Neighborstead

Description

"It is a group of neighbors getting together to form a block club, neighborhood association or a neighbor-based organization that is focused on improving their neighborhood. It generally includes local neighbors building bonds, saving money and improving their quality of life, while becoming more sustainable. A well-formed neighborstead will be resilient against outside forces and consistently increase neighbor self-reliance and interdependence." (http://www.ohsowe.com/about)

Characteristics

"Common aspects of a neighborstead include:

• A neighbor based organization with the purpose of bettering their local block or neighborhood.

• Sharing of resources, including tools, services and skills.

• Community gardens and other food production like personal gardens and distributed orchards.

• Patronizing local businesses whenever possible.

• Regular meetings such as block parties, neighbor meetings, or crime update meetings.

• Neighbors who make an effort to have potluck or other organized dinners.

• Could be associated with a religious group, but is not exclusive of other individuals.

• Conduct neighbor coordinated events such as multi-neighbor garage sales, park or vacant lot clean up events and social movie nights."

(http://www.ohsowe.com/about)