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:
​
-
To treasure and develop our rural location, Sahale Learning Center, as the core of our deep 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 reconnection to self, community, and the earth.
-
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 a social context. 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 the early 1970's as 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. This practice of
experiential learning continued through the next few decades. In time, many of the founding members and leaders passed away, and the group has transformed from a more hierarchical leadership style into a self-led community relying on the elegance of Sociocratic governance. In 2024, the community will be 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.
​