Joseph Shepard: Love Where You Live

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This week on the podcast, Matt and Adam are joined by Joseph Shepard, a member of the Neighboring Movement's Board of Directors. Joseph is Director of Multicultural Engagement and Campus Life at Newman University and recently has begun a new journey as Director for Lead for America Kansas. He is a California native, moved to Kansas to attend Wichita State about 10 years ago, fell in love with our beautiful state and the City of Wichita and is here to share his experiences of how awesome it is to live here and do this work of neighboring!

"... being boots on the ground and having an opportunity to get your hands dirty and the challenges that our neighbors are facing and our communities are facing, and recognizing the power of community. I think so often we rely on different entities to come in and solve our problems and there's nothing wrong with that, these entities are resources, our government, our non-profit organizations, they're resources to help us solve those problems but there is power and understanding that we as individuals and neighbors have the power to change the trajectory of our own communities if we are just willing to get our hands dirty for ourselves."- Joseph Shepard

To learn more about Lead for America, go to www.lead4america.org.

Listen on any podcast platform! Here are links to the most popular ones…

Megan Ginn: The ABCD Rabbit Hole

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This week on the podcast, Matt and Adam are joined by Megan Ginn whom they met virtually during a seminar that the Neighboring Movement was hosting for a global ABCD event. Megan has a gift for finding information and learning from everything she can find and then sharing what she has learned with the rest of us. This episode is a gold mine of sound bites and mic drops!

"Relationships rooted in mutuality... we both have something to learn from one another and there's strengths in that..." when discussing coming into ABCD.

"It's not our role to force people into our vision of flourishing, it's just partnering with them to create it..." when discussing finding joy in the work.

"...one of the necessary components to engaging in this work... shifting from that needs based to asset based approach, is you need to be able to lament really well because you're realizing that you can't control everything. Lament isn't very compatible with happiness but it is with joy."

And as is with all rabbit holes, there's more!

To find more about Megan Ginn's work, you can go to www.CommunityResourceNetwork.com or find CRN on Facebook and Instagram.

To find out more about the Neighboring Movement, find us at www.NeighboringMovement.org or Facebook and Twitter.

Listen on any podcast platform! Here are links to the most popular ones…

Palsys with Palsies Episode Swap

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This week, Matt and Adam are joined by friends, Justin Hancock and Rebecca Mitts. We are doing something we haven't done in a while, a podcast episode swap! Justin and Rebecca are the hosts of a podcast called Palsys With Palsies where they share profound ideas about important topics in an approachable and accessible way. Today, they share with us Episode 11 of their podcast called, "The Gaze & the Dance". 

"In this episode Justin talks about his experience with "the gaze," known in the disability community as being stared at by and interacting able bodied people who don't know how to inhabit the space with a person with a disability. He shares one the best experiences and some of his lousiest experiences with "the gaze." There is a social dance that happens whenever you meet someone different from yourself; so if you step on toes, don't keep stepping on their toes. Be curious, but not an a*****e."- summary from Palsys With Palsies podcast.

Find their other podcasts at:

Apple Podcasts: HERE

Google Podcasts: HERE

Simplecast: HERE

Listen to The Neighboring Next Door on any podcast platform! Here are links to the most popular ones…

Dee Brooks: Let the Dog Go

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This week Matt and Adam are joined by Dee Brooks, ABCD Asia Pacific Trainer and Facilitator for the Jeder Institute and ABCD Asia Pacific Network. She is a world-wide connector for Asset Based Community Development and we are thrilled to have her on the podcast!

Dee shares inspirational stories and ideas that will make you want to get up and go out to interact your neighbors- just get out and "let the the dog go." We are encouraged to turn what may be seen as a challenge into an opportunity for growth and development.

Listen on any podcast platform! Here are links to the most popular ones…

Justin Moore: Neighboring for Health- Recast!

