MU Extension is the Engine Behind Missouri Good Neighbor Week

I want to ask you to imagine something with me. What if Missouri Good Neighbor Week became much more than a week on the calendar?

What if MU Extension became the spark that helped create a statewide movement of people intentionally connecting with the neighbors who live right around them?

Think about the network we already have.

MU Extension has approximately 300 employees across Missouri. We also have 114 county Extension councils. If we conservatively imagine an average of 15 council members per county, that represents another 1,710 community leaders. Add the 114 county office secretaries, and we have a potential network of approximately 2,124 people connected directly to MU Extension.

Now imagine that every one of those people simply reached out to eight neighbors during Missouri Good Neighbor Week.

That’s 16,992 individual acts of neighboring.

Sixteen thousand nine hundred ninety-two opportunities to introduce ourselves to someone next door. To check on an older neighbor. To invite someone for coffee. To pick up a neighbor’s newspaper. To welcome a new family. To mow a lawn. To share a meal. To ask, “How are you doing?”—and actually listen.

Sixteen thousand nine hundred ninety-two small actions that could remind Missourians that strong communities begin with people knowing and caring about the people who live around them.

Sixteen thousand acts may sound small compared with Missouri’s population of approximately 6.27 million people. But I don’t believe we should measure this opportunity only by the percentage of Missourians we reach directly.

We should measure it by the network we activate.

Research on social change has demonstrated that behaviors and social norms can reach tipping points when enough people within a network begin participating. The precise tipping point varies by circumstance, but the principle is powerful: social change does not necessarily begin with everyone. It can begin with a committed group of people who demonstrate a different way of doing things—and then invite others into it.

That is what makes this such a natural fit for Extension.

We already have people in every county. We already have trusted relationships. We already have community leaders serving on Extension councils. We already have staff who understand the importance of strong communities.

And we already have a simple message: Be an engaged neighbor.

Imagine if every county office challenged its employees and council members to identify eight neighbors during Missouri Good Neighbor Week.

Imagine if those 16,992 people each did one intentional act of neighboring.

Then imagine that one of those neighbors decided to do the same thing the following week.

Eight people reaching eight people becomes 64. Sixty-four becomes 512. And so on.

Of course, real communities don’t grow mathematically like that. People overlap. Not everyone participates. Networks aren’t perfectly connected. But that is not the point.

The point is that movements begin with people. And MU Extension is uniquely positioned to put people in motion.

I believe Missouri Good Neighbor Week gives us an opportunity to demonstrate something that has always been at the heart of Extension: lasting community change happens when people themselves become the agents of that change.

So I’m asking each county office to consider this simple challenge: During Missouri Good Neighbor Week, can we help every Extension employee, every Extension council member and every county staff member reach out to eight neighbors?

Not eight people they already know well. Eight neighbors. Eight opportunities to strengthen the social fabric of their community.

If all 114 counties participated, we wouldn’t just be celebrating Good Neighbor Week. We would be demonstrating what happens when a statewide organization intentionally activates its local relationships for the common good.

And perhaps the most exciting part is this: We don’t have to build the network. We already have it.

It is sitting in our county offices, around our council tables and in the neighborhoods where our employees and volunteers live.

All we have to do is activate it.

I hope you’ll consider joining me in seeing Missouri Good Neighbor Week not simply as an event, but as an opportunity to start something much bigger—a culture of neighboring that can spread from household to household and community to community across Missouri.

Let’s see what happens when Extension becomes the spark.

WRITTEN BY

David L. Burton

For more information, visit the Engaged Neighbor website. Take our pledge and become part of a movement! Or subscribe to our newsletter. Access some of the research documents written by David Burton, the author of this blog. Or better yet, purchase one of his books off Amazon. Contact David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.