Get Started
Start a group chat for the block
Having a group chat facilitates connection and support with just a little upfront energy to get it running!
Easiest way to do this is to start a text chain. Other options include: WhatsApp group, Signal group, Google group (not preferred, as this is email instead of text). Use whatever way makes you most comfortable!
IMPORTANT: Make sure everyone knows that the group chat notifications can be silenced. Some people may not know about this functionality. With an active group chat, there may sometimes be flurries of texts — most of us don’t want a dozen pings on our phone as a conversation is going on! By setting the chat to silent, you can still follow along with the chat without it interrupting your day.
iphone how-to guide — android how-to guide (coming soon)
Start a text chain
Option 1:
Text everybody on the block whose number you have
Ask them to add anybody you didn’t include
Process of elimination to see what neighbors you don’t have on the chain
Leave them a note at their house to shoot you a text
Knock on their door and chat with them about it
Option 2:
Leave a flyer in mailboxes(template flyer coming soon)
Option 3:
Go door to door! See Judy’s experience with this on Alabama Ave below.
Find a reason to text the chat at least once every couple of weeks
Once people are using the group chat regularly, no need for you to keep finding excuses to keep the chat active.
Examples:
We will be out of town this weekend, please keep an eye on our house!
Anybody have a philips head screwdriver?
Anybody going to oval park with their kids this afternoon?
Judy on Alabama Ave, going door to door on her block
“This is so empowering,” said the middle-aged guy at the end of my block when I stopped by to talk about an informal new neighborhood organization.
A month earlier, a parent of young children living several streets away had gathered a group of about 30 neighbors in her living room to pitch the idea of organizing block coordinators for our entire neighborhood located in Durham, North Carolina. The goal was to take better care of each other in these tough times.
I signed up to be the block coordinator of my block of 18 houses. A retired nurse signed up to cover an adjacent block, and she and I put our heads together to design a short list of questions that folks in our neck of the woods might respond to. When we set out, we had no idea how much fun this would be.
We asked people whether they would be willing to share contact information with others on the block, whether they had any skills or resources that might come in handy in an emergency, whether they had any special needs they would like their neighbors to be aware of in an emergency, and whether they would come to an outdoor block party at some point.
Everyone I have spoken with has been enthusiastic, and I’ve learned interesting and useful things about my neighbors in just a ten-minute doorstep conversation. One retired man said, “I’m a soft-spoken, calming presence in an emergency.” Another said, “I like to cook for large groups.” Two neighbors on our block have whole-house generators, and two have landlines in addition to their cell phones. One offered her spacious attic and basement for storage if needed in an emergency. Several people have medical training, and one is a home renovator with lots of tools. Two people said they were good at organizing groups of people. Several said they speak English plus another language. One young man said he is good at shoveling snow.
It was fun and inspiring to see the rich offerings from every home on the block. In just a short time, we have started to build a closer community.