A Social Justice Commune in the heart of Seattle
We are currently seeking members! Check out the 'Becoming a Member' page, and spread the word!
Founded in 1996, the Emma Goldman Finishing School is an intentional community in the North Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle. Formerly known as the Beacon Hill House, we changed our name in 2003.Our community is based on the principles of societal change, egalitarianism, non-violence, ecology, simplicity, community living. Our home is a fun and supportive place to live, and it is also an institution working to build economic, political, and cultural alternatives. We see ourselves as part of a growing infrastructure designed to oppose and replace the dominant system.
As an egalitarian community, we value our labor equally. Some of us work more hours at jobs which bring in money, others work more around the house and on community projects. Regardless, we all contribute equal time. Every member is able to have all their basic needs met by the community, including food, shelter, transportation, health care, and retirement.
Currently, the community consists of eight adults and one child. While we work to maintain a gender balance and to preserve our community's values and politics, we encourage membership in all ages, races, ethnicities, abilities, orientations, and class backgrounds.
We have room for four more adult members and are particularly seeking folks in their 30s, 40s, and 50+s who are interested in living and working with us for the long haul.
Past and current members have founded the Homestead Community Land Trust, the Independent Media Center, riseup.net, the Community Alliance for Global Justice, and the Boomtown Cafe. Members have also been the driving force behind bringing Democracy Now to Seattle and getting Nick Licata elected. We have worked as a midwife, a sexual assault nurse, a music teacher, a gardener, a non profit director, a mathematician, a tech geek, with the chronically homeless, with children, and as social workers with level 3 schizophrenics, with teens, and in low income clinics. Collectively, we have been arrested many times.