Maine’s NEROC Staff Partner with the Staff of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund’s ROC-NH program for an Informative ROC101 Training

Late last month, seventeen resident leaders, representing seven of Maine’s ten Resident Owned Communities braved the weather forecast and convened at the Medomak Mobile Home Cooperative in Waldoboro, Maine to participate in a ROC 101 training. 

There are ten resident owned manufactured home communities in Maine representing over 450 units of affordable housing that are democratically controlled by their residents. Although these communities are spread across the state, the communities and their residents all share the common threads of self-reliance, self-governance, and cooperative ownership. ROC 101 training convenings offer great opportunities for residents to come together and learn from each other about how to make their communities thrive, and that was clearly on display at the Maine training. Leaders from established communities were able to share best practices learned from experience with leaders from newly formed cooperatives. 

The training covered many important topics including: What is parliamentary procedure and why do we use it? What is the duty of care and loyalty to the cooperative? What are the components of good governance? How do we use bylaws to answer tough questions and utilize conflict resolution techniques to solve differences? Why is any of this important? These questions and so much more were answered at the collaborative ROC 101 workshop in Waldoboro.

The training was led by CDI’s Mellissa Mullineaux, who has been providing technical assistance to Maine ROCs for five years, new CDI NEROC staff member, Patricia Schwebler, who jumped right in leading an afternoon session, and Kelli Cicirelli from ROC-NH. The collaborative approach to the training immediately paid dividends as Maine ROC leaders were able to gain an important understanding of how ROCs in other states operate, share experiences, and have different approaches to successfully manage their communities. 

Participants in the training really enjoyed the day and the breadth and quality of the training and would recommend it to all ROC residents. 

ROCing Strong in Massachusetts!

For the past year and a half, ROC leaders from Massachusetts and Rhode Island have been meeting up virtually once a month for the “ROC Strong” meeting. On Saturday, September25th, ROC Strong went live and in-person, with a group of ROC leaders meeting for an outdoor gathering to celebrate their accomplishments over the past year and network with other leaders. Fourteen ROC Board members representing six ROCs attended the gathering, and connected over lunch and homemade desserts brought by the participants. Jeanne Seaton, President of Pine Tree Village, who had served on the organizing committee for the event, provided icebreakers which got everyone to meet new people and share some laughs.

ROC Strong, as one participant described it, is a combination think tank and support group for ROC leaders to share best practices, celebrate successes, and get support navigating challenges. Topics have included infill, best practices for using social media with your ROC, COVID-safe meeting practices, volunteer engagement, and more. 

CDI staff provided some advocacy updates, including on the efforts of ROC leaders in MA and RI to advocate for the inclusion of the Manufactured Housing Infrastructure Improvement Grant Program (MHIIG) in HR 4497, the infrastructure bill currently in front of Congress.

Participants reflected that the face-to-face meeting was a much-needed break after many months of virtual meetings. One ROC leader shared, “It was so fun to just relax, laugh, and [enjoy] fellowship.” Several attendees had not participated in a virtual ROC Strong meeting in the past, and left feeling motivated to join future meetings. The in-person gathering was a literal breath of fresh air for this group of veteran and emerging ROC leaders, fortifying the group before they connect virtually again during the winter months ahead.