East Wind's Long Range Plan - East Wind - 1993

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Tags: Process, Organization and Planning, Values, Overview

East Wind's Long Range Plan
01-10-1993
East Wind


East Wind's Long Range Plan EW-B7

(adopted by the board, October, 1993)

After a year of gathering information and thinking through processes, the LRPG has developed a long range planning process as well as an initial plan. The plan is divided into four sections: planning process (section I ), overall community goals (section II) general principles (section III), and objectives for individual community branches or other specific community objectives (section IV). Community goals are those which the community believes in as a whole which will end up being incorporated in the planning and activities of many East Wind work areas for years to come. Principles are ideas to keep in mind while developing and implementing goals and objectives. Objectives are specific, sizable tasks which East Wind wants to accomplish some time during the next decade. These objectives may take anywhere from several weeks to several years to implement. Many of the objectives will be oriented towards achieving community-wide goals. There may be additional objectives as well, but these will not contradict community-wide goals. It will be a part of each year's annual plan to accomplish several objectives from this long range plan.

The initial installments on growth an domestic services will be followed by more installments as the LRPG continues its work. This first plan is only one big first step in the direction of a more comprehensive plan. Other planning efforts will address physical plant, land use, zoning, location and design of buildings and utilities installations, agriculture, income generation, money management, labor, management, administrative structure, children's program, etc. The social long range planning group will be concentrating their efforts on the people-related matters.

I. Planning Process

This plan is not meant to be either complete or unchanging; but rather a living document which changes once per year, from two primary sources. the first source will be recommendations generated form studies done by the LRPG. The second source will be recommendations generated from managers as they identify additional goals and objectives discovered in the course of their management activity or from member's suggestions.

The Board will process revisions to and appeals of the long range plan as part of each annual planning process. Any provisions of the long range plan which the membership finds objectionable may be appealed by normal community meeting process during annual planning times. The board will publicize this opportunity and attempt to educate current members and new members on the contents of the long range plan.

The annual review process for the long range plan will be as follows:

a. review previous plan in terms of successes and failures towards achieving goals;

b. review and evaluate current goals, suggesting modifications, additions, or deletions;

c. identify and agree upon objectives to help meet these goals, suggesting modifications, additions, or deletions;

d. obtain ratification of this plan;

II. Overall Goals

a. Emphasize environmental responsibility as best we can.

b. Improve managerial and administrative capabilities and effectiveness, as well as skill levels, through improved training (both in-house and outside), evaluation systems, and supporting structures (such as inventory management systems).

c. Acknowledge the importance of recreation through support of recreational outlets of members.

d. Improve the quality, quantity, and variety (smoking, non-, semiprivate, etc.) of public spaces we build while also providing enough basic service facilities (outhouses, showers, dining space, etc.)

III. General Principles

a. Current infrastructure and management systems;

The community will continue to have those features for delivering services that characterize it today (not ruling out decentralization): centralized kitchen and dining, centralized laundry, commie clothes, etc. The major difference will be that such facilities will be either physically larger or able to expand adequately to deal with membership increases.

The overall quality of service will be improved with the following problems identified and solved:

1. problems in staff (needs are stability, competence, accountability, dependability, and interstaff cohesion);
2. availability of information about services including communication flow between service providers and the membership;
3. clarity about what the community provides as a service and what individuals will be expected to provide for themselves;
4. problems in management (recruitment and training of managers, operational procedures clarification, and organizational, structural, and goals clarification for each area;
5. improve planning for community to more smoothly grow or contract when the population goes up or down.

b. Degrees of Sharing and Personal Control

1. Maintain a general practice of providing services through community budgets and infrastructure and be guarded about supporting tendencies for individuals to provide for themselves or other privatization measures beyond the status quo: however, the community may explore the possibility of decentralized domestic budgets for small living groups.
a. The communal sharing aspect of East Wind shall not be restricted to providing basic necessities, so as to develop a material base that contents the vast majority of members.
b. The equipment and supplies (clothing , washing machines, vehicles, food, etc) available for members' use shall continue to be offered on a shared communal basis. The community's management shall periodically determine changes in the quantity and quality of such according to what the community can afford, what the community needs, and what the membership desires.

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2. Formalize and clarify guidelines as to what the community is expected to provide and what individuals are expected to provide for themselves through personal allowances.

3. Develop guidelines stipulating conditions under which personal allowances can be raised or lowered.

c. Ecology and Social Responsibility

1. Incorporate ecological awareness and practice (encouraging efficiency, frugality and thriftiness, discouraging waste, utilizing local resources, repairing, recycling, etc.)

* In the planning and construction of physical plant for service delivery.
* In purchasing and consumption practices.
* In some cases, incorporating ecological awareness and practice will involve a low-tech solution that is simpler and lighter. In others it will in involve either greater wealth generating capacity or a shift of resources form other areas to afford environmentally friendly products and services. The community's planning agencies and management should decide which course of action is appropriate on a case by case basis.

2. Greater attention and consideration paid to social responsibility in purchasing and consumption practices (cooperative movement, workers' rights, linkage with interests similar to East Wind's).

