Neighborhood Accelerator Program in Boulder, Colorado, Spreads Worldwide

 

For years, Boulder, Colorado, has championed town‐square democracy—from council “listening sessions” to micro-grants for block parties—but a new grassroots experiment is giving that civic DNA a turbo-boost. The Neighborhood Accelerator Program (NAP) is a ten-week, choose-your-own-adventure course that teaches residents how to knock on doors, design flyers, host potlucks, and—most important—turn the strangers next door into a safety net of friends. 

Founded by North Boulder resident Savannah Kruger, NAP has already spread to 88 neighborhoods in 11 countries, yet its heartbeat still thumps loudest right here beneath the Flatirons, where Kruger’s original cohort is rewriting the rules of neighborliness. What follows is a look at how the program works, why it matters, and what it’s already changing on our city blocks.

What exactly is NAP?

At its core, NAP is a 10-week, step-by-step mentorship that blends weekly 90-minute classes with real-world homework: flyer your block, knock on doors, host an event, set up a group chat, rinse, repeat. Participants—known as “stewards”—commit roughly four hours a week and receive guidance on everything from “hello” scripts to event design, plus accountability check-ins via a Telegram channel.

Unlike many civic workshops, the Accelerator is priced on a “name-your-own” sliding scale, with a 14-day money-back guarantee—lowering the barrier for renters, students, and young families who don’t always show up in traditional neighborhood associations. And while cohorts meet online across the globe, Boulder hosts one of only three in-person tracks, co-led by Kruger and community organizer August Elliott .

How it started: a laundry-room epiphany

Kruger moved into an apartment near North Boulder Park two years ago and quickly noticed that neighbors passed each other “without even making eye contact in the laundry room.” So she printed a few picnic-potluck flyers, knocked on every door, and waited to see who would bite. Twelve people showed up, and the seed of a micro-community was planted.

Since then, her block has blossomed: residents hike together, share tools, and once turned off a forgotten stove for a traveling neighbor—proof that “friendship is the best smoke detector,” as Kruger likes to joke. The experiment grew into NAP, which now claims 102 trained stewards and cohorts on five continents.

Snapshot: Month-two on Grape Street

Inside Boulder’s current cohort, Kruger and partner Jon Bo recently put fliers on more than 100 doors, hosted three gatherings, and began recruiting neighbors to slow traffic near a busy pedestrian intersection. Conversations have even drifted toward co-raising future kids—evidence of the “shared ownership” culture the program preaches.

Meanwhile, fellow stewards across the globe are shutting down streets for breakfast block parties, building wildfire go-bags, and creating pop-up third places—wins that pour back into Boulder’s sessions through weekly story slams and mentor Q&As.

Why Boulder is fertile ground

City Hall has spent years nudging hyper-local engagement through the Community Connectors initiative and equity-first outreach guidelines City of Boulder. Grants like the Neighborhood Connection Fund reimburse residents for ice-cream socials, alley concerts, and xeriscape tours that strengthen the social fabric City of Boulder.

NAP slots neatly into that ecosystem: it delivers the skill-building piece—how to greet a stranger, design an inclusive flyer, or mediate a noisy-neighbor dispute—while city programs often supply seed money for the resulting projects. In fact, several Accelerator stewards have already leveraged those municipal dollars to fund block-party permits and shared garden beds.

Dollars, data, and the promise of scale

Because NAP operates like an open-source playbook, alumni often keep building together after graduation. A recent DAO proposal envisions revenue streams from partnerships with municipalities, real-estate co-ops, and public-goods funding so the program can remain “name-your-price” without relying on philanthropy alone.

On the metrics front, the team tracks simple but telling numbers: doors knocked, events hosted, neighbors added to group chats, and “mutual-aid moments”—times someone loaned a ladder, cooked a meal, or babysat in a pinch. Early cohorts report a 70–80 percent increase in neighbors who can name five or more people on their block, a proxy for social safety nets the program aims to weave.

The ripple effect

Community theorists have long argued that knowing your neighbors can lower crime, boost mental health, and even extend lifespan. Boulder’s Accelerator graduates are already testing those hypotheses in real time:

• Public safety: One steward organized a flashlight-tag night that morphed into a conversation about pedestrian safety; the group is now drafting a traffic-calming petition for the city.

• Climate resilience: Another used the curriculum to build a shared tool library and wildfire-prep workday—exactly the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor infrastructure local emergency planners crave.

• Mental health: Participants often cite reduced loneliness and a newfound sense of “having people to call at 3 a.m.” as their biggest win, echoing national data that shows neighborly contact is a buffer against isolation.

What’s next

Every year, when applications open, Kruger says she fields inquiries from HOA boards, renter coalitions, and even a local synagogue looking to adopt the model for its surrounding streets.. The Accelerator team hopes to publish a public dashboard later this year so policymakers can see which tactics—door-knocking, lemonade stands, or WhatsApp groups—move the needle fastest.

In a city famous for its tech accelerators, it’s fitting that the newest startup in town is a startup of human connection. No slick app required—just a flyer, a smile, and the courage to ring the bell across the hall. As Kruger likes to remind her stewards each Monday night: “A neighborhood is a place on a map; a community is everybody on that map looking out for each other.” Boulder is learning, one block at a time, how to make that map come alive.

Written by David L. Burton

MORE INFORMATION

Take the Engaged Neighbor pledge and become part of a movement! The pledge outlines five categories and 20 principles to guide you toward becoming an engaged neighbor. Sign the pledge at https://nomoregoodneighbors.com. Individuals who take the pledge do get special invitations to future events online and in person. Contact the blog author, David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.com or burtond@missouri.edu. You can also visit his website at https://engagedneighbor.com.