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This week, we dove into the archive and found gold! In June of 2019, we sat down with Dr. Justin Moore, a physician and researcher, and discussed this fact: neighboring makes us healthier. Justin practices medicine in various community-oriented ways, and he also researches the impacts of social isolation and loneliness on physical health. In this powerful episode, Justin shares surprising statistics before giving enlightening advice on how we can all start neighboring for health!

Listen on any podcast platform! Here are links to the most popular ones…

This week, we dove into the archive and found gold! In June of 2019, we sat down with Dr. Justin Moore, a physician and researcher, and discussed this fact: neighboring makes us healthier. Justin practices medicine in various community-oriented ways, and he also researches the impacts of social isolation and loneliness on physical health.

Neighboring as an Introvert

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This week, Matt and Adam are joined by 3 introverted neighbors! Catherine Johnson who works with us at the Neighboring Movement, Daniel Reffner who is a pastor at Aldersgate UMC in Wichita, and Carter Ellis who is a pastor in Kansas City share with us how they are able to be good neighbors as introverted personalities and what gifts introverts can bring to the table.

Listen on any podcast platform! Here are links to the most popular ones…

This week, Matt and Adam are joined by 3 introverted neighbors! Catherine Johnson who works with us at the Neighboring Movement, Daniel Reffner who is a pastor at Aldersgate UMC in Wichita, and Carter Ellis who is a pastor in Kansas City share with us how they are able to be good neighbors as introverted personalities and what gifts introverts can bring to the table.

Neighboring Tip: Walk With Your Neighbor

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This week, Matt and Adam are joined by our very own, Kristopher Swanson who shares with us a new Neighboring Tip. Walk with your neighbor!

As Spring blooms, more folks are out and about in our neighborhoods. Invite a neighbor to walk with you; take in some sunshine! The great thing about this tip is that it is for introverts and extroverts alike. You can fill the time with chit chat about the beautiful weather, how the neighbors' gardens are looking, etc. OR you don't have to talk at all. If you have a neighbor you are comfortable with, you could soak up the sun and just LISTEN. To the other person's story or if they are quiet too, just listen to the wind and birdsong. Grab a neighbor and walk!

Listen on any podcast platform! Here are links to the most popular ones…

This week, Matt and Adam are joined by our very own, Kristopher Swanson who shares with us a new Neighboring Tip. Walk with your neighbor!

Cormac Russell: Part 2

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Welcome to Part 2 of 5 of our Cormac Russell interview. Hosts Matt and Adam are joined by none other than Cormac Russell, the author of "Rekindling Democracy," a much sought-after international keynote speaker and Managing Director of Nurture Development, the leading Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) organization in Europe.

This week, you'll hear Cormac discuss the world as it is, a heightening of a sense of individualism and then asking the question, where do we go from here? What does the work look like when we re-center democracy within the neighborhood?

"Now the question might be, what's the scale in which we can do that work? We know city is too big, we certainly know state is too big, region is too big, so what's the scale? We know family is too small, the individual, that is really not helpful... I think there is a third unit of change and that is the neighborhood."- Cormac Russell

To learn more about Cormac Russell, visit https://www.nurturedevelopment.org/who-we-are/cormac-russell/ 

Listen on any podcast platform! Here are links to the most popular ones…

Welcome to Part 2 of 5 of our Cormac Russell interview. Hosts Matt and Adam are joined by none other than Cormac Russell, the author of "Rekindling Democracy," a much sought-after international keynote speaker and Managing Director of Nurture Development, the leading Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) organization in Europe.

Midland, Michigan Interview: Part 2

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This week is Part 2 of a conversation that Adam and Matt had with the Mayor of Midland, Michigan, Maureen Donker, as well as Alysia Christy from the Cultural Awareness Coalition in Midland. They share their stories of what intentional neighboring is doing for their community. In Part 1 last week, we heard from Maureen and this week in Part 2, we hear from Alysia.

