In this paper, we introduce the Join-Elect-Leave (JEL) model, a simple yet powerful model for tracking the resources participating in an application. This model is based on the concept of signaling, i.e., notifying the application when resources have Joined or Left the computation. In addition, the model includes Elections, which can be used to select resources with a special role. JEL supports several consistency models and is suitable for resource coordination of a wide variety of applications, ranging from the traditional fixed resource sets used in MPI, to flexible grid-oriented programming models. Categories and Subject Descriptors: C.2.1 [Computer-Communication Networks]: [Distributed Systems]: Distributed Applications General Terms: Algorithms, Design