Crew

Crews are working groups that have been delegated a specific scope of decision making and operational responsibilities that enable them to lead specific aspects of the project (with guidance from the broader collection of active participants at key decision points).

Each of our Crews consist of a changing set of participants who opt-in to collaborate on an additional area of delegated responsibilities.

We expect multiple crews of various types to form during the Brassica RAD Housing project. Some crews may be needed for short periods of time, and others may be needed for the length of the project.

Regardless of the length of the working group itself, participants are asked to opt-in at each Assembly so that we can distribute the work-load across everyone who has capacity to participate in this way. While participants may choose to stay on as Crew across multiple Assemblies, the step of explicitly opting in is intended to help us identity when we need to rest and/or to communicate when we have other priorities.

The following are examples of different types of Crews to illustrate our approach to working groups.

Governance Crews

Governance type of Crews are those focused on planning and design tasks,documentation, and facilitation practices.

The Process & Strategy (PAS) Crew is our first governance type crew. The PAS Crew’s goals are to ensure that the Brassica Collective is working towards the long-term goals of stewarding multiple sites of housing so that we, and others, can live in secure, resilient and affordable housing. As part of this, the crew will take the initial responsibility for designing and facilitating group decision-making processes, documenting emerging processes, and supporting the emerging direction of Brassica Collective.

The Solidarity Crew is our first experiment in prioritising work that helps us collectively act in solidarity with broader movements for justice. This work includes strengthening relationships with people in organisations that are on the front-line of the fight for specific forms of justice; planing and designing processes to support participants to identify areas we could be leveraging our position as a housing collective to contribute to broader movements for justice; and seeking out already available resources to guide our actions of solidarity and asking for advice when appropriate.

Implementation Crews

Implementation types of Crew are those focused on the project management tasks required to implement specific stages of the project, such as acquiring properties, retrofitting, etc.,

The Seedling Crew will be our first implementation type crew and will take responsibility for project-managing the first ‘Seedling House’ stage of the Brassica project. Associated tasks may include proposing property-selection criteria, project managing house retrofits, etc.,

The Retreat Crew is a short-term crew responsible for the logistical implementation of our first ‘retreat’ - time away from the pressures of day-to-day life where participants to practice co-creating shared experiences while learning about each other, sharing skills, and (hopefully) building trust.

Optimisation Crews

Optimisation crews are expected to form much later; once we’ve some established sites available for long-term habitation. Responsibilities might include things such as navigating the practical details of living in a multi-house collective, site maintenance, etc.,