"How do we reach those people to support the narrative that "You belong," that "You have a place here," and that isn't going to happen just simply because of where they live or who their neighbors are but is going to come in the micro-moments that people experience their community through."- Alysia Christy

This week is Part 2 of a conversation that Adam and Matt had with the Mayor of Midland, Michigan, Maureen Donker, as well as Alysia Christy from the Cultural Awareness Coalition in Midland. They share their stories of what intentional neighboring is doing for their community.

Midland, Michigan Interview: Part 1

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Matt and Adam are joined this week by the Mayor of Midland, Michigan, Maureen Donker, as well as Alysia Christy from the Cultural Awareness Coalition in Midland. They share their stories of what intentional neighboring is doing for their community. In Part 1, we hear from Mayor Donker and next week in Part 2, we will hear from Alysia.

"...if we are supposed to love our neighbor, we need to know who our neighbor is." And I thought, "Brilliant! How hard is that???""- Maureen Donker on how they got started.

"So we have deepened the conversation to where everyone could find a piece where they could fit in."- Maureen Donker on how the concept of getting involved with neighboring can be applied not only to church outreach but to schools and businesses, safety meetings, etc. How much safer is the community/school/business/church/etc when people know each other?

Matt and Adam are joined this week by the Mayor of Midland, Michigan, Maureen Donker, as well as Alysia Christy from the Cultural Awareness Coalition in Midland. They share their stories of what intentional neighboring is doing for their community. In Part 1, we hear from Maureen and next week in Part 2, we will hear from Alysia.

Clair Gallegos: Introduction 2021

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Welcome to the first recorded episode of 2021! This week hosts Adam and Matt are joined by the Neighboring Movement's newest team member, Claire Gallegos who shares where she is from and what she will be doing this year.

Claire started working at the Neighboring Movement at the very end of 2020 and is the newest addition to our team. With a professional background of political fundraising and also legislative work, Claire brings a unique set of skills in the realm of organizing on a much larger scale. For the Neighboring Movement, Claire now works as a statewide organizer in order to recruit cohort members, network with similar organizations, and make connections on our behalf - all across Kansas! When possessing free time, Claire enjoys home remodeling and queso sampling.

Welcome to the first recorded episode of 2021! This week hosts Adam and Matt are joined by the Neighboring Movement's newest team member, Clair Gallegos who shares where she is from and what she will be doing this year.

John McKnight MEGA Episode

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Today, we are re-releasing a three-episode series in one MEGA episode! Hosts Adam and Matt sit down with, quite literally, the founder of asset-based community development, John McKnight.

Today, we are re-releasing a three-episode series in one MEGA episode! Hosts Adam and Matt sit down with, quite literally, the founder of asset-based community development, John McKnight.

John began community organizing when he was in his early twenties, and since then, he has done everything from training Barack Obama in community organizing to developing an entirely new model of community development. This model that he developed is of course asset-based community development, or ABCD, and we, the Neighboring Movement, consider ourselves asset-based community developers. That being said, John has always been a hero of ours, and over the years, we have followed his work closely and been deeply inspired and influenced by his practices. He is incredibly kind, absolutely brilliant, and a gifted teacher who always tells the perfect story in order to illustrate a point. We are so very honored that John was willing to sit down on the front porch with us, and we are so excited to share these next three episodes with you all!

In the first episode, John introduces what ABCD is, talks about what asset-based community developers seek to do, and explains how ABCD differs from needs-based approaches. He then details the first two of the five categories of assets that all communities possess. 

In the second episode, John starts by detailing the last three of the five categories of assets that all communities possess and that he started describing in Part 1. Then, he details what the work of asset-based community developers looks like moving forward and how we as citizens gain power. Of course, all of this is interspersed with incredible stories, and we are so excited for you to hear them! As one final note, this episode is dedicated to all of our Canadian neighbors out there; we have been referring to this episode as the "Canada rocks!" episode, and you will soon see why. 

