Missouri Good Neighbor Week is coming to Celebrate Springfield , and I hope you’ll stop by our booth! The 5th Annual Celebrate Springfield is a free community event designed to bring neighbors together while showcasing the people and organizations that make Springfield a great place to call home. There will be live music, local organizations, food trucks, activities and plenty of opportunities to connect with others. And the timing couldn’t be better: Celebrate Springfield falls on the final day of Missouri Good Neighbor Week! 📅 Sunday, October 4, 2026 ⏰ 1:00–4:00 p.m. 📍 Route 66 Stadium Front Plaza 🎟️ FREE admission 🚗 FREE parking At the Missouri Good Neighbor Week booth , we’ll be talking about simple ways each of us can become a more engaged neighbor and help build stronger neighborhoods throughout Springfield and Missouri. Stop by, take our 60-second “How Neighborly Are You?” challenge , make a neighboring commitment, and learn how small actions can create stronger con...

  When people plan a neighborhood gathering, it is easy to focus on the wrong things. What food should we serve? Should we have games for the kids? Do we need music? How many tables and chairs? Should there be a theme? What if only a few people show up? Those questions aren't unimportant. But they aren't what determines whether a neighborhood gathering is successful. The goal isn't entertainment. The goal is connection. One of my favorite examples happened in my own driveway. My wife and I periodically invite our neighbors to simple driveway gatherings. Nothing elaborate—coffee and donuts, homemade ice cream, or some other simple excuse to put a few chairs in the driveway and invite people over. We aren't trying to impress anyone. We aren't trying to create an event that people will talk about for weeks. We are simply creating a reason for neighbors to come outside, meet one another and have conversations that might not otherwise happen. At one of our gatherings, ab...

  What if one of the best tools for building stronger neighborhoods isn't a big event, a new program or even a community meeting? What if it is a good story? That idea will be at the heart of the next Neighboring 101 session on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at 12 noon Central , when we welcome Dawn Arrington for Session 88 of our ongoing conversation about the art and skill of neighboring. Dawn understands that stories do more than entertain us. They help us see ourselves, understand others and discover what we have in common. In 2018, she founded Comics at the Corner , a literacy nonprofit that uses culturally relevant comic books to promote reading in traditionally underinvested communities. Through pop-up book fairs, reading nooks in local businesses and other creative approaches, Dawn uses storytelling to create opportunities for connection while helping young people discover the joy of reading. Her work is rooted in a simple but powerful idea: people deserve to see themselve...

Missouri Good Neighbor Week is looking for people across the state who believe stronger communities begin with stronger relationships between neighbors. The new Missouri Good Neighbor Week Ambassador Network gives individuals an opportunity to promote neighboring in their communities, report acts of neighboring throughout the year and help encourage others to get involved. “We are looking for ordinary Missourians who believe knowing and helping their neighbors still matters,” said David Burton, University of Missouri Extension community development specialist and founder of Missouri Good Neighbor Week. “You don't need a title, you don't need to lead an organization, and you don't need to plan a major event. You simply need a desire to connect with the people around you and encourage others to do the same.” Missouri Good Neighbor Week is celebrated Sept. 28-Oct. 4 each year, but Burton says the Ambassador Network reflects an important evolution of the statewide effort...

From Orlando to Omaha, Connecticut to San Francisco—and even smaller communities such as Bryant, Arkansas—Good Neighbor Week is becoming a way to turn a simple idea into meaningful community action. September 28 is National Good Neighbor Day, but in 2026, communities around the country are taking the idea beyond a single day. The growing movement encourages residents to meet the people who live around them, volunteer together, celebrate local community leaders, and create opportunities for people to feel connected and included. The National Good Neighbor Day movement encourages communities to make a plan, meet their neighbors and turn one day of connection into something that lasts throughout the year.  Here is what is being planned (or is emerging) for five communities and regions in 2026. Orlando, Florida: A First-Ever Good Neighbor Week Orlando is preparing for its first-ever Orlando Good Neighbor Week , scheduled for September 28 through October 4, 2026 . The effort ...

I use artificial intelligence.  It can help organize ideas, summarize research, brainstorm a headline, improve a paragraph, or answer a question in seconds. There is no denying its usefulness. But a recent commentary by Maria Baer for WORLD, titled “ The Friend Who Asks ,” raises an important question about what happens when we begin asking artificial intelligence questions that we once would have asked another person. Increasingly, people are turning to AI with personal questions, relationship questions and even moral questions. That may seem convenient. After all, the computer is always available. It doesn't appear distracted. It doesn't tell you it has somewhere else to be. But perhaps there is something important missing. A chatbot can give you an answer. A friend gives you a relationship. And relationships require something of us. Good Friends Ask Questions One of the most important lessons I have learned from studying neighboring is remarkably simple: peop...

  We often imagine that great ideas come from unusually creative people. Someone has a flash of inspiration. A brilliant new idea appears. Everyone else wonders, “Why didn't I think of that?” But research on social networks suggests something different. Sometimes the person with the best idea isn't necessarily the most creative person in the room. It may simply be the person who has been in more than one room. Marc J. Dunkelman, author of "The Vanishing Neighbor," recently told me about a fascinating 2004 blog post by Bruce Hoppe titled “ Good Ideas at Raytheon and Big Holes in Our Own Backyard .” The article discusses research by sociologist Ronald Burt and what he called “structural holes.” The idea has important implications not only for businesses but also for neighborhoods and communities. The Raytheon Experiment Burt studied managers at Raytheon and asked them to submit their best ideas for improving business operations. Company executives then evaluated those i...