Great Examples of Neighboring Cities

 


There are several unique examples across the United States of city-driving neighborhood engagement efforts and events are worthy of mentioning here. This list was first developed for a presentation to the Michigan Municipal League in 2024.

Learn more by reading the blog related to the activity of each mentioned city.

1. Peoria, Arizona Goes Outside City Hall for Resident Engagement. Read here my interview and story with leaders there about neighborhood engagement meetings.

2. Colorado Springs - 1,000 block parties and counting. Read here by detail of the block parties happening in 2024 in The Springs. It is a community wide effort with city support designed to help neighbors make connections and reduce loneliness. You might also enjoy this video interview with Thomas Thompson, who is leading the 1,000 block party effort in Colorado Springs.

3. Midland, Michigan Leads the Way With Neighboring. Dave Runyon, author of "The Art of Neighboring," told me about Midland Michigan when I was first starting research on the topic and the Mayor and others there were glad to talk about their city. I wrote a blog about some of there work. But I also have two videos. In one, Midland, Michigan featured in this Neighboring 101 session on YouTube. And in the other, I feature Community Art projects including one in Midland on this Neighboring 101 session on YouTube.

4. Community Works works with communities in Michigan and beyond with a goal to help you activate the power of neighborhoods to create long-term, positive change. You can read more about it in this blog. There is an intro video that further explains the work of Great Lakes Urban, which is now known as Community Works, and you can view it here. Community works does a series of meetings called Bright Spots in ABCD every couple of months. They featured Holland, Michigan in this video. They also featured the Neighboring Movement in this video.

5. Hopeful Neighborhood Project Can Coach You and Residents Toward Connection. I have featured the Hopeful Neighborhood Project on Neighboring 101 more than once. The first time it was to explain the overall organization and you can see that video here. I also add the director on to explain their neighborhood process and you can see those videos here: Discover Your Gifts, Imagine the Possibilities, Pursue the Common Good.

6. The Neighboring Movement is Nurturing Culture-Change. The Neighboring Movement out of Wichita, KS is nurturing a culture-changing movement by discovering, connecting, and mobilizing the gifts of neighbors. Through simple tools and practices you can try on your block, you can help us change a culture of scarcity into a culture of neighboring; defined by joy, relationship, and abundance. Read more in this blog.

7. Holland, Michigan is putting neighboring and ABCD lessons into practice. One group is leading the local effort: 3Sixty is a placemaking nonprofit organizing residents, faith leaders, nonprofits, and city government as neighbors to revitalize their neighborhoods. Read more about 3Sixty in this blog or see an interview about the award winning mural festival in Holland.

8. Springfield, Missouri, where new partnerships and a renewed interest, is breathing new life into a 25 year effort in Springfield to develop healthy and functional neighborhood associations with the goal of creating neighborhoods that are clean, friendly and safe. In 2024, one of the new initiatives has been the Mayor's Queen City Block Challenge that you can learn more about here. If you want a good laugh, see the PSA for the challenge here.

8. And do not forget the Engaged Neighbor Program. We focus efforts on Missouri but have connections nationwide and our tools, like the Engaged Neighbor Pledge and our award winning newsletter could benefit you and your community. This is also home to Missouri Good Neighbor Week (Sept. 28 - Oct. 4). More information online.


MORE INFORMATION

Does this article make you interested in taking the Engaged Neighbor pledge? Five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge online at http://engagedneighbor.com.

Contact the blog author, David L. Burton at dburton541@yahoo.com.

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