Launching into 2021!

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As we look forward to 2021 we see 4 areas of focus where our understanding of neighboring and community health are growing:

1. purchasing a building to become: the SoCe Center,
2. working in the SoCe neighborhood,
3. the Kansas Animator Network, and
4. the Good Neighbor Experiment.

If you want to help us make this happen we’d love your support. A donation today will help us achieve the goals for the next year.


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Location! Location! Location!

Neighboring is place-based, which is why we are inspired by the building at 1200 S. Broadway - it stands at the heart of the SoCe neighborhood. As the opportunity to buy the building emerged, we realized there were several ways this building could assist us in our work and impact our community:

  • Location! Standing proudly at the heart of our neighborhood, the building, which has been empty for a year, will now demonstrate the good that is happening in our neighborhood.

  • Incubator Space: The SoCe Center will help us stimulate economic activity in the South Central corridor. With this building, we can provide space for neighbors to launch entrepreneurial ideas into reality with less risk and greater support so that they can eventually expand into their own spaces in the neighborhood.

  • Team Collaboration: With a central, shared office space, members of the Neighboring Movement will be able to gather together to share important discoveries, challenges, and talents that will help neighboring evolve and spread further.

  • Partnerships: The office space will not only be for us and possible business start-ups, but also for other non-profit organizations that want to work in partnership with us - broadening and strengthening our relationships.

Fueling the Movement!

Our work in the SoCe neighborhood is the fuel that keeps us going and informs everything we share with groups at the state, regional, national, and international levels. Within the SoCe neighborhood, our focus for 2021 will be listening and learning. Team members Catherine Johnson and Sydney Roe will be listening to neighbors to discover and connect the hidden gifts in our neighborhood. From this work, we will invite neighbors to partner with us to strengthen our neighborhood by meeting more of their neighbors and launching activities that bring neighbors together.

Connecting the Movement!

There are amazing people all across Kansas who are working to discover what is strong in their community and connect those people and their assets to create their own desired future. The Kansas Animator Network is focused on finding these amazing connectors, introducing them to each other, and giving them asset-based tools to foster their work. Our newest employee, Claire Gallegos, will be leading this effort. This is a highly innovative program and we can’t wait to see what we discover.

Going National!

The Good Neighbor Experiment (GNE for short) our 24-week curriculum for churches giving them simple tools to increase the health of their community, as well as their church vitality. Through the GNE, members strengthen their neighboring muscles by fostering authentic relationships, discovering the abundance in their communities, and following joy toward greater clarity of purpose. In partnership with the United Methodist Health Fund and the Thriving Congregations grant from the Lilly Endowment, Rev. Karen Rice-Ratzlaff will facilitate cohorts and begin recruiting and training individuals who can serve as facilitators of future cohorts all across the country! Did you catch that? ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY! The Neighboring Movement is going national!