Join Us For Our May Community Call!

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Hey friends! Exciting news…

We are super excited to announce our third Neighboring Movement Community Call! The call will be on Thursday, May 6, at 5:30pm CST, and we hope you can join us.

These calls are fun, informal gatherings of neighboring practitioners from across the country - the broader Neighboring Movement! Using breakout rooms, we will provide an interactive experience with time to meet and learn from others who are a part of this Movement. 

During the call, we will...

  • Meet new neighboring practitioners

  • Report on trends and learnings from The Neighboring Movement

  • Engage in breakout room activities around participants' learnings, passions, gifts, and skills

Register below to receive the Zoom link for the call, and as you register, be sure to name a recent learning that inspires you and one that you want to learn more about.

We look forward to seeing you there, and until then, happy neighboring!

52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 8

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 8

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Ask a neighbor to help you with a spring project.

Happy Easter!

We hope this tip finds you and yours enjoying the holiday!

Spring has sprung, and so have the spring projects! A couple of weeks ago, we encouraged you to offer to help a neighbor with a spring project. This week, we’re flipping that tip on its head and encouraging you to take part in a neighboring experiment that’s perhaps a little bit harder in the context of our often individualistic American culture; this week, we encourage you to ask a neighbor to help you with a spring project!…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 6

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 6

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Check in again with your neighbors.

Happy Sunday, friends!

As you probably have noticed, we are in the routine of releasing this particular neighboring tip every seven or eight weeks. Why? Because we think checking in with our neighbors regularly is one of the best ways we can neighbor in the midst of this pandemic. Every seven weeks, we want to give you the opportunity to ask yourself, “Have I checked in with my neighbors recently?”. This week, if your answer is “no”, that’s okay, and now is your opportunity to do so! If your answer is “yes”, that’s awesome, but because so much has changed, and continues to change rapidly, in the midst of this pandemic, we now encourage you to check in with them again!…

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I took the 8 Front Doors Challenge!

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I took the 8 Front Doors Challenge!

Hello friends!

kristopher here, and I hope this blog finds you well. Last week was a sunny and warm week here in Wichita, and I hadn’t yet done so, so I took the 8 Front Doors Challenge! The 8 Front Doors Challenge is, in simple terms, getting to know the neighbors behind the 8 front doors closest to your own. I recently moved and had not yet met even my closest neighbors, so I figured this was it. This was the time. I took the challenge.

And…it was fantastic! So so so good! And so so simple. I baked some brownies with a brownie recipe I like….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 5

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 5

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Offer to help a neighbor with a spring project.

Hello friends!

The Spring Equinox approaches, and with it, spring projects! Now that the temperatures are warming, neighbors are generally starting to come outside, and hang around outside, so much more. With this outdoor activity comes outdoor projects, and that’s what this neighboring tip is all about!

So, this week, our tip is pretty simple:…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 4

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 4

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Continue to research and remain informed about coronavirus.

Happy Sunday to you! We hope this email finds you healthy and well.

This week, we are again repeating a neighboring tip that we have been presenting every few months. As coronavirus cases remain so high around the world, this tip continues to feel incredibly important. This week, we encourage you to continue to research and remain informed about coronavirus. “How is this a neighboring tip?”, you may ask. This is a neighboring tip because what we know about coronavirus will help shape our conversations and interactions with neighbors.

As you are probably well aware,…

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Beautiful Encounters

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Beautiful Encounters

As Catherine mentioned in the last blog post, we recently held our quarterly Community Call. It helped me to remember the important value that we at The Neighboring Movement place on relationships. I think we all are now grasping the importance of connection after being thrown into the middle of a global pandemic, but, this recent call allowed me to reflect on those important relationships in my own life.

There are obvious relationships in our lives like the one with our spouse, family, and closest friends, but there are also those that we often forget about. These can be the seemingly insignificant relationship with that girl that you frequently see at the gym or the grocery store clerk you always run into when you don’t look your best….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 3

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 3

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Double your favorite recipe and share extra with a neighbor.

This feels like one of the most classic neighboring tips, and for good reason; sharing food is a fantastic way to introduce yourself to a neighbor! We have a theory that 93% of all people are powerless against food. Seriously, there's something really magical about sharing out of our own abundance!

