John McKnight MEGA Episode

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

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!

Neighboring Tip - Practice Physical Distancing

Hello friends! This is our third and final week of spotlighting a few of our all-time favorite episodes of The Neighbor Next Door. Today, we re-release a neighboring tip episode from April, and starting next week, we'll be back with new episodes. Thanks for listening!

This week's episode was originally released on April 28, 2020. Like our other neighboring tip episodes, this one presents a simple experiment for connecting with your neighbors - even in the midst of a pandemic. We hope you not only enjoy listening to this episode but also experiment with the tip presented, and we hope these ideas might be helpful for doing so! As one final caveat, which is mentioned at the start of the episode, because things are changing so rapidly in the world due to the pandemic, this episode is already a bit outdated, and some of our language reflects this. Despite this, we think there are still helpful ideas present, and honestly, this was the most relevant neighboring tip we could re-release. We hope you still find it helpful, and don't forget to tune in next Tuesday for an original episode! Happy listening and happy neighboring!

Social Fabric: Becoming a Tight-Knit Neighborhood

We're continuing to spotlight a few of our all-time favorite episodes of The Neighbor Next Door. Last week, we re-released an episode on social capital. This week, we're re-releasing an episode in which hosts Adam and Matt further the concept of social capital through the use of a new term: social fabric.

As we stated last week, this is a busy time of year for us at the Neighboring Movement, so we decided to take a few weeks off from new recordings and instead re-release some of our all-time favorite episodes from the podcast. We'll be back on August 18th with original episodes, but in the meantime, you won't want to miss the episodes we're choosing to re-release! Last week, we presented a July 2019 episode in which Adam and Matt took a deep dive on the concept of social capital. This week, we're presenting an episode that was originally released on August 13, 2019, in which Adam and Matt continue their conversation about social capital but instead start using the new term of social fabric. Because information from last week's re-released episode is referenced in this episode, we would suggest listening to last week's episode first, if you have not already. Next week, we will re-release a favorite neighboring tip episode, before then returning to original content on the 18th. Until then, we hope you continue to enjoy these re-released episodes! Happy listening and happy neighboring!

Justin Hancock: The Julian Way

Welcome back to The Neighbor Next Door, friends! For today's episode, hosts Adam and Matt sit down on the virtual front porch with one of our dear friends, and co-founder of The Julian Way, Justin Hancock.

Among so much more, Justin is an extremely compassionate person, a passionate leader, a deep thinker, and a gifted speaker and writer. We are so incredibly honored that he was willing to do an episode with us! Justin and his wife, Lisa, founded The Julian Way, a ministry of community, advocacy, and empowerment for those with diverse embodiments. It's an incredible ministry with the goal of developing an empowered community of discipleship in which disability is not viewed as a hindrance or something to be overcome. We brought Justin on today because we think the work of The Julian Way has a powerful connection to asset-based community development, and we're just so excited to share this episode with you all!

As has been the case with some of our other episodes, this episode mentions spiritual and religious topics. Because The Julian Way is centered around concepts of intentional Christian community, 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.

In the episode, Justin begins by introducing The Julian Way before then sharing some of his own story. We then move into exploring the connection with asset-based community development and talking more about what Lisa and Justin's work looks like today. It's so fantastic!

You will definitely want to learn more about The Julian Way, and you can do so by visiting this website: http://thejulianway.org. As Justin mentions in the episode, this website is still in progress, so you will also want to check back in soon in order to learn even more!

As is mentioned in the episode, Justin also wrote a book that you should all read! It's called The Julian Way: A Theology of Fullness for All of God’s People, and you can buy it on Amazon by clicking here!

Neighboring Tip - Wear a Mask

Hosts Adam and Matt sit down on the virtual front porch with Kristopher in order to talk through this week's neighboring tip: Wear a mask. (Yes, wearing a mask is also just good for neighboring!)

This week's episode, like our other neighboring tip episodes, presents a simple experiment for connecting with your neighbors - even in the midst of a pandemic. We hope you not only enjoy listening to this episode but also experiment with the tip presented, and we hope these ideas might be helpful for doing so!

Lora Andrews: Hopeful Neighboring

What do you get when you combine a beautiful story, an off-script podcast, and a surprise phone call to your friend? This episode! When hosts Adam and Matt sat down to record what Adam had dubbed "The Super Fun Happy Hour" episode, they 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!

Anna Almendrala: This Is Our House, As Well

Greetings, friends! We are so very excited to present today's episode, in which hosts Adam and Matt sit down with Anna Almendrala, a health care journalist who recently 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!

A John McKnight Story for Our Time

This week, we're switching things up a little bit! In this episode, John McKnight tells a story about his childhood neighboring, and then hosts Adam and Matt respond to the story.

If you've heard John tell a story, then you'll know you're in for a treat! John McKnight is one of the co-founders of asset-based community development and a hero of ours. At the end of March, we interviewed John for the podcast and turned the fantastic interview he gave us into three episodes; you will definitively want to tune in to John McKnight (Part One, Two, and Three) if you have not already! We have also had the extreme honor to take part in coaching calls with John over the last several months. He is an incredible teacher and storyteller, as all of his podcast episodes attest, and these coaching calls have been so incredible! The story you are about to hear is one that John told Adam and Matt on one of their calls, but we think it's so fitting for life in the midst of this pandemic that we've decided to give it it's own episode. Enjoy!

