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The Membership Process
 Once you've come for a visit (see the "visiting" section), the fun begins! If you are interested in membership, you will have an interview sometime around the 2nd week of your visitor period. The purpose of the interview is to help foresee and work out any potential problems, ensure that the visitor's expectations are realistic, see that she or he is well-informed about the community, and provide the community with information relevant to making a membership decision. The questions are available in advance. In the final week, visitors have an open meeting called a "clearness," where the visitor and community members can talk about what it might be like to live together, along with raising any potential concerns. After that, the community will attempt to decide by consensus to accept or reject the membership application. In some circumstances, we may offer internship or some other arrangement, rather than membership.
Occasionally a decision is made while the visitor is still here, but we make no commitment to that. You should make plans to leave for one week at the end of your visitor period. We will contact you when a consensus decision has been made. If either you or the community believe more time is necessary to make a well-informed decision, occasionally the visitor period can be extended, usually for one week.
Our general policy is "If it's not an obvious 'yes,' it's not yes." In other words, all members need to feel reasonably confident that you are a good fit for membership for you to become a member. If we are uncertain, or don't feel like we know you well enough, we will not offer membership. We may ask you to visit again or offer internship or a position as an associate if that seems more appropriate. In cases where members don't feel Acorn is a good fit, we may simply say no to membership.
We believe that visitors have the right to know why they were accepted or rejected. Reasons for accepting or rejecting tend to include things such as ability to get along with other people, willingness to accept feedback, organization and responsibility, completion of useful work, needs of the group at that time, dedication, respect of boundaries, ability to cope with existing mental or emotional issues, and commitment to nonviolence, community living and egalitarianism.
We strive to keep our membership as open as possible and are willing to consider any special needs (such as financial obligations, physical and mental health conditions, age, single parenthood, etc.). If you foresee potential concerns regarding your membership application, it is wise to bring them up as early as possible so that we have time to think about it and try to work something out. Similarly, if people here have specific concerns about you as a member, we encourage them to talk with you about it prior to the decision.
If accepted for membership, you are welcome to move in immediately if there is a room available or if you are willing to camp. Once you are a member, there is a provisional period of at least one year. In most ways provisional and full members are treated exactly the same. The main differences are that the community can decide to expel a provisional member for any reason at any time (although this is extremely rare), provisional members do not receive health benefits, and provisional members technically cannot block any community decision. However, their input is still taken seriously. Since we operate by consensus, any one full member may block someone's provisional period from continuing or from moving to become a full member. However, except in cases of violence, abuse, or serious violation of policy, any member who has issues with another member is expected to make a full, good faith effort to work out the problems rather than force someone to leave the community.
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