3. Develop ways to implement the above goals and defining guidelines in terms of what is affordable, practical, and not exceedingly restrictive of members' preferences.

IV. Specific Objectives for the domestic service areas

Food

1. The community will develop a concerted effort to include in our diet a much higher percentage of foods that are grown and processed at East Wind, or purchased from organic suppliers. In support of this the agriculture, ranch, and food processing areas will work closely together to coordinate their activities and request (and receive from the) community support for needed improvements such as tractors, fencing, storage facilities, etc.

2. The kitchen management will strive to increase the variety of our diet to meet many diverse tastes and needs, keeping in mind budgetary constraints and coordination with more produced food.

3. A centralized kitchen/dining facility will continue to be a major feature of life at East wind. This will not exclude the creation of auxiliary food preparation facilities attached to residences and other common spaces.

Personal Items

1. A greater effort to supply hygienic items which are environmentally sound.

2. A greater variety of sizes and fits in clothes.

3. East Wind will continue to maintain central clothing supply and laundry facilities. As the community grows, it will be necessary to have clothing and laundry centers in more than one location.

Health

1. The community will give greater attention to raising the general level of cleanliness. Cleaning and sanitation values will be established. Changes in the physical plant and labor supply necessary to fulfill these goals will be made, especially in the following areas....
a. Develop reliable pest control methods.
b. Decentralization of the outhouses and washing facilities.
c. establish sanitation standards for the kitchen and food workers.
d. cleaning and sanitation will be a value in building design.

2. The community's health providers shall develop an ongoing program for health-related information, including literature, health news, workshops, and staff to answer questions and deal with concerns.

3. The development of in-house health services will be a priority via...
a. increasing support for training members in health related fields.
b. stock of home remedies.

4. The community's health providers will continue to develop resources to make available alternative health care.

5. The community will develop ways to assure that effective support for the elderly and treatment of catastrophic illness will be available.

Housing and Common Space

Priorities shall be...

1. Increase common space in residences and public buildings so that there is at least __ square feet of indoor common space per member.

2. Emphasize variety in the community's housing stock including small living group arrangements.

3. Plan development to allow for clustering of some residence buildings.

4. Establish more residences and improve the quality of them by:
a. increasing the standard size of bedrooms to at least 120 sq. ft.
b. finding effective soundproofing
c. installing cooking and showering facilities in some residences.
d. installing thermostats in each room of future residences.
e. designing buildings that are easy to clean and maintain.

5. Standardize bedroom furnishings to include a bed, clothing storage unit, shelves, clock, chair, lamp, fan, and desk.

Utilities

1. the following values for heating and cooling will be observed in the planning and construction of new residences and common buildings and the improvement of older buildings.
a. The use of air conditioning will not be generalized: however, in certain situations air conditioning will be deemed appropriate.
b. Plan for cross ventilation and good insulation in buildings.
c. Use alternative energy sources including solar and wood for heating, but keep in mind that burning wood is a source of air pollution. Further use of electric heat will be discouraged.

2. Indoor toilets, sinks, and showers will not be automatically planned for buildings but may be specifically requested.

3. More outhouses, showers, and laundry facilities will be constructed to keep up with population growth.

4. East Wind will gradually decrease its reliance on the utilities grid.

Education

1. A program will be developed to increase opportunities for members to take advantage of outside educational opportunities as we become wealthier. This will include criteria for members wanting training or education, what kind of pay back we expect, and administration of training in general.

2. Opportunities for in-house training will be encouraged through increases in teaching and skills sharing experiences among members and availability of educational materials at home. The latter may include expansion of our current library facilities and stock.

Civic Participation

1. Highest priorities will be placed on the importance of local relations and activism while maintaining a "liked" status with our surrounding community.

2. Improving in-house education on political issues and concerns will also receive high priority.

3. Community support for political activism on the regional, national, and global levels will continue.

Culture, the Arts, Recreation, and Hobbies

1. Support greater effort to provide field trips and in-house cultural activities.

2. Develop more physical space (studio and performance) for artistic and musical expression.

3. Increase the community's stock of equipment and supplies, including musical and artistic supplies.

4. Design criteria under which artistic expression can be community work.

Communication Infrastructure

1. Establish more quiet areas for phone calls.

2. Improve the quality of the information services.

Accounting

1. Expand the cashier hours and train more cashiers.

2. Improve the timeliness of accounting reports and information.

3. Establish an effort to familiarize members with where to find the accounting information they need.

Travel

1. The community will increase financial support for travel as it becomes wealthier.

2. The vehicle fleet will be expanded as the community's population and services needs grow. EW will set a vehicle to person ratio of at least 1 to 8.

3. Passenger car options will be investigated, and higher mileage vehicles will be added to the fleet.

4. Investigate the possibilities of expanding the community use of privately owned vehicles.

5. Explore ways to alter the most dangerous sections of gravel road entering East Wind to make travel safer and decrease maintenance costs, while at the same time retaining current levels of privacy.

6. East Wind will implement the attached "10 year plan for vehicle fleet upgrade" as part of year's annual planning process.