In the third episode, John starts by talking about the importance of fostering cultures of connectedness and community consciousnesses. Intrigued already? Yeah, he has that effect on people....The episode only gets crazier from there, too! Next, John outlines how people, in association, can own their power and ask three simple questions in order to start producing their future together. To end it all, he tells one of our favorite stories of his, and then, it is get-up-and-go time! There is a call to action here, and you are invited to join in this work!

As one final note, thank you for joining us for this series that has been a dream of ours to produce. John's work is incredible, so please check it all out! Here are some resources:

  • His website - Here you can learn more about John and access his learnings, publications, videos, and blogs.

  • His institute

  • His blog

Re-Cast Lora Andrews- Hopeful Neighboring

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During the holidays, Matt and Adam offer some of The Neighbor Next Door's great episodes with a few special guests. This week, we revisit when hosts Adam and Matt sat down to record what Adam had dubbed "The Super Fun Happy Hour" episode and had no idea that this would happen next....Buckle up, and tune in to this hilarious crazy beautiful episode!

Alright, that was the spoiler-free introduction to today's podcast. If you would like to be a bit more surprised with what happens in this episode, we would suggest you stop you reading now....

Okay, spoiler time! What ends up happening in this episode is that Adam and Matt quite spontaneously interview one of our dear friends, Lora Andrews. Among so much more, Lora is an extremely joyful, justice-oriented person and a committed neighbor. She works as the senior pastor of a church in the Kansas City suburbs, and the powerful story that she shares today revolves around some of the action her congregation is taking in order to address racism. The story is just beautiful, like insanely beautiful, and it also speaks to how neighboring can play a part in the work of anti-racism. It's the most hopeful story we could have imagined for The Super Fun Happy Hour!

As has been the case with some of our other episodes, this episode contains discussion of spiritual and religious topics. Because Lora's church is a Christian church, Christian spirituality is referenced in this conversation. As always, we want to reiterate that we do not present these episodes to promote any one spirituality or religion, Christianity included, but instead because we think they are helpful and encouraging for all neighbors, regardless of their relationships to spirituality or religion.

As a final note, there is one swear word a couple of minutes into the episode, and it may or may not be said by one of our hosts....Like our last episode, if that is not something you are interested in hearing, please feel free to turn off the episode and do something else!

As always, thank you for listening, and happy neighboring!

During the holidays, Matt and Adam offer some of The Neighbor Next Door's great episodes with a few special guests. This week, we revisit when hosts Adam and Matt sat down to record what Adam had dubbed "The Super Fun Happy Hour" episode and had no idea that this would happen next....Buckle up, and tune in to this hilarious crazy beautiful episode!

Anna Almendrala: This Is Our House, As Well (Re-Cast)

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During the holidays, Matt and Adam offer some of The Neighbor Next Door's great episodes with a few special guests. This week, they sit down with Anna Almendrala, a health care journalist who wrote a powerful opinion article that was published in The Los Angeles Times and centered around a story of neighboring.

During the holidays, Matt and Adam offer some of The Neighbor Next Door's great episodes with a few special guests. This week, they sit down with Anna Almendrala, a health care journalist who wrote a powerful opinion article that was published in The Los Angeles Times and centered around a story of neighboring.

"We are so honored to be joined by Anna  on the virtual front porch! She is an incredibly compassionate person with a heart for justice, a way with words, and a fantastic sense of humor. Anna covers health care policy for California Healthline, a health news site independently published by Kaiser Health News. She previously worked at HuffPost for nine years, where she reported on health and lifestyle news and was the creator and host of a podcast about infertility called "IVFML." Yes, Anna is a podcaster herself (a much better one, too, we might add)! The podcast was a Webby finalist in 2019 and a Webby honoree in 2018. It also won a 2019 Excellence in Podcasts award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. Check it out! In addition to HuffPost, her work has appeared in publications including The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, NPR, USA Today and on NBC and Univision. She is so very talented!

