A new deck for a retired veteran. An overgrown yard, weeded and tamed. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, NeighborWorks Green Bay is joining with Neighborhood Associations and the city to work on these projects and more. It's part of their Good Neighbor Week, held Sept. 21 to 27, the week leading up to National Good Neighbor Day.
"Having a strong neighborhood is essential to our health and to our happiness," says Jenny Chevalier, community outreach coordinator for NeighborWorks Green Bay, a NeighborWorks organization. "How do you create a good neighborhood? Be a good neighbor."
Being a good neighbor is something NeighborWorks America organizations engage in regularly, and the Green Bay network organization is devoting a week to raising awareness of how important it is to be a good neighbor – especially now. Chevalier says the idea came out of the NeighborWorks America Community Leadership Institute (CLI). After the CLI training, participating teams are charged with creating a project they can execute in their home communities.
"This year we decided we wanted encourage residents to be a good neighbor in their own neighborhood and get involved with their Neighborhood Association." Chevalier says. They initially wanted to hold it in conjunction with NeighborWorks Week in June and had a variety of events planned, she adds. They made a list of things you could do that cost nothing, like reaching out to a neighbor, and things you could do if you had extra money, like buy food for a neighbor or help fund a repair project.
But with COVID-19, plans for Good Neighbor Week and NeighborWorks Week were put on hold. So was the yearly project week where NeighborWorks Green Bay pairs 400 high school students from around the country with residents who need home repairs, a project so popular, there's a waiting list of residents who wanted help.
"Everything looks different this year," says Chevalier. With COVID, the teens weren't coming to stay in the church for a work week like they normally do, but there was still a pile of applications.
NeighborWorks Green Bay decided to move NeighborWorks Week and Good Neighbor Week to September, teaming up with neighborhood organizations to tackle some of the repair projects on the list. They chose eight and put out a call for volunteers. Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich was one of the people who responded. NeighborWorks Great Falls held a similar project in September, known as CommUNITY clean up.
"Being connected is as simple as a knock on the door," Chevalier says. "The idea is that every year we can have a week where organizations and residents can partner with us to help those in need." Green Bay residents can join volunteer groups or help their own neighbors, she says.
Chevalier says she was hesitant to hold a week centered on volunteer action this year. "I thought people would be afraid to get out. But the enthusiasm has been overwhelming. We've had companies make donations and enthusiastically provide volunteers. It's so incredible when you have too many volunteers; it says a lot about the community."
COVID has changed life for everyone, Chevalier says. "But you can find ways to reconnect in your own neighborhood. Take time to reflect on how to help one another. If you take a minute to talk to someone you haven't seen in awhile, you may find out they need a little help.
Will Peters, neighborhood development specialist with the city of Green Bay, attended the CLI in Chicago in 2019 and was part of the team that came up with the idea for Good Neighbor Week. He's also part of the team organizing it.
"I've been volunteering with NeighborWorks for a number of years," says Peters, who went through homebuyer education with NeighborWorks Green Bay and received down payment assistance when he and his wife bought their home.
Peters says Green Bay has been fortunate to avoid some of the problems of other cities of its size. But it's important not to take that for granted. He became involved with Green Bay's neighborhood association network and heads the one in his neighborhood. The alliance with NeighborWorks Green Bay was natural. "Neighborhood associations are a great vehicle for making positive change and impacting where you live," says Peters. "They give input on the development of comprehensive plans, address crime, or even just have a block party."
He says Good Neighbor Week brings awareness to the assets of the city. "We said, ‘Let's have a week of action and awareness where we really try to rally people to be good neighbors. We live in a time where it's so easy to get caught up in our day-to-day lives. It's so easy to turn on the news and to get depressed. Oftentimes, we take our neighbors and our own neighborhood for granted and we take for granted impact we can have on each other's lives and the community as a whole."
Just taking the time to wave at a neighbor is a start, he says. "Organize a trash walk. Or introduce yourself to a neighbor you haven't met before. Our slogan for this even is, ‘Good neighbors make great neighborhoods.'"
The goal of many NeighborWorks organizations is to build strong communities, Chevalier adds. "And that's how you do it; with strong neighborhoods."
Chevalier offers these tips for being a good neighbor:
- Check in on an elderly or homebound neighbor
- Host a trash walk
- Host a food drive
- Mow your neighbor's lawn/water their garden
- Bake bread or cookies for a neighbor
- Convert a Little Free Library to a food pantry
- Create a sidewalk chalk trail with messages through the neighborhood for people to follow – like hopscotch
- Become pen pals or phone pals with a neighbor
- Host a porch concert
- Garden in the front yard
- Write an old-fashioned letter to family/neighbors you can't socialize with
- Give blood
- Clean your block – and don't forget to keep leaves out of storm sewer grates
- Paint stones and leave them around the neighborhood with messages of hope and community
- Pay for someone's food or coffee
- Let someone in line before you
- Be kind
