Organize community events
1. Host an annual Southwest-style luminaria display (one neighborhood has more than 50,000 candles in bags lining its streets).
2. Combine cause and community by presenting an annual home tour to raise money for charities.
3. Organize regular wine-tasting parties. You’ll be surprised at all the local sommeliers.
4. Hold small music concerts on a common green. Encourage karaoke (responsibly).
5. Sponsor a holiday celebration such as an Easter egg hunt, a summer solstice party, a Fourth of July bike parade and party, Oktoberfest with grilled bratwurst, or a Halloween block party.
6. Start a regular “Mom’s night out.” Wine and dine, go bowling, or catch a late-night mani/pedi.
Help each other
7. Create a new kind of Neighborhood Watch: Build a “care force” that helps out with dinners and errands when neighbors need a hand, and/or host an emergency preparedness night in which you get organized and learn about your neighbors’ special skills (CPR training, etc.).
8. Schedule an annual “barn raising,” at which a volunteer work crew helps neighbors with household projects, from fixing the pipes to mending a fence.
9. Share house keys with your next-door neighbors, and know whom to call in case of an emergency.
10. Encourage a word-of-mouth community network so kids know there’s always someone watching over them.
11. Start a progressive dinner tradition on your block. Ask each home to serve a dish, and go house hopping until you’re contentedly full.
12. Host movie nights, using a garage door as the movie screen. Alternate which home gets to pick the rental, and don’t forget the popcorn.
13. Consider building a gate in fences between backyards to foster camaraderie and use for emergencies.
Develop community spaces
14. Work with the city to convert old railroad tracks or easements into multi-use trails. Then start an urban forest. Let neighbors plant their own trees, and revisit the site to watch your work grow.
15. Establish a community garden, converting neglected public space, however small, into a pocket garden with a bench or two. Digging in the dirt together creates plenty of opportunity for bonding, not to mention some tasty fruits, veggies, and herbs.
16. Make your own playground. Take advantage of a cul-de-sac by devising a play area with a tree swing, basketball court, and plenty of room for riding bikes and skating. (Erect a yellow warning sign to let visiting vehicles know that kids are at play.)
Communicate
17. Produce a community newsletter to keep everyone informed and to build community spirit. The venture can bring together writers, artists, and designers and keep the neighborhood up to date.
18. Put up a community website and a Yahoo group site for public notices, referrals, ads, and event notices.
19. Got a swimming pool? Use a flag system to let neighbors know when their kids can join your kids for an adult-supervised swim. Green flag, come on in. No flag, don’t ask.
Create a community-friendly front yard
20. Plant a colorful perennial border between your sidewalk and the street, put a chair or bench in your front yard, then prepare to say hi to your neighbors when it becomes part of everyone’s stroller route.
21. Instead of tall, narrow walls or fences that close neighbors out, build half-walls wide enough to function as a seat.
22. Plant in front of as well as behind perimeter walls. “It’s like a gift to the neighborhood,” one homeowner said. It also inspires adjoining houses.
23. Build a firepit in front of your house. On cooler nights, throw down some beach blankets, share a glass of wine with the neighbors, and watch the kids play. Or just settle down out front in some folding chairs on a Friday or weekend afternoon, and invite the neighbors to join you.
24. Hang a swing from your porch to get you out front and socializing.
25. Transform those big trash containers into works of art. Working with the local garbage company, one neighborhood painted its containers with scenes of tropical islands, flower gardens, a Southwest landscape ― even a strawberry ice cream cone.
Amelia Ashton
Posts
Dear Serina,
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree about your ambitious goals of making one's neighborhood more neighborly, friendly, and close knit, would you agree that the majority of the people in this country value their privacy and individual rights more than the desire of having a community?
And what exactly is a community? I have to say, I like your list of suggestions and you've pretty much described my neighborhood community here in Laguna Beach. We do all the above things here all the time. But this is not the norm for all of California nor is it the norm for our nation.
In this country we learn to self-soothe at a very young age. Some parenting books even advise us to let the baby cry it out. In other countries, that is considered abusive and cruel. Fortunately, attachment parenting has started to become more accepted here. But for the most part we keep to ourselves. People don't insist on knowing the loner guy or gal who keeps to themselves and we don't get involved. We decide to not invade their privacy and mind our own business. This lack of involvement can sometimes lead to bad outcomes, as we have seen.
Growing up in other countries where the rights of the community outweigh the individual rights, you have the opposite problem. everyone in your family and neighborhood knows everything about you and your life. It can be suffocating and stressful having all your friends, neighbors, family, and co-workers meddling in your life. But while some are just nosy busy bodies, deep down you know you are loved and people care about you.
Having lived in both the east and the west, I have experienced the good and the difficult in both cultures and am here to tell you that there are no simple answers but I do know that this country is made up of amazing people and when they put their mind to fixing something, it gets done. This is a country where hope is alive and things_do_change.
I believe the survivors of tragedies like this will come together and will help make the "meaningful changes" our president hinted about. Remember how MADD got started? What could be more powerful than angry parents who have lost a child? The importance of having a tight knit community is needed now, more than ever, especially since I doubt America will ever give up its guns.
I absolutely agree with you. I myself value privacy and individual rights more than the desire for community; however that doesn't mean that I don't desire some level of community. I think everyone has a desire for both, but to varying degrees.
ReplyDeleteI am jealous of your community lol! My community is full of isolationists. It is a hard place to live environmentally and the people are tough. They are used to surviving on their own and are ok with it. However, I believe even in this community everyone feels an emptiness with the lack of community. And I would call a community a group of people with some connection. I'm sure that's something that could be argued, but it's all I need to determine who to build relationships with! The more care you show, the better.
I think you can respect people's privacy, but also let people know that you're available to support them if they need it. And I think you can have community without losing privacy. Us humans aren't good at balance, but if we do things with the aim of showing care then you can't go wrong.