Stories & Blog Posts
One Heart, One Community: A Community Closet Offers Hope
Cristina and her husband arrived in my city during winter. They had traveled for a couple of days by bus to reunite with their family, but they were met with...
Building Community with Book Sharing: 10 Ideas to Recycle and Reuse
My first step when going through this process is sorting. Sometimes I involve my kids (and sometimes it’s better to do it alone!). First, decide which books are still being...
Valentines for Justice
At last year’s Valentines for Justice party, our table was strewn with lace, heart stamps, glitter, fabric flowers, stickers, scented oils, scissors, tape and hot glue
The Time My Friends and I Threw a Party for No “Good” Reason (And why you should, too)
At the end of the summer of 2017, my friends and I threw a going-away party for an air conditioner. … Let me explain. Every summer, Southern California experiences a...
Leading In Your Neighborhood
Leadership in your neighborhood may be the most challenging step, of the ones we’ve discussed in this series, for you to take. Why? Because many people who love and care...
Loving Your Neighborhood
During the summer of 2024, my wife attended a local dance conference hosted in our community. She met a few people there who wanted to make dance more accessible for...
Learning Your Neighborhood
Happy New Year! Every year around this time, life is filled with hope and expectation. The possibilities seem endless. We’ve filled out vision boards, declared our resolutions, and committed that...
Doing What We Can, Stitch by Stitch
In talking about how to be a hopeful neighbor in these modern days, it can be easy to get bogged down in the greater turmoil of the world: A global...
A Solstice Invitation to Rest and Reset
Sometimes growth comes in the nighttime, just as sometimes the sunshine can burn you.
Third Spaces
Less than four decades ago, the term “third space” was introduced into American culture and the English lexicon. “Third space” rhetoric emerged to describe the social gathering spaces that exist...
From volunteerism to accompaniment: how to love your unhoused neighbor
Part 3 of 3: November is National Homelessness Awareness month. To honor our unhoused neighbors during this month we will be featuring a three-part series on homelessness by DJ Johnsen....
Parking Spots and Deli Meat
My alarm went off and I woke to find myself drenched in sweat. There are certainly hotter places to be in the middle of summer than New York City, but...