🎄 Gratitude Village Colorado – December 2025 Holiday Newsletter

Dear Founders, Explorers, and Friends of Gratitude Village,

As the year draws to a close, I hope you are finding moments to breathe, rest, and savor time with the people you love. This season always invites reflection—and when I look back on the past year, I am filled with awe and gratitude. In just twelve months, Gratitude Village has moved from a heartfelt vision to a very real, very tangible project with people, plans, and momentum behind it. That only happened because you said yes. Thank you for believing in this community and for helping bring it to life. 💜

Here are some highlights, updates, and what’s coming next as we head into the new year.

🌱 A Strong & Growing Board

We are thrilled to share that Gratitude Village now has a 13-member board, bringing together a wide range of experience in development finance, disability advocacy, architecture, sustainability, community land trusts, nonprofit law, and—importantly—future residents. This depth of expertise will help guide us thoughtfully and responsibly as we move forward.
👉 If you haven’t visited the meet the team page recently head over there and see the incredible group supporting this work.

🏡 Land Update: Westminster Site

We recently made a strong pitch to the City of Westminster for the nearly six-acre site we’ve been exploring since October. The committee will bring our proposal—along with one other—to the Executive Council in late January. We expect to know more shortly after that meeting and will share updates as soon as we can. This is a meaningful step forward, and we’re feeling cautiously optimistic.

🛠️ Get It Built Workshop – Seats Still Available

There are 5 seats remaining for the Get It Built Workshop—and we may open up a few more if demand continues. This workshop is a pivotal moment for Gratitude Village. It’s where relationships deepen, questions get answered, and clarity emerges.

If you’re even considering becoming a future neighbor, I strongly encourage you to attend. By the end of the weekend, you’ll know whether this project is a “Hell Yes!” for you—or whether it’s better to step back for now, with clarity and confidence either way.

✔️ Registered attendees should have received a separate email with the full agenda, location, and parking details.
💛 Thanks to the generosity of several founding members and partners, scholarship funds are available to help offset costs. Please reach out to me directly if finances are a barrier—we want this workshop to be accessible.

🌿 Where We Are as a Community

As we head into the new year, one of the most exciting things to reflect on is who Gratitude Village already is.

Today, our community includes 11 founding households and 12 exploring households, representing 40 people who have raised their hands and said yes to imagining a different way of living. That’s 40 individuals who believe in connection over isolation, shared purpose over convenience, and building something meaningful together—long before the first shovel hits the ground.

What makes this especially powerful is the diversity of life stages, backgrounds, skills, and lived experiences already present in our group. We are parents and non-parents, professionals and retirees, longtime Coloradans and newer transplants—all united by a shared desire for belonging, sustainability, and community-led living.

Cohousing is built on the idea that community forms before construction, and Gratitude Village is already living that truth. Relationships are forming, conversations are deepening, and a collective sense of stewardship is emerging. This growing group is the heart of the village we’re creating—and it’s a strong, thoughtful, and generous heart.

As we move into 2026, we do so not as an abstract concept, but as a real community taking shape—together.

🤝 January Info Sessions – Mark Your Calendars

📅 Tue, Jan 6, 2026 | 5:00-6:00 p.m. Zoom Info Session
→ SAVE YOUR SEAT

📅 Sun, Jan 11, 2026 | 3:00–5:00 p.m.
In-Person General Info Session & Social
Lakewood Library – 10200 W. 20th Ave, Lakewood, CO 80215

📅 Thu, Jan 22, 2026| 5:00-6:00 p.m. Zoom Info Session
→ SAVE YOUR SEAT

🌟 Community Momentum

One final bright note: our most recent info session was our best attended yet, with 17 people joining us. The energy, questions, and curiosity in the room were incredible—and a strong reminder that people are truly hungry for a more connected, sustainable way of living.

✍️ Read, Reflect & Share

If you haven’t yet, I invite you to spend some quiet winter moments exploring our blogs and Substack posts. They dive deeper into the heart of cohousing, belonging, sustainability, and why this model matters now. Sharing these pieces with friends or family who might resonate with this vision is one of the simplest—and most powerful—ways to support Gratitude Village.

As we close out the year, please know how deeply grateful I am for each of you—for your trust, your engagement, and your willingness to imagine something better together.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Blessed Solstice, Happy Chanukah, and a Joyful New Year. May the coming year bring rest, renewal, and continued forward motion toward the village we’re building—together.

With gratitude,
Suzie 💜
Founder & Executive Director
Gratitude Village Colorado