GEN North America (GENNA) has created the Regenerative Communities Alliance (REGEN ALLIANCE) – an emerging collaborative platform for organizations and individuals serving the regenerative communities network within North America and beyond.
GENNA stands for the North American Region of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN). We focus on meeting the needs of community projects within “Turtle Island,” the name given to North America in the creation stories of some indigenous peoples. The image of a turtle in our logo is meant to honor the rich cultural heritage and ecology of Turtle Island, as we work to grow community networks towards a more beautiful, just, and regenerative world.
REGEN and Regenerative Communities because we believe that communities of practice, place, and purpose offer essential solutions to many of the world’s pressing social and ecological crises. Broadly, we term this phenomenon the regenerative communities movement, a subset of a wider regenerative movement, comprised of innumerable individuals and groups that share a common vision of humanity living in co-creative harmony with Earth’s biosphere and with each other.
The word Alliance signifies that we are an independent “collaborative platform” designed to synergize our efforts across networks and organizations. Collaborative platform is just one of many phrases being used to describe new ways of organizing human endeavor that are more responsive to the needs of our increasingly complex world.
Regenerative Communities Alliance is not an organization, instead it is a participatory commons and an emergent field of collaborative potential. We steward a collaborative space with others who are actively designing ways to better serve and make visible those doing community building work on the ground.
“We envision a world of interdependent cooperative communities stewarding the conditions of regeneration, justice, peace and abundance, in order to realize the full potential of flourishing for all life, for all generations to come.”
The following organizations were partners in initiating the Alliance:
- Foundation for Intentional Community – Supporting and promoting the development of intentional communities and the evolution of cooperative culture (through the Directory of Communities, and online resources)
- VillageLab – Developing and offering customized whole systems designs in organizational architectures, new paradigm economic systems, and community cohesion creation for “communities of intent” of all types including businesses and intentional communities.
- NuMundo – Facilitating the transformation of individuals and the world through an interconnected network of impact centers (ecovillages, intentional communities, permaculture farms, social projects and retreat centers)
- NextGENNA – Propelling young adults to energize ecovillages and intentional communities through events, education, and leadership opportunities
- GEN-US – A meeting place and incubator for leaders in the ecovillage movement from the United States
- Ecovillages-Canada (re-emerging network) – Contact [email protected] for more information
HOW TO ENGAGE
We realize that the whole world has been impacted by a global pandemic and the pain and uncertainty of that is reaching communities in many different ways. In GENNA we are continuing to re-orient for how we can best serve our communities and the regenerative movement at large. We see an opportunity within the crisis for regenerative culture and resilience to be our collective response.
We welcome the support of all individuals and organizations in North America that share our values of cooperation, stewardship, and social justice. Individuals may join us as volunteers to develop their skills in project and administrative support. Organizations can apply for membership in the Alliance and be added to our invitation list, from which we will onboard qualified members. We appreciate donations and investments from all who recognize the importance of our work. We’d be glad to hear from you at [email protected].
