Some folks have reached out to me about my ideas for neighborhood organizing in general. I’ll respond to each message. In the meantime, I wanted to publicly share some resources in case these help (Google Doc to live update):
I read a piece the other day that I can't find now, that suggested that cars being so present on neighborhood roads has hurt social connectivity because it means children are kept out of the road and away from each other to keep them safe, and this means that kids, who are much more likely to break the social norms of "mind your own business" can no longer be the avenue by which neighbors get to know each other. I wonder if areas that have introduced closures to cars on their local streets are seeing more intermingling of kids and families in those public neighborhood spaces?
I know the folks at https://cityrepair.org/ in Portland, OR, have seen some good outcomes from their work painting street intersections, leading to cars slowing down and people gathering more outside. There are also folks like https://youtu.be/ntwqVDzdqAU?si=uMtPqhg6rxxrHEDA who have done some similar work with slowing down streets 😊
I haven’t yet seen studies focusing on this specific angle, but I would love to!
Yes, thank you! Savannah (and her partner Jon) are friends of mine 😊 I mention her accelerator in my first comment - think it's an awesome opportunity for people to build local community... in community 😅
Some folks have reached out to me about my ideas for neighborhood organizing in general. I’ll respond to each message. In the meantime, I wanted to publicly share some resources in case these help (Google Doc to live update):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pi8Z-WspRM5Kx4pFRC_785t5ruvH3MrVP5BtWpuBqt8/edit
Also as a quick FYI: if you want to meet other folks doing neighboring work, there's two relevant programs coming up that you may want to consider!
https://cabin.city/accelerator (The deadline is flexible but if interested, worth applying in the next week or so)
https://www.villageco.org/builders
If you've got another initiative to add: happy if you want to message me, add a comment on the Google Doc, and/or comment here!
I read a piece the other day that I can't find now, that suggested that cars being so present on neighborhood roads has hurt social connectivity because it means children are kept out of the road and away from each other to keep them safe, and this means that kids, who are much more likely to break the social norms of "mind your own business" can no longer be the avenue by which neighbors get to know each other. I wonder if areas that have introduced closures to cars on their local streets are seeing more intermingling of kids and families in those public neighborhood spaces?
@marthine was it this one? https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2024/07/play-streets-children-adults/679258/
Yes! Thank you!
Oooh would love to see the piece!
I know the folks at https://cityrepair.org/ in Portland, OR, have seen some good outcomes from their work painting street intersections, leading to cars slowing down and people gathering more outside. There are also folks like https://youtu.be/ntwqVDzdqAU?si=uMtPqhg6rxxrHEDA who have done some similar work with slowing down streets 😊
I haven’t yet seen studies focusing on this specific angle, but I would love to!
Thanks for the shout-out! Folks are welcome to join our kick-off call out of curiosity: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlce2rrD0sEtAWCgWChahhvW5yYvyob8OB
Other adds to your list:
- https://camerados.org/ Create a public living room in your neighborhood
- https://www.belongcenter.org/ - they are launching with centers in 10 cities this month
And also sharing my allies doc for local community building: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dFLlakQbjaH7m4SPKMivV_-hm1HbZODmaibQSCtj7QM
Thanks Jason! Added those to the list, and wow your allies list has some great orgs and new names, thanks for sharing!
you might want to connect with each other -long live neighborhoods: https://open.substack.com/pub/supernuclear/p/building-neighborhood-communities?r=2cys&utm_medium=ios
Yes, thank you! Savannah (and her partner Jon) are friends of mine 😊 I mention her accelerator in my first comment - think it's an awesome opportunity for people to build local community... in community 😅