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ABOUT US
History

Mission:

THE GOODENOUGH COMMUNITY

To serve individuals and communities by creating opportunities for lifelong, experiential learning that cultivates personal transformation, deep relationship, and regenerative community.

 

The Goodenough Community has three elements to its mission:

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  • To treasure and develop our rural location, Sahale Learning Center, as the core of our sacred connection to nature. We create our own community gatherings held in the arms of the cedars and river, and offer Sahale to groups and to individuals looking for sanctuary and solace.
     

  • To provide opportunities for developing skills that facilitate social learning. The community emphasizes practical friendships and skill-building, such as making and keeping agreements with care and staying steady when in conflict to a resolution. 
     

  • To encourage life-long learning by providing cultural programs for people exploring their gender identities as women and men. In addition, annual events co-sponsored by the GEC include the Sahale Summer Gathering, and our Women's and Men's Culture Groups.

 

If you are interested in any aspect of our work, and want to become more involved, please email goodenoughcommunity@gmail.com

to continue a dialogue with us.

HISTORY

The Goodenough Community began in a collaboration among leaders of the human potential movement in the Northwest. For many years its primary expression was an annual human relations laboratory that gathered people together to grow, learn, and play. For a week each summer, people attending the annual labs experienced a way of life based on freedom, respect, and the value of personal growth, and over time they sought a way to continue that experience throughout the year. They discovered that a network of like-minded friends and colleagues was essential for sustaining an authentically improving life style.

 

After a decade, the community identified itself as intentional and was incorporated as the American Association for the Furtherance of Community in 1981. Throughout this period and in the years following, the community and all of its programs were designed and supported by about 100 friends who desired to help develop one another and share a good quality of life. Starting in the mid 80s, discussions began on the implications of formal membership, and in 1994 the community instituted an experimental three-tiered membership system, honoring the fact that individuals have different levels of interest and investment. In 1999, the community adopted a formal system of membership and participation, with members declaring their intention to provide governance and financial support.

 

The Community has always intended to be both a caring, healing environment and a learning/training opportunity. A core of leaders, most of them friends and colleagues for more than 25 years, has developed an approach to community which involves learning-by-doing.

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MISSION STATEMENT
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initiative 2
initiative 3
Contact
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