On Friday, December 4, from 7-8 p. m., at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Belfast, Annie Russell, a nationally renowned authority on cohousing, will present a slide show about cohousing communities around the country. The event is sponsored by Belfast Cohousing & Ecovillage and is free and open to the public.

Russell is a founder and member of Silver Sage Village, in Boulder, Colorado, one of the nation’s first senior cohousing communities. She has worked for more than a decade as an organizational consultant to Fortune 500 companies and non-profits; currently she is responsible for community building at Wonderland Hill Development Company, the largest developer of cohousing in the United States.

“Annie’s really a pioneer in cohousing, ” said Sanna McKim, the project manager of Belfast Cohousing. “She’s also super smart about how communities work and grow and thrive. If you care about community-building, she’s someone you want to listen to. ”

Russell is coming to Belfast to work intensively with Belfast Cohousing as it approaches a critical moment in its development. “We’ve got nearly two dozen households invested in the project, and just as many seriously exploring it, ” said McKim. “We’re ready to say, ‘What do we need to do to get to the finish line? ’ Annie’s here to help us get there. ”

There are more than 130 completed cohousing communities around the country, and nearly 100 more in development. Belfast Cohousing & Ecovillage has spent two years planning an environmentally sustainable, multi-generational cohousing community.