Thank you for taking the first step toward joining our community! We're excited to have your interest and commitment to move forward at this stage.
Becoming a member household at White Hawk Ecovillage is a major life decision. We hope that if you move here, you'll choose to be here for many years. As such,
there is a lot of information on this page, so please be sure to
read over everything carefully and complete all the questions below to the best of your ability.
The process to full White Hawk membership is multi-tiered. Once a household has visited White Hawk in person at least once (or has received an exemption from this requirement by our outreach committee for extenuating circumstances) and is reasonably confident they would like to build here, they are invited to complete this entrance form, below.
A nonrefundable $250 application fee is required to accompany this form. Once you have submitted the form, below, you may submit the fee to paypal@whitehawk.org on PayPal. (They charge an extra $8 fee, so please send $258 to cover that cost.) Or you can mail a $250 check made out to "White Hawk Ecovillage, Inc." and mail it to Gili Chupak, Treasurer, 31 White Hawk Lane, Ithaca NY 14850. Or, let us know if you'd like to pay with an e-check or another method and we can discuss details with you.
Once the above steps are completed, congratulations! You're now an "Applicant Household." At this point you will be added to our community email list so you may observe--and take part in!--discussions related to the community. You will also gain access to our internal website, which is restricted to community households. Here you can read and explore lots of details related to our history and operations: past meeting minutes, decisions, policies, committees, and more. We strongly encourage you to spend some time on this site, getting to know more about us.
During this time, it is also important that you ask LOTS of questions! We will try to give you as much information as you need, but only you will know the specific needs and curiosities you have. The introductory email you receive will give you details on how to direct these questions, though you are always welcome to reach out to anyone with whom you've already been in touch.
From here, the next steps toward membership include
1) Continuing to familiarize yourself and your household with the rest of White Hawk, and to allow us to get to know you as well--ideally through multiple or extended in-person visits;
2) Having at least one "formal" conversation with a White Hawk Member to explore potential challenges to living here, to ensure everyone is on the same page and there are hopefully no surprises down the road;
3) Participating in at least three General Meetings (typically the second Sunday of each month, 3-5:30pm, but please confirm for occasional changes)--calling in via Zoom is an option.
4) Making one other visit, be it social, for a committee or a work party;
5) Taking three to six months for this process, we've found, is a comfortable amount of time for a household to engage fully and give the community time to get to know you more. This timeline can be expedited or extended at the membership committee's discretion.
Once the above is completed and you feel ready to take the next step, you'll submit a $750 nonrefundable "associate household" fee. The community then has time for a closed-door discussion to ensure we collectively feel comfortable with the applicant household. The $750 is refundable ONLY IF the aforementioned discussion results in a rejection of the associate application.
Once accepted, your household can complete a subscription agreement to lease a lot. Once a lot has been leased, you are now an official Member of the Cooperative and you can build your home!
Thank you again for reading the above. You'll hear from us in more detail once we receive your submission to the following entrance form.