Our purpose is to network, provide support, education and training for community leaders of resident-owned manufactured home, cooperative communities in Maine.  There are currently 8, and our goal is 4 more are joining before the end of 2016.  Although the cooperatives are in various rural locations, our work is focused specifically on this unique, affordable housing model.  These resident-owned cooperative communities are all successfully supported by the Cooperative Development Institute's NEROC program (our fiscal sponsor) and receive intense technical assistance to ensure their success.  The scope of technical assistance is limited ot the insular community and does not provide networking opportunities or other advantages enjoyed by banding together with others like it.  In addition to the obvious resource building by networking, engaging in workshops together and sharing knowledge - by forming the association, the groups are in a better position to negotiate bulk pricing discounts when combining the purchase of products and services with other groups.  Our 2015 workshops included community tours and on-site assistance with community gardening and leadership training.  We will continue those trainings for new members in 2016 and are expanding our scope to include solar energy development and emergency preparedness.