School Of Living

Auphir Education is a School of Living project committed to land education. It creates physical and virtual workshops, immersive residential opportunities, and events to enhance learning and skill development in land management. The project aims to empower individuals with the knowledge and tools necessary for effective stewardship of land resources through these diverse educational formats. Stellar Roots, a School of Living Land Trust parcel in Virginia, is the home base of the Auphir Education project. Stellar Roots is operated by a collective of Black, Brown, and Indigenous queer individuals. It provides land access to impoverished descendants of America's industrial legacies. The project emphasizes healing and supports land-based community living, focusing on cooperative community living, ecology, conservation, sustainable development, and natural living.

School of Living's Community Land Trust (CLT) involves 6 parcels of land in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Each parcel supports a residential community that involves a living and learning center, demonstrating and teaching cooperative community living, ecology and conservation, sustainable development, and natural living. In 2024, we continued to work on developing a new lease for our Amherst County, Virginia parcel. This parcel is being leased to Stellar Roots, a collective of Black, Brown, and Indigenous People, rooted in healing and in service of land based community living. We also followed up on supporting our other parcels in the Land Trust; helping to solve disputes among parties and updating legal documents. Another focus of School of Living's CLT is outreach and follow up with outside inquiries to our CLT.

In 2024, School of Living's fiscally sponsored projects and committees presented educational events and supported our Community Land Trust activities. Turtle Way at Julian Woods Community held several land-based public educational gatherings. SOL's Administration Committee sponsored a consultant/mediator to help one of our Land Trust Communities resolve problems. The Education Committee sponsored a trip for our President to the AERO (Alternative Education Resource Organization) Conference.