The simple act of sharing food touches upon a few key neighboring elements. First,…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 2

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 2

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Participate in conflict transformation with a neighbor.

Hello friends!

We’re diving in headlong today and presenting a tip that’s perhaps on the more challenging end of the neighboring tip spectrum. The tip for today is this: Participate in conflict transformation with a neighbor.

Let’s start with the ideas of “conflict” and “transformation”. We would propose that conflict, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And actually, we would say that conflict can be a really good thing! Oddly enough, the fact that people have, or at least perceive themselves to have, different interests than other people, seems to be part of what makes our world such a diverse and beautiful place! The key to whether we experience positive or negative outcomes from conflict seems to lie within what we do when we experience the conflict itself, and that’s where transformation comes in. Can we take our conflicts and respond to them in a way that fosters healthier and more harmonious relationships, that brings about a greater sense of togetherness, of oneness? Adam, on our Neighboring Movement team, teaches all about the conflict and likes to say that “conflict is energy”. In other words, conflict is a force that can propel us forward, individually and collectively. As odd as it may seem, and as awkward and difficult it may be in the midst of the transformation, we believe that, together with our neighbors, we can transform the conflicts between us in order to foster healthier and more harmonious relationships and bring about a greater sense of togetherness and oneness on our blocks.

So, how do we do this? How do we start transforming conflict with our neighbors?…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 1

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 1

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Take a Valentine to each of the neighbors on your block or floor.

Welcome to Week 1 of Year 5 of the 52 Weeks of Neighboring, and…Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today, we encourage you to celebrate the holiday by taking a Valentine to each of the neighbors on your block or floor!

Of course, these Valentines may look however you wish. Whether they look like homemade Valentines, store-bought Valentines, or a plate of Valentines cookies, your neighbors will love them. This is also a very family friendly activity. Maybe your children can write each Valentine, and then you can deliver them together as a family? As always, we just ask that any delivery you make to your neighbors right now is done while practicing physical distancing!

Delivering Valentines is a simple way to promote neighborliness wherever you live. Each one helps to create a positive, welcoming spirit on your block or floor, and they are perfect conversation starters!

Happy neighboring!

P.S. Because this is Week 1,…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 52

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 52

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Happy Week 52! Let’s celebrate! Reflect on the neighboring experiments you’ve attempted in the past year, and share your stories on one of our 52 Weeks of Neighboring platforms (our website, email, or Facebook page).

We can hardly believe it has already been FOUR years since we embarked on this 52 Weeks of Neighboring journey, and we are delighted by the growing number of folks, like you, who are joining the Neighboring Movement...this is why we wish to celebrate!…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 51

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 51

Neighboring Tip of the Week - If you see a neighbor out walking, or if you bump into a neighbor while you’re out on a walk, ask them if you can walk along with them for a little while.

Hello friends! Happy Sunday to you all!

This week, we’re thinking about meaningful ways that we can safely interact with our neighbors, in-person, in the midst of this pandemic. We know the weather has been cooler for most of us, but hey, the warmer weather is coming, so we think it’s important to be thinking about how our in-person interactions might look. Again, we think these in-person interactions are so important and meaningful for our neighbors! So, this week, we propose this: If you see a neighbor out walking, or if you bump into a neighbor while you’re out on a walk, ask them if you can walk along with them for a little while.

It’s probably most ideal to experiment with this tip with….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 50

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 50

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Check in again with your neighbors.

Happy Sunday, friends!

As you probably have noticed, we are in the routine of releasing this particular neighboring tip every seven weeks. Why? Because we think checking in with our neighbors regularly is one of the best ways we can neighbor in the midst of this pandemic. Every seven weeks, we want to give you the opportunity to ask yourself, “Have I checked in with my neighbors recently?”. This week, if your answer is “no”, that’s okay, and now is your opportunity to do so! If your answer is “yes”, that’s awesome, but because so much has changed, and continues to change rapidly, in the midst of this pandemic, we now encourage you to check in with them again!…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 49

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 49

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Write down something positive you have noticed about each of your neighbors behind the 8 front doors closest to your own, and be prepared to share it with them the next time you talk to them.

Happy January 17th! It sure is a beautiful day….

