| About Us |
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The JED Collective is a group of organizers, parents, cultural workers, farmers and health workers who share a commitment to living in mutually-supportive community, working together towards increased self-sufficiency and sustainability, and dedicating our life energies in diverse ways towards the work of building social and economic justice, ecological health, and a culture of solidarity and care. You can read our mission statement here . We live together cooperatively in a small house (really a converted 4-car garage with an upstairs apartment), making decisions democratically as a group and sharing resources to build an equitable community. We also share a common love and dedication to the land upon which we live-- over 400 acres of forests and fields called Clark Mountain Sanctuary, and the magical waters of Berry Pond. Since 2001, we have been sinking our roots into this land, working towards our long-term vision of a sustainable intentional community, an organic farm and orchard (Giant's Belly Farm), and an education, retreat and resource center to support work for social change in Maine and beyond. The land is currently owned by Jim and Naomi Nesbitt, with whom we have been working for the past four years to develop a long-term plan for conservation and community on the land. Jim & Naomi are co-founders of Clark Mountain Sanctuary, a non-profit organization (of which JED is an active part) that manages and cares for their forested land. JED, along with supporters in our larger community, is currently in the process of finalizing our logn-term legal structure, which includes two legally-distinct parts. The JED Collective is a non-profit "mutual benefit corporation" that will facilitate the community-living aspects of our project. The Clark Mountain Community Land Trust is a non-profit "public benefit corporation" which will hold the title to the land beneath our community--and someday, hopefully, others--in order to protect it forever as a space for affordable housing, community living and sustainable land-use practice. It is the Clark Mountain CLT that will purchase 30 acres of land from Jim & Naomi. We are also working with the Nesbitts and the Androscoggin Land Trust to place a conservation easement on an additional 325 acres. All of this land, along with the Nesbitt house and some additional agricultural land, will become part of Clark Mountain Sanctuary over the long-term.
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