18 May Freeport Neighborhood Hubs are Growing
Something new and very exciting is happening as we continue to offer the idea of Neighborhood Hubs to our community. When we originally presented the idea of Neighborhood Hubs as a way for us to build resilience to the climate emergencies of storms and floods, getting people involved was slow going.
But recently, people are coming out to Hub meetings in much larger numbers and having important conversations with each other about the whole idea of what it means to be a neighbor in these fraught times.
At the heart of it, people are coming out because they want to feel more connected to their neighbors, to break the social isolation that many experience in their daily lives. They want to know their neighbors’ names, to know more about their lives, to know how to care for their neighbors and ask for care.
As a lot of current research reveals, social media, busy lives, a culture of individualism and mind your own business has, for many, eroded the ties between neighbors and left many people feeling isolated and lonely. A brand-new book by University of Chicago psychology professor Nicholas Epley, “A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness and Health and Connection,” lays out both the research on isolation and the social skills needed to form new connections.
In the last month, hub coordinators from the Wolfe Neck Club and the Thomas Means Club invited a speaker from the Cumberland County Emergency Management Team to give a presentation on emergency response and an informational meeting at the Wolfe Neck Club. We had a great discussion and got to meet so many people with so much experience and skill and energy for the whole idea of caring for each other. (take picture from the website)
For more information, visit freeporthubs.com. There’s a map of current hubs in development and a place to sign up if you are interested in having a conversation with one of us about forming a hub in your neighborhood. There are no set rules for how to form a hub. Instead we are learning from each other, exploring new ideas and seeing what evolves from this very emergent (that’s the cool new word for this kind of thing) vision!