This week, we encourage you to participate in a neighboring experiment that doesn’t even require you to leave your house! The tip is this: Write down something positive you have noticed about each of your neighbors behind the 8 front doors closest to your own, and be prepared to share it with them the next time you talk to them.

In essence, this tip consists of two separate parts. First,…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 48

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 48

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Reflect on the neighboring experiments you’ve attempted in the last few months.

Every few months, we like to stop and reflect upon our neighboring experiments. Doing so helps us celebrate and grieve these experiences, and it also helps us move forward in a way that allows our past experiments to shape our future ones. Have you attempted any neighboring experiments in the last few months? If not, we understand, and now you have the opportunity to reflect upon if you feel energized to experiment with any in the next few months! If so, that’s awesome, and now you have the opportunity to reflect upon what those experiences were like! Remember, even if any of your experiments feel like failures, you can still learn so much from them! “The greatest teacher, failure is.” - Jedi Master Yoda

Here are some of our tips for neighboring experiments from the last few months:…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 47

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 47

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Make a New Year’s resolution to meet, or re-meet, the neighbors behind the 8 front doors closest to your own.

Happy New Year to you and yours! 2021 is here!

New Year’s resolutions...we’re hearing all about these during this time of year. The history behind New Year’s resolutions is quite rich, as noted by an interesting History.com article. From the ancient Babylonians, to the ancient Romans, to early Christians, New Year’s resolution-like practices have been occurring for many years. Seemingly, humanity has often viewed this as a time to reflect on the past and make changes for the future. We think this applies to neighboring, as well! With that in mind, this week, we encourage you to make a New Year’s resolution to meet, or re-meet, the neighbors behind the 8 front doors closest to your own.

Just think, who are the people behind the 8 front doors closest to your own? Have you met them? If so, do you remember their names? We recognize the implications of this tip could be embarrassing….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 46

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 46

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Text, call, or visit a neighbor who seems isolated and may be experiencing loneliness during this holiday season.

Happy holidays, friends! We hope this neighboring tip finds you and yours full of joy and celebrating safely!

It’s the holiday season, and on a “normal” year, while this season often brings feelings of joyfulness for many, it may also present feelings of isolation or loss for many others. Some are mindful of family or friends who have passed on around this time or in the past year. Others are not able to visit family or friends over the holidays for a variety of reasons. And that’s on a “normal” year! It’s 2020! It goes without saying that this holiday season is a bit different and that so many are unable to be with their family and friends. Sadly, there may just be more isolation this holiday, but let’s not let there be more loneliness!

This week, we would encourage you to take action in order to help your block resist that loneliness. First, we….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 45

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 45

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Bake Christmas cookies and deliver them to a neighbor (or neighbors)!

Happy holidays, all!

The holidays are upon us! Wild. That also means that this crazy crazy year is coming to a close! It’s a time to grieve but also a time to celebrate, and we hope that however celebrating safely looks for you this year, that you enjoy every bit of it!

With the holidays upon us and this neighboring tip being Christmas themed, we’ll keep the tip short and sweet so that you have as much time as possible to experiment with it! Normally around this time of year,…

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 44

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 44

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Reflect back on your neighboring experiment from last week, recall any aspects of your neighborhood that are not very accessible, and begin to form associations or coalitions that you can address that inaccessibility with.

Hello friend! I hope this neighboring tip finds you full of joy!

For this week’s neighboring tip, we are once again so thrilled to be working with our partner organization, The Julian Way. We also worked with The Julian Way last week, and, as a disclaimer, if you have not yet had a chance to experiment with last week’s tip, we would first recommend that you do so, for last week’s tip forms the foundation for this week’s tip. Alright, go! Then, after you’ve done so, to start experimenting with the tip for this week….

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 43

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52 Weeks of Neighboring - Week 43

Neighboring Tip of the Week - Take a stroll or roll around your neighborhood and simply notice the built environment as you do so.

Good day, friends!

For this week’s neighboring tip, we are once again so honored and excited to share some of the wisdom of our friend and co-founder of The Julian Way, Rev. Justin Hancock. Justin teaches about community with, for, and by people with diverse embodiments, and this week, we continue to encourage you to think about the diversity of embodiments on your block and throughout your neighborhood.

Before we begin,…

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