Sofia’s membership process is a 3-step process for the applicant:

1. Applicant fills out our membership questionnaire in Google Forms. 

   • House looks up the prospective member on the Consolidated Court Automation Program (CCAP).

   • House votes to offer an interview / meet-and-greet.

   • If offering an interview, house provides the applicant with interview questions at least 24 hours ahead of time.

2. Applicant attends interview & meet-and-greet with structured questions.

   • This may be online. 

   • House votes on a final meeting.

   • House provides prospective member with a copy of our policy book.

3. Prospective member joins us for a third meeting, including a tour of the house, and an opportunity to ask any further questions. 

   • House votes on membershipping, aiming for a unanimous decision.

   • House offers a trial lease of 3 months. 

   • At the 2 month mark, house votes on renewal of the lease and informs the member, who may accept or deny an offer of renewal. 

When there are no rooms available, the house keeps a running list of people interested in membershipping with Sofia in the future. This list is in the Membership Coordinator’s Google Drive, and titled “Applicant Waitlist.” The membership coordinator is to contact people on the waitlist when a room becomes available.

When the house is seeking to fill a room on short-term notice, the house will process applications on a rolling basis. When the house is seeking to fill a room with 3 months’ notice or more, the house may choose to set a deadline for questionnaires, then vote on questionnaires and interviews in rounds in order to find the applicant with the best fit. 

When the house denies an applicant, the house membership coordinator has a duty to log the denial in a tracking document for long-term record keeping.More than one person can membership at the same time. Upon successful completion both persons become Sofians with individual votes and individual house responsibilities. Upon paying their security deposit of $250.00 ($200 to MCC, $50 to Sofia), they may move in.

Note: 

We don't currently offer a food plan or host house dinners. 

Additionally, because we are such a small cooperative and we value each other's privacy, we only conduct tours for applicants who have been invited for a second interview. Keeping that in mind, please do not visit unannounced expecting a tour. 

CCAP for Background Checks

Sofia acknowledges the systemic injustices fundamental to our "criminal justice" system which disproportionately affects marginalized people and unnecessarily criminalizes life struggles. However, Sofians would also like to ensure that prospective members do not have a history which suggests current members may be harmed. Therefore, Sofia members look up prospective members on CCAP (Wisconsin's criminal justice look-up system) to check for charges around violent crimes, domestic assault, any harm towards children, and embezzlement. 

Sofians have decided that the following crimes automatically rule out a prospective member due to the risk of danger for house members and the house’s financial wellbeing:

• Domestic violence charges

• Sex crimes

• Crimes involving children

• Physical assault within the last 5 years

• Embezzlement

If someone has charges under the following areas, Sofians will clarify with the prospective member what happened and factor this in to the decision-making process:

• Theft

• Physical assault not during a domestic dispute, prior to the last 5 years

• Drug trafficking charges