Overview
Overview
The philosophy of working side by side is alive and well in cities, towns and rural communities everywhere. We call this philosophy “Neighboring”.
Neighboring is volunteering that taps the talents and resources of local residents to strengthen families and help struggling communities flourish into vibrant places to live. It is about the connections among residents that support positive individual and community behavior based on mutual respect and responsibility. Neighboring is most successful in communities that lack access to the resources needed to be self sufficient such as food, housing, employment, child care, health care and so forth.
Be a Partner in Neighboring!
Points of Light, in partnership with The Annie E. Casey Foundation, invite you to see Neighboring as a way to transform America's communities. We challenge you to develop programs that help community members help themselves. How do you do it?
- Get to know the community and build trust.
- Work with community members to identify their talents as well as their desire for change.
- Acknowledge where Neighboring is already occurring and support, not hinder, existing efforts
- Give people access to the tools and resources to help one other.
Many communities, especially those with few resources, struggle with unemployment, violence and drugs. Residents are looking for connections to vital resources that can improve their odds of overcoming these obstacles. But, they may not know how to tap into the talents of their own neighbors.
You can help us fuel the irrepressible American spirit of volunteerism to address some of the most serious challenges in our communities. With your guidance and support, there's no limit to what neighbors can achieve together. You can:
- work with neighbors to identify common goals and foster mutual respect.
- enable neighbors to develop a renewed sense of hope and take responsibility and ownership for struggling communities.
- assist neighbors in creating supportive networks and opportunities necessary to bring them together.
- support neighbors in building a better future for individual and families communities.
- empower communities to create the change they seek.
Neighboring is an asset- and empowerment-based approach that engages underserved and under resourced community members to find innovative, sustainable solutions to address local challenges.