P.S. You will definitely want to check out some of John's astounding work! Here are some resources to get you started...

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

• His institute

• His blog

Krissy Matthaei with Ashley Barlow-Thompson: Setting Boundaries with Neighbor Kids

Welcome back to The Neighbor Next Door! Today, host Adam is honored to sit down on the virtual front porch with Krissy Matthaei and Ashley Barlow-Thompson in order to talk about setting boundaries with neighbor kids.

It is an honor to welcome Krissy Matthaei to the virtual front porch! Krissy is a supermom and a gifted educator. With two kids of her own and twenty years of teaching experience in the Wichita area, Krissy possesses an incredible amount of knowledge around fostering relationships with young people. Krissy is also joined by Adam's wife, Ashley Barlow-Thompson, and it is always a joy to have Ashley on the front porch! Together, the two friends and moms tag team in sharing stories and tips around what setting boundaries with neighbor kids looks like.

Recently, a new family with kids moved in a couple houses down from the Barlow-Thompsons. While this was super exciting, and Prescott, Ashley and Adam's son, was super pumped to have neighbor kids to play with, it was also a bit nerve-wracking for Ashley and Adam as they started thinking about the boundaries they would have to set. So, they called up their friend Krissy for advice! This conversation details the story and the advice that Krissy gave them and would give other families.

Neighboring Tip - Practice Physical Distancing

In this week's episode, hosts Adam and Matt sit down on the front porch with Kristopher in order to talk through this week's neighboring tip: Engage in in-person interactions with your neighbors while practicing physical distancing.

This week's episode, like our other neighboring tip episodes, presents a simple experiment for connecting with your neighbors - but this one directly addresses the pandemic we are all experiencing. We hope you not only enjoy listening to this episode but also experiment with the tip presented, and we hope these ideas might be helpful for doing so!

John McKnight (Part 3): Turn Those Rocks Over!

This is it. The finale is here! Welcome to Part 3 of our three-episode series in which hosts Adam and Matt sit down with the founder of asset-based community development, John McKnight.

Hopefully, you have had a chance to listen to the first two episodes in this series. If you have not, we would highly suggest going back and listening to them first, as this final episode builds off of the first two. Plus, they are just fantastic episodes!

If you have not yet read a little about John, here is a bit of description...

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 now share all three of these episodes with you all!

In this 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

P.S. The Neighbor Next Door isn't going anywhere! In the weeks to come, we will continue to release new episodes every Tuesday, and these episodes will directly address neighboring in the time of coronavirus. Thank you, as always, for listening!

John McKnight (Part 2): Making the Vehicles Visible

Greetings friends! Welcome to Part 2 of this three-episode series in which hosts Adam and Matt sit down with the literal founder of asset-based community development, John McKnight.

Hopefully you had a chance to listen to the first episode in this series, which is titled "John McKnight (Part 1): Have You Been Out in the Garden?". If you have not, we would highly suggest going back and listening to that episode first, as this episode will pick up right where that one left off. 

If you have not yet read a little about John, here is a bit of description...

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 three episodes with you all!

In this 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 neighbours out there; we have been referring to this episode as the "Canada rocks!" episode, and you will soon see why. We hope you enjoy, and don't forget to tune in next Tuesday for Part 3 and the finale of this series!

If you would like to learn more about John and his work, please check out the following resources:

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

• His institute

• His blog

John McKnight (Part 1): Have You Been Out in the Garden?

Goodness gracious me oh my, do we have a few episodes in store for you! Today, we are releasing the first episode of a three-episode series in which 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 this 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. We hope you enjoy this episode, and don't forget to tune in next Tuesday for Part 2!

If you would like to learn more about John and his work, please check out the following resources:

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

• His institute

• His blog

Neighboring Tip - Neighboring in the Time of Coronavirus

Greetings, all! This week, we're putting a little twist on our regular neighboring tip episode in order to address COVID-19. For this episode, hosts Adam and Matt sit down on the front porch with Kristopher to talk through this week's tip: Brainstorm ways you can be a good neighbor during this coronavirus pandemic, and then pick one of these ways, and do it this week.

This week's episode, like our other neighboring tip episodes, presents a simple experiment for connecting with your neighbors - but this one directly addresses the pandemic we are all experiencing. We hope you not only enjoy listening to this episode but also experiment with the tip presented, and we hope these ideas might be helpful for doing so!

Justin Moore: Neighboring for Health

For this week, we're spotlighting a previously released episode from June of 2019 in which hosts Adam and Matt sat down on the front porch with researcher and physician, Justin Moore. In this interview, Justin presents the fact that 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!

Catherine's Porch Ponderings - Palaces for the People

This week, we're pumped to present a new series: Catherine's Porch Ponderings! Periodically, Catherine Johnson will pop in on the podcast in order to ponder various subjects on the porch with producers Adam and Matt!

For this first episode, Catherine ponders Eric Klinenberg's book Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life. Having read the book recently, Catherine presents and ponders some of Eric's main points and his case for the extreme importance of social infrastructure. We are so honored to be able to ponder on the porch with Catherine, and what she draws out of the book is so illuminating. We are so psyched to share this episode with you all!

If you would like to learn more about Eric's work, or read Palaces for the People, please visit Eric's website: https://www.ericklinenberg.com/