Meet Your Isolated Neighbors Through a Community Poster
We’re starting to hear stories from all over the United States of folks who are “filling the gaps” in their own neighborhoods. We decided to collect them in one place on the Strong Towns Community Site. Go check them out here, and send along an encouraging word or two.
Photo via The Strong Towns Community
We were able to take some of the extra time we have and put together a "community poster" to try and meet (through a distance) individuals who live in our apartment building and know little about.
- Bryce Mortera, Strong Towns Advocate
Neighbors need neighbors more than ever. We need their advice, as new public health policies disrupt daily routines. We need their generosity, as virtual grocery carts sit in week-long checkout lines. And we need their presence—virtually or at three arms’ length—to remind us that, amid the chaos, we’re in this together.
You may associate these acts of neighborliness with people in socially well-connected neighborhoods, who’ve forged lifelong friendships with their neighbors through block parties, barbecues, and game nights. Strong Towns advocate Bryce Mortera, however, through a story he shared with the Strong Towns Community, reminds us that everyone—no matter their dwelling—can connect their neighbors.
Hoping to build community with fellow tenants in their apartment building, Bryce and his girlfriend created a “community poster,” prompting neighbors to share how they’ve passed the time in self-isolation. Zoom in on the poster below and you’ll find prompts you’d likely engage with if presented in your own building, such as favorite to-go spots, Netflix shows, and podcasts.
As we shelter in place, our communities need people like Bryce and his girlfriend to show their neighbors that we can still connect with each other, despite spending most days in isolation.
Do you have a story that shows how people in your own community have demonstrated neighborliness in response to the coronavirus? Share it with the Strong Towns Community.