Can anyone to a successful community residential and business arrangement that has worked in the long-term?

Some friends and I are considering forming a community of people that pool their resources to buy property and embark on community business ventures. These are individuals that would like to live in community for the sake of community. We would like the environment to be a place that people would raise their families and children in. We would like it to be long term. We would like to explore collective health insurance. We would like to invest collectively for retirement and for college. We would pool resources to work in and fund business ventures. We would combine resources for child care and some food. We are hoping the environment would grow to the point that it could take over a small apartment building, but it would begin in a house. Does anyone know of anywhere that this is being tried.