Stories & Blog Posts
The Power of the Potluck
Everyone has a food story. Sharing food and stories is what connects us and makes us human. This is the foundational premise of Community Plate, a Maine-based nonprofit dedicated to...
Nourishing Neighbors with Words
A Note from the Director: On March 20th, Mister Rogers’ birthday, PBS Stations and others across the country will celebrate Won’t You Be My Neighbor Day to honor his life...
Why Naming Our Gifts Matters
A note from the Director. This piece was first published at the launch of The Hopeful Neighborhood Project, five years ago this month. We launched The Hopeful Neighborhood Project to...
Apartments Are Neighborhoods, Too: 5 Tips for Apartment Dwellers
When you hear the word “neighborhood,” what image comes to mind? For me, I often visualize a residential street in the middle of a suburb, complete with sidewalks, trees, and single-family homes. ...
Fans Have More Friends
It was Sunday afternoon. I was making a cake, cooking dinner, and watching three soccer games at once while furiously typing on a group text with my husband and a...
The 15-Minute City: A Recipe for a Happy Neighborhood
If you’re reading this from somewhere in the United States of America right now, it’s likely that you commute to work. About 86% of us do, according to the most...
I Like to Walk
Note from the Director: This blog was originally published a few years ago. When we rebuilt our website, we saved some of our favorite blogs to share again. This is...
The State of Neighboring in Missouri: Turning Politeness into Connection
Reposted Reposted from we-are-neighbors.blogspot.com. Note from the Director: For our last blog of the year we are featuring The State of Neighboring in Missouri. We felt this was a timely piece as we head...
Substitute Santa
Originally Published Dec 15, 2021 Every year at our church, we have a Christmas Eve service which is led by the children’s ministry. It is always endearing to see the...
Holiday Neighbor Gifts that Build Connection
Holiday gift giving can be pure joy, or a tricky conundrum, especially if you’re trying to find gifts for people you don’t know that well. As our consumption has gone up, and our connections with others have gone...
An Invitation to Listen
It wasn’t all that long ago when I learned that there are different types of listening. As someone who’s come to realize that learning is one of my core values,...
Our 5 Favorite Neighborhood Traditions for the Holidays
Our team listens to a lot of stories. One of the many benefits of the work we do is having the ability to share these stories. To help spread the...