food at Ganas is plentiful and varied enough to suit most people, from meat eaters to vegans. Dinner is served in our main dining room Tuesday through Saturday and leftovers are available 24/7. Additionally, everyone has access to stocked kitchens where people can prepare their own meals and snacks.

Dinner Discussions. Some evenings in the dining room are unstructured. One evening a week is devoted to welcoming newcomers and visitors. Another evening is a Q&A for current residents to better understand some of the history and philosophy of Ganas Community. All activities, including these discussions are optional for members and guests to attend.

Small Group Activities. We have several living rooms which are used for meetings, gatherings, discussions of various types, dancing, exercise, computer use, listening to or making music, TV or movie watching, eating or just hanging out.

Group activities. Anyone can organize most anything, with a bit of communication and responsibility-taking for set-up and clean up.. We have dances, talent shows, potlucks and parties. Some people organize outings and trips, barbeques and play readings. Birthdays are often celebrated with a brunch on the weekend, with the birthday person selecting activities for the group to enjoy together.

People at Ganas

Age, like everything else about Ganas people, is diverse. The majority are between 20 and 75. A few children live here, but not very many. We have no organized child care programs.

Ganas has the international quality of the city. People of many races, nationalities, religions, professions, educational backgrounds, personalities, and life views live together in surprising harmony. Possibly that is because many of us get together regularly to discuss work, personal issues and anything else that comes up.

Structure

A rather unusual social and political structure has evolved, probably because of our desire to create as many lifestyle options as possible. We have several very different, but quite complementary, populations at Ganas. The first, called the core group, currently consists of nine people -- five men and four women -- who function as the community's management team. They pool all their time, talents, and material things. They're also committed to exchange thoughts, feelings and feedback. This group is open to new members, but because of the demands made on core group people's time and resources, few people opt to join.

The second is a group of about 25 people, most of whom are interested in the Ganas philosophy. They do not share resources, are not necessarily committed to join any particular activity, or to exchange feedback, expose their own emotional reality, or accept anyone else's. However, mostly they do opt to participate. They share in almost all decision making, and they tend to live here for many years. Members of this group may work either outside or inside the community.

The third consists of about 35 people many of whom consider this their home. Others have come for a short visit, anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. Some work in the community. Some are employed elsewhere or are students. They tend to form close social sub-groups, and may hold very different but surprisingly compatible philosophies. They may or may not be involved with Ganas' goals and activities, but almost all of them enjoy the Ganas experience, and many report on its extraordinary value to them years after leaving. The few who are here short term provide an opportunity to experience a revolving population of very diverse people.

Despite this variety of connection, everyone who lives here agrees to follow our four rules (described below) and to use our method of problem solving.

Decision Making

Decision Making procedures are not fixed. Matters that require major resources or policy issues are usually made by consensus of the core group and interested community members after much dialogue. Occasionally, specific issues are decided by vote. Area coordinators have authority to make most work decisions, but only after getting input interactively. Almost anyone can have an area of work or administrative function to coordinate -- and therefore some decision making authority -- if they are willing to take responsibility for it.

The idea is that most current issues are better resolved by treating each conflict as a new event that requires its own unique attention, and that old considerations are rarely relevant to new problems.

Rules and Agreements

Rules and Agreements: Since we deal with problems daily in open discussion, we are able to limit ourselves to only 4 rules:

1) Non-violence to people or things; 2) No free rides (everybody is required to work productively or pay their expenses); 3) No illegality (including illegal drugs); 4) This rule requires that people bring their complaints about the community or people in it to the group, where the problems can be discussed and resolved with the people involved. The reason for Rule 4 is that the community suffers when negativity is presented as non-negotiable fact in private or public venues.

People breaking one of these rules will be asked to leave.

Agreements are made and changed often. Anyone can bring up any issue any time, and anything can be somewhat modified, if that's what it takes to meet people's needs. We've agreed in principle to help everyone get as much of what they want as possible. None of this consistently goes according to plan, but we work on it.

Communication, Our Central Value

Good interactive communication is our central value. Of course, we include emotional and other nonverbal exchanges in our definition of communication. Critical feedback is clearly the most important and seems to be the hardest kind of information to give or to accept. Yet it's obviously necessary to identify mistakes before we can correct them.

We've opted to increase our receptivity to intake rather than try to control the content or style of people's output. The idea is to disclose what's really happening and then work out what's wanted; instead of hiding unpopular thoughts and feelings, and living in a haze of unknowns and deceptions. That means making approval or disapproval far less important than we now do. We created an environment in which we really are safe to do these things -- but we don't always feel safe. Too often, most of us still hide our truth and recoil from others when they present theirs. It's a full time job learning to do better.

We have used many methods over the years, including a range of relaxation and mind quieting procedures; a variety of instruments for performance feedback and behavioral recordkeeping; and study groups that define terms and discuss theories of behavior. The main approach we rely on now is direct discussion. Therefore, group involvement is almost a daily event at Ganas. Five mornings a week, Tuesdays through Saturdays, , from 7:45 to 9:45, is when most of the work really happens. We discuss business and personal problems, explore hidden agendas and defenses, and think about how we communicate (or don't) about whatever is going on.

About 30 or 35 people are committed to try to express feelings and thoughts freely. We've agreed to maintain one focus at these times so that anyone that speaks can expect to have everyone's attention. Many people find these large interactive groups difficult -- even frightening -- at first, but some newcomers find the rewards worth the effort, and participation keeps growing.

Ganas Businesses

Recycling is the community's business. Most of our work happens in 3 retail stores called Every Thing Goes. One store refinishes and sells furniture. The second offers clothing. The third is a combination book store, internet cafe and neighborhood performance venue and art gallery. The businesses are housed near the residences. They are well organized, efficiently run, attractive, and profitable. Most of the inventory is comprised of donations from households and estates; and several items that we produce or re-make in the community.

Approximately 15-20 people are involved with the businesses. Another 12-15 people work with the food, gardening, housekeeping, administration, and maintaining or upgrading the property and vehicles.  Full time work is 37.5 hours a week. Your wages are enough to cover all your community expenses plus up to about $400 per month. Some members may also be eligible for bonuses at the end of the year. Usually about 25 people work outside the community and pay their expenses.

Most of Ganas shares a strong work ethic. It is important to most of us to create replicable models of profitable cooperatives in the context of ecologically sound practices and socially valuable products. As resources grow, Ganas plans to support many new, potentially profitable, socially valuable ventures proposed by members.

Source: http://www.ganas.org/