Anna and Adam are longtime friends, so the episode begins by the two talking about how they know one another and sharing stories. Then, Anna takes it from there and tells the powerful story that she wrote about in her opinion article. If you would like to read the article before hearing her tell the story in this episode, you can do so here. The first part of the story details an experience Anna had in her neighborhood that is extremely disturbing and speaks to the racism present in America and around the globe. It is an experience that Anna had, and others are having, that we cannot ignore. Then, the second half of the story details Anna's bold and compassionate response to the experience. Listeners, Anna participates in neighboring of the most difficult kind. We have so much to learn from her. We mean it when we say it, you are not going to want to miss this episode!

As we note at the beginning of the episode, this particular episode contains more swear words than our episodes normally do. We are very open to this language on our podcast because we know some people use swear words in order to express themselves, process experiences, and tell stories, and we want those people to feel welcome doing so during their episodes. It also feels important to note that Anna would not be able to tell her story accurately without the use of swear words. If you would rather not hear these words, that is, of course, totally fine! Please feel free to skip this episode.

All of this being said, we are so very excited to present this episode to you all! You will definitely want to read more of Anna's work when you are done, and you can do so by visiting her author page here. You can also get in touch with her via Twitter @annaalmendrala. Thank you, as always, for listening!"

The Act of Remembering

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In the episode Matt and Adam discuss the importance of remembering in a process they call "recycling." It is important to remember our experiences over the past year (and beyond) so that we know where we are in the present and where we want to go moving forward.

In the episode Matt and Adam discuss the importance of remembering in a process they call "recycling." It is important to remember our experiences over the past year (and beyond) so that we know where we are in the present and where we want to go moving forward.

2020 End of Year Highlights and Future Plans

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In this weeks podcast episode, Matt and Adam briefly discuss the highlights of the 2020 year for the Neighboring Movement and are excited to talk about what is in store for 2021 and beyond. Where is the Neighboring Movement headed and how can you help?

Find more information about the future of the Neighboring Movement HERE.

You can make a donation to the Neighboring Movement HERE.

In this weeks episode, Matt and Adam briefly discuss the highlights of the 2020 year for the Neighboring Movement and are excited to talk about what is in store for 2021 and beyond. Where is the Neighboring Movement headed and how can you help?

Restoring the Civic Soil After the Election

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In this episode, Matt and Adam discuss what we can be doing to "restore the civic soil" of our communities and find some common ground with each other that stems from our humanity instead of  our politics.

Quotable Moment: "We during an election get hyper focused on this left/right spectrum and the things that you are naming, that spectrum doesn't apply. That's what we need." Adam Barlow Thompson in response to Matt Johnson.

In this episode, Matt and Adam discuss what we can be doing to "restore the civic soil" of our communities and find some common ground with each other that stems from our humanity instead of our politics.

Thanksgiving Gratitude Practice

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Matt and Adam practice remembering the little things for which they are grateful every day and have some gratitude exercises that you can do wherever you are. What are you grateful for? That first cup of coffee in the morning... the extra hour of sleep you may have gotten the other night... the neighbor down the road raking the leaves in your yard... Gratitude comes in all shapes and sizes and it can balance our grief for what this holiday 2020 season may bring. 

Quotable Moment: "Abundance begins to appear when people start to say there is enough. We can live into having enough when we seek satisfaction rather than accumulation."- John McKnight

Matt and Adam practice remembering the little things for which they are grateful every day and have some gratitude exercises that you can do wherever you are. Quotable Moment: "Abundance begins to appear when people start to say there is enough.

Lilly Grant Announcement with David and Katie

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Matt and Adam have a very exciting announcement to make this week! Hint: Partnerships + Hard Work = $$$ Tune into this exciting conversation with David & Katie from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund.

To find more information about the Lilly Grant, click here.

To find out more about the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, click here. 

Matt and Adam have a very exciting announcement to make this week! Hint: Partnerships + Hard Work = $$$ Tune into this exciting conversation with David & Katie from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund.