Neighboring

  I first met Ryan in 1999 during my freshmen year at Huntington College, now Huntington University. Ryan was a senior and studying ministry while I was just beginning my business degree. We didn't really spend much time together, but we had close mutual friends and HU was a really small school, so you tend to at least learn about others even if you don't spend much time together. It wasn't until I was several years out of college and moving towards NeighborLink projects, and eventually the director roll, that I began to learn more about Ryan's ministry trajectory towards marginalized neighbors. Ryan moved to Denver right out of college with his wife to begin seminary, and would eventually become a pastor in a local church there. Ryan shares that as he was pastoring, he was feeling personally lead to deepen his connection to the poor and marginalized in Denver as he dove deeper into learning the scriptures. As he spent more and more time, took more and more people with him, he become very aware that relationship with the poor required proximity and a disciplined approach to keep showing up. So, he kept showing up, building relationships, and getting more involved in a few ministries, like Network Coffee House, which he's now the Executive Director of. He's also the pastor of St James Urban Church, guest pastors at various churches, and is writing a book. Ryan describes the Network Coffee House as the “living room” if you can imagine homelessness services as a house. Just as you'd imagine a soup kitchen being the “kitchen” and a rescue mission being the “bedroom.” Network is providing a safe space where unhoused neighbors can find respite from the streets of Denver to have a peaceful place to sit, have some coffee, use the bathroom, and even take a shower. There are no programs, just a safe place with people that want to sit and get to know those currently unhoused. Here is a great clip from the Network website that illustrates the focus. “Somehow, as we become friends with people who are seemingly very different from ourselves God helps us get to know Christ & ourselves better. This is a vision of solidarity. We believe that chronic homelessness is largely a product of the way people bond or attach. Economics is a secondary phenomena—homelessness isn't bad, just different. Jesus was poor by any American standards. We are all poor in one way or another—our discomfort with poverty is something each of us wrestle with. Creating a place for relationship? A long time ago the world was created as a place for redemptive relationships. Then Jesus came along and reiterated to his friends, “I'm going to prepare a place for you so that you can be where I am.” I see the opportunities we create at NeighborLink in a very similar light. It's about relationships, not just projects or fixing things. It's about moving towards the margins so that God may reveal more about himself through others different than us. Ryan and I talk in the podcast about the language we use to describe vulnerability and social services. Changing the terms from “homeless” person to “unhoused” person can seem trivial, but it makes all the difference when you're trying to right-side the power dynamic and embrace the reality that God has created us all equal and given us different vulnerabilities, gifts, and strengths. Do this work for very long and you realize the shift of vulnerability in life can happen quickly leaving us no better off than those we once were trying to help. The more closer you get to people different than you, you find yourself searching for more dignifying language to better describe the situation they're in rather than labeling them as a condition. One of the things that I hope comes through in this podcast is how Ryan's journey, and that of his family's, has taken time to develop and play out to this point. Ryan shares about the discipline at times required to show up day after day, week after week, and to put yourself in what is not a natural state of place for many of us. In doing so, it becomes less about fixing others, and more about becoming neighbors and friends with those that you meet so when the time comes to help or advocate on their behalf, you have no other choice to help because you “feel” it just as much as they do because it's happening to you too. Listen in to the end to hear the encouragement Ryan has for us as well.

I've been getting to know Eric Lerew over the past year or so as our worlds overlaps in many ways professionally. Eric is a kind, engaging guy that loves the local Church, loves people, and really has a heart for being a good neighbor that is an outflow of his personal and spiritual journey. It's a passion he shares with his wife and family as well. I don't meet too many leaders like Eric who communicate and lead from a deep place of experience when it comes to this idea of neighboring as a Christian who can effortlessly weave in their pastoral experience as a former church leader. Eric shares in this episode just how important experience is to leadership, and how one develops a passion for the neighborhood and neighboring over time and in relation to ones personal investment in the process. Eric reminds me of this lesson that you cannot lead others to place that you've not been before and aren't regularly spending time there. Leadership is as much about an invitation to come with as it is a declaration of where we're going, and that is certainly true for the concept of neighboring. Neighboring can be an extension of one's understanding of church missiology and often a physical or tangible expression of faith. For many church-going individuals, this is most often expressed as short-term global mission trips, regular local volunteerism efforts, and neighborhood based evangelism crusades. For those participating, it's a way to have a practical experience to explore the call to love our neighbors through scripture. The more personal the missional experience, the more transformative, and the more often, the more likely it begins to affect ones lifestyle and future time investments along with economic choices. If you stay with it long enough, it begins to change your worldview and hopefully broaden and sharpen your theological understanding of what being a Christ-follower really looks like. This is as true for corporate church mission efforts as well. The more you invest, the more you experience, and the more the Lord invites you to transform. And, the less it looks like “doing things” and more like an integration of everyday life. This is not a simple process, especially for the corporate expression of church. There are deep and energizing feelings associated with ideas around “churches on mission.” Some believe that the Church is the only hope to community transformation. Some have left the church and are so frustrated with the lack of action and ability to bring transformative hope that they understand to be the central core to who God is asking the Church to be for the vulnerable. Some believe so strongly that Church is about relationship with the poor that their corporate expressions involve as much community engagement as meeting together in a building. Some believe that prayer and salvation is the answer to all social ills and if we had deeper faith, we'd be in stable positions. We could list a hundred different statements that align with the feelings of what the “Church” should, is, and could be. The hope lies in the reality that we don't need a “Church” to help us be good neighbors and learn what the Lord has to teach us about His love for us and others. Eric shares that we are a “sent” people and that we've all be called to this mandate of loving one's neighbor independent of a corporate expression. So, be sent. Use transactional service to learn, engage, and help. Then take the lessons you learned and simply begin getting to know your neighbors personally. Invite them to help you before you offer to help them. Eric share that he believes being a good neighbor involves ensuring you know the names of your neighbors and beyond that, know what their life wishes, frustrations, fears, and anything that weights on them in life. Get to know your neighbors in personal, friendship like ways and then increase your boldness to ask simple faith-related questions if your desire is for them to know Jesus as some point. If not, just figure out ways to love them in a personal way. Then, be ready to be transformed and loved by others more than you ever feel like you've loved them. I respect Eric's ability to navigate this tension as both a Christian leader/pastor and as an individual that is passionate about being the best neighbor he can be. We have a great conversation about these tensions and bring hope that tangible expressions facilitated through church-based mission can lead to a greater awareness that one can neighbor and be on mission every day on their own, in their own neighborhood, and that it's easier than one thinks. As long as you have a bit of courage. Eric shares some great stories from his experiences and has great encouragements of how this can look no matter the context in which you live. You don't have to move into a low-income neighborhood to have an impact. I appreciate the tension that conversations like these can create because it gives us all opportunities to grow and have our faith more integrated in our daily lives. Those that I know that would say they embrace neighboring as a part of their faith journey would share that it's no longer a thing to do like when they first began trying to incorporate it in their lives, it's now just part of them. It's just a journey to be the best neighbor and human they can be.

Churches are fixtures of almost every neighborhood. They are often held to high standards as being contributors for positive neighborhood change both corporately and through their members. The concept and philosophy of what churches should be doing, are doing, and can do in their communities is vast and often energizing. Eric and I have a conversation about how neighboring is a natural outflow of personal and spiritual transformation, the challenges and narratives associated with Church-based missiology and activity, and share experiences of integrating simple questions to engage neighbors in faith-based conversations. Eric Larew describes himself as a product of missional leadership and has dedicated the last thirty years of his life to neighboring by intentional living. He has started various campus- and church-based ministries, helped start Love Inc, and has consulted dozens of churches on missional engagement strategies.

My favorite guest agreed to join me for an episode to talk about our kids, how we're trying as parents to create an environment of being good neighbors, and how we feel more blessed by our neighbors than we are blessing them. Michelle and I have been on personal journeys to figure out how to orient our own lives around serving and helping others since before we met. Michelle had wanted to be in the social work field since she knew what she wanted to do as a kid, and has spend her entire professional career as a clinical social worker in a local hospital working with kids. I wanted to be in advertising since I really had any idea of what kind of career beyond being a professional dirt bike racer as a kid, but found life, purpose, and vocation crashing together in my early 20s, which led me towards NeighborLink. We may be a bit down the road in this, but not that far. Trust us, you can do anything we've done at this point. Michelle and I actually met on a NeighborLink project being organized through our church and we've been serving together ever since. The activities of service really led to us continuing our personal and collective journey of how this becomes a lifestyle, not a series of transactions that we schedule, prioritize, and then complete. Although transactional activities are a part of neighboring and a part of getting our family involved. But, the more relational and connected we've gotten, the more this outflows of who we've been transforming into as people. Sounds idyllic right? Well, it's not as glamorous as it sounds in a few words on a blog post. If anything, we talk more these days about how others bless us more than we are blessing them. The more personal and relational it gets, the more sensitive we've become to this whole discussion because it's not as easy as just wanting to do good for others. You can't just show up on someone's doorstep and declare that you're there to help them, especially if they've not asked for it. That gets awkward, real fast. Neighboring is a process and philosophy that requires others, not just what one does for others. It requires vulnerability, being available as you can be, and a willingness to move on our gut and be able to receive when offered. Neighboring is a collective effort, not just an individual effort. This episode is about our family and how we're trying to ensure we incorporate our kids into as much as we can at home, in our neighborhood, and within the organizations we love while listening to them about the things they're beginning to see on their own. As parents, we have a vision for our kids to grow up being kind, generous, aware of others, and willing to do what isn't being done or to stand up for those being oppressed or who have vulnerabilities. Big vision, I know. But, we think it is possible and now is the time while they're young to model that to them and incorporate them into as much as we can. That has looked like buying kids tools such as brooms, snow shovels, and rakes to help at home and as we go around the neighborhood to help others. It's us taking them out on NeighborLink projects or volunteer opportunities that welcome kids to help or at least be present with us as we help. It's having discussions on our family walks about who we can pray for or respond to something that we picked up on in conversation with a neighbor we said hi to. That's led to them suggesting us take cookies, write cards, and even offering to help with something more tangible. When they have an idea, Michelle and I really try to respond rather than saying no or brushing it off, which requires mindfulness on our end. We're now trying to incorporate them into giving donations to orgs, which is a work in process and has led to one of our boys wanting to find a “King Cobra Snake Rescue” organization to give some dollars to. Michelle is likely to shut that one down! The reality is that we're not pros at this, get it wrong as much as we get it right, and are daily shown what neighboring is all about by our neighbors or those we're serving more than we feel like we've helped or shown them. We had some neighbors recently bring a plate of hot brownies down to celebrate our daughters birthday. We're just getting to know them and a simple “happy birthday” would have been great, but they came down with brownies and sung to her. That's neighboring and we were the recipients. Our daughter was the recipient of kindness and we know that it left a mark. Neighboring is about relationships and relationships get formed over time. They always require effort and an openness on both sides. We're simply trying to be open to those we encounter. For us, we're just trying to be present and open. We let the Lord lead us from there.

We all want the best for our kids, want them to learn how to love others in practical ways, be kind to their neighbors, and hopefully develop a broader worldview that helps them see and thrive in a diverse community as they continue to grow. Figuring out how to do that can be difficult, especially if it's not part of the parents regular rhythm. Incorporating your children into volunteerism and service opportunities can be challenging both in theory and in practice, but possible. Andrew and Michelle Hoffman talk about their journey as parents of young kids and how they're trying to model generosity, presence, awareness, and action with their kids. They share plenty of lessons they're learning along the way as well.

  The push to shop local has steadily increased over the past decade as we've recognized that culture drives the market. If our communities lack cultural institutions, who are we, really? Fort Wayne has been evolving and growing in culture as small business entrepreneurs launch their dream businesses that range from boutique plant stores, creative home goods, women clothing, and brilliant local restaurants and breweries. These places provide the goods and services we want while providing an opportunity to build a relationship with a neighbor that has the expertise you need or want to go along with your purchase. They are providing an opportunity for a culture to be built around their business model, which can't be reproduced in an online environment. The internet will never be as excited about your new “Midwest is Best” hat as the buyer or creator in the store you purchased it in.   Good community development strategies begin with building the civic economy because the market always follows culture and people. Right now, this culture is being threatened and needs our market based activity now more than ever. Maybe, the premium of shopping local is what saves local. If we don't support local now, it may not return for awhile. Certainly not in the same way, with the same people. However, I do believe its not only on us as consumers to save the local business network. It's just as much on them to be investing in building community right now. Inviting us in, being transparent, and doubling down on their customer service efforts. In many ways, now is the time for local businesses to prove the value proposition of being a people-oriented businesses that they've been trying to get our attention with for the past decade.   The internet is a powerful tool that makes commerce a lot easier in many ways, but it has been disrupted at this time as well. In many ways, it is making it harder to get what we want in rather than easier. It's been far easier for me to trade Facebook messages with the local hobby shop about RC car parts for my kids toys than it has been to shop online. Plus, I can get those parts the same day and gain some quick tips for repairs. YouTube tutorials only help so much.   This is not a direct conversation on the proposition of local business versus the internet or non-local food chains, but a conversation about how shopping local impacts the community as a whole. Kristin Giant breaks down the economics of shopping local while providing a few great stories of how she's getting people involved in thinking differently about considering consumer decisions as investments. As you begin to expand your knowledge and worldview on this, it begins to make sense in a whole new way. Kristin brings a lot of energy and practical experience, and her voice is as important today for our local community as ever. We may not all be charitable, but we are all consumers. Incorporating as much “good” into your consumerism as possible is a great decision for local businesses.   It's one thing to talk about ideas and another to hear whether it actually makes a difference. I couldn't have this conversation without having a voice on the other side of this. Andrew Smith of Junk Ditch Brewing Company shares their story of how difficult this time is. With business being off about 60% at the time of this interview, it is hard not to be worried about the future. But beyond the economics, Andrew shares the personal impact on his staff from changes in operations, increased risk exposure, and what's been most meaningful to everyone.   Crisis has the ability to bring people together in unique ways and I imagine we're in for some stronger and more community minded businesses in the coming months. If you're fortunate to get through this pandemic personally or as a business on a positive note, you are going to be thankful for those around you that helped you through this more than you ever thought possible.   Our community can be stronger if we invest in it. The civic economy drives the market economy.

I pick up the conversation with Kristin Giant of Hyper Local Impact and with Andrew Smith, co-owner of Junk Ditch Brewing Company. Kristin is a champion for Impact Investing and how shopping local has a huge impact on the livelihoods of the business owners, and on our local community. Kristin provides context for why we should be focusing as much spending as we can locally right now and some great ideas on how we become “investors” in the businesses we love through things like pre-buying gift cards.Andrew shares how much business has changed, what’s changed, what has been impactful, what they’re learning, and why building a community with your customers is important to have a chance to survive through this pandemic.

Kicking off Season 3 of Neighboring with a discussion on what giving and philanthropy looks like through the lens of a donor, a major connector of funds, and an organization that is a recipient of emergency funding. There are individuals in our neighborhoods that are currently in a stable financial position looking for ways to redistribute their resources and the Stimulus checks, but have questions how to make personal and impactful donations. This podcast follows a conversation around some giving questions, the various opportunities at various scales of giving, and how those funds are having a direct impact on a local nonprofit serving the refugee and immigrant community in Fort Wayne.

Kicking off Season 3 of Neighboring with a discussion on what giving and philanthropy looks like through the lens of a donor, a major connector of funds, and an organization that is a recipient of emergency funding. There are individuals in our neighborhoods that are currently in a stable financial position looking for ways to redistribute their resources and the Stimulus checks, but have questions how to make personal and impactful donations. This podcast follows a conversation around some giving questions, the various opportunities at various scales of giving, and how those funds are having a direct impact on a local nonprofit serving the refugee and immigrant community in Fort Wayne.

For the past 15 years, NeighborLink has met the needs of vulnerable homeowners with volunteer service. Just since November 2010, NeighborLink has completed over 7,554 projects in Fort Wayne. That means we've heard over 7,554 stories and accomplished over 7,554 acts of kindness. This also means NeighborLink has had an intimate glimpse into the inner-workings of neighborhoods through being a neighbor and connecting its neighbors.  This glimpse has exposed some fundamental questions: Why do neighborhoods differ so drastically from block to block? Why does the media seem to report negatively on some neighborhoods more often than others? Why does economic and community development seem to forget certain parts of the city? Why do the desires of the neighborhood residents often differ from the prescription of outside experts? All of these questions have distilled down to one main question at NeighborLink: What makes a healthy neighborhood, healthy?  Perceived ‘healthy' neighborhoods are ones with positive attention, ones where economic development and community development is occurring, but how different are these neighborhoods really from other neighborhoods? We wanted to find out whether the neighborhoods many consider ‘unhealthy' have the same characteristics that the ‘healthy' neighborhoods have, and if not, why not. To accomplish this we have undertaken a two year study of five different neighborhoods in Fort Wayne.  We, at NeighborLink, are committed to increase our capacity to foster long-term change by equipping and empowering neighbors to know and help each other. The only way to accomplish this is to get to know these neighbors ourselves. We need to know more about their neighborhoods, what motivates them, what they think their assets are, and what they believe they really need from outside help.  In an effort to answer this question, we contracted Purdue Fort Wayne's Community Research Institute to partner with us on a comprehensive research project that gathered relevant quantitative data about each neighborhood and combined it with the qualitative data collected through various neighborhood meetings and interviews we held. This podcast is an interview with CRI Director, Rachel Blakeman. We give an overview of each neighborhood, key facts and insights from each, some thoughts on where this research fits in with other projects locally, and the lessons we are learning as a result of the research. If you find neighborhood development interesting or want to a deeper look into a few Fort Wayne neighborhoods, I think you'll enjoy this conversation. Neighborhoods Researched:  Hoagland Masterson North Highlands Pettit-Rudisill West Central Williams Woodland Park   THANK YOU This project was made possible by a capacity building, Inspire Grant from the Foellinger Foundation. This report outlines our learnings from phase one of a two part research project and will informal the direction of phase two to be announced in early 2020.  To learn more about Phase 1 findings, you can download the reports below.  Download the NL Summary Report Here:  For The Full Report - Please Contact Andrew Hoffman at Andrew@nlfw.org 

This week on Neighboring, we sit down with Rachel Blakeman, the research director of Purdue Fort Wayne's Community Research Institute, to discuss our multiphase project looking into what makes a healthy neighborhood, healthy. This 2-year project has been funded by a Foellinger Foundation Inspire Grant that is designed to add capacity to explore new areas of our work. NeighborLink continues to research ways our organization can best equip neighbors to serve their neighbors and their families for the sake of healthier, more connected neighborhoods.

I met Mr. Curry in person for the first time back in August of this year on the Inner City Visit to Louisville, KY were both invited to join by Greater Fort Wayne. We introduced ourselves in the parking lot of a Flying J rest stop half way to Louisville. From that brief interaction, I knew I needed to spend some additional time getting to know Mr. Curry as we talked briefly about relational engagement, listening to neighbors, and the high level neuroscience of social connectivity. I'm a thinker, observer, and learner by nature and when I meet people like Mr. Curry, I feel like I find a new friend. We spent some additional time together on that trip, including catching dinner together where we discussed heavy justice related topics, the feelings of not being understood, the often mis-aligned relief and aid efforts of well intentioned development, and visions of how to approach community building differently. The only thing we solved that night was that we appreciated each others pursuit of knowledge and commitment to their work, a recognition that the work we do is hard but necessary, and that we should connect more. This podcast is a continued pursuit of getting to know Mr. Curry, what motivates his work, and how his approach to youth development feels like a breathe of fresh air. Mr. Curry's innate curiosity and commitment to find answers to the massive questions he asks continues to awake himself to the greater story that he is finding himself in. Mr. Curry spends quite a bit of time talking about the significant moments throughout his childhood that broadened his worldview and set him on a pursuit of deep scholarly knowledge, cross cultural and artistic experiences, and global pursuits to learn from others. For 29 years old, Mr. Curry has experienced more than many of us will experience in a lifetime and he's just getting started. I imagine that Mr. Curry is often misunderstood, but I think many of us just haven't gone on as deep of a dive into our curiosity, our history, and are willing to dive into the complexity of brokenness that exists in our community and in our own lives to be able to hang onto Mr. Curry's perspectives. I'm taking away from my conversations with Mr. Curry a deeper desire to dive in deeper rather than to pull away as I know I have a lot to learn by being present in complex conversations rather than allowing what I don't know to scare me away from them. Lean into it. What Mr. Curry is doing with the Art Leadership Center, his relatively new company that takes a fresh approach to youth development is really inspiring. Adrian's approach to youth development is “designed for the systematic development of leaders of character with a global conscience that serve underdeveloped and underrepresented communities Nationally and Internationally.” Mr. Curry is taking all that he's learned from the youth centers that impacted his life, his perseverance through his own personal struggles, his global travel, his neuroscience and psychology education, and his extensive step dancing background to teach kids about holistic health that comes through learning, application, and discipline. I first saw Art Leadership Center in action at a Black History Month Celebration earlier in 2019 and you can tell the approach is having an impact. If you've not seen the students and Mr. Curry in action, I would recommend you check out their schedule and prioritize it. Mr. Curry, thank you for being you and spending time with me. I look forward to our friendship growing. I'm wishing you all the success and collaborating in some way to bring life, joy, and celebration to neighborhoods in Fort Wayne.

Mr. Adrian Curry is an educator and artist. His pursuit of knowledge, health, and wholeness has informed his identity and driven his passion and investment into future generations. Mr. Curry utilizes dance to instill not only rhythm and discipline, but to remind his students of their innate purpose and potential. Mr. Curry is bringing a fresh perspective to youth development and creative expression through his Art Leadership Center. Join us as we discuss his experiences, both in our local community and abroad.

I could spend all day with Janell and Aaron Lane on a weekly basis because of their passion for the place they call home, the people they work with, and their commitment to addressing what I think are justice related issues. We've met a number of times briefly to get to know each other, but this podcast gave us a great way to get to know each other in a deeper way. We talked about growing up in southeast Fort Wayne, their educational and professional journeys, and why they're so committed to working there.   When we think of community development, we often think about the built environment and the big issues programs aim to address. People are always a part of that, but they're usually represented in data or the input meetings. Rarely is community development in traditional terms about the developing of the people first, which is why I find the work of Janell and Aaron so impactful and why I'm intrigued by their employer's commitment to empowering them to do it.   They work for Parkview Hospital and hospitals obviously care for the wellbeing and health of a community's residents, but not many are being as proactive in going to residents with community health related solutions. Parkview is certainly not the only hospital that does this, but in our area, they're leading the way with initiatives like the Community Partner Development Center (CPDC).   Four years into their work now, Janell and Aaron are finding their stride and making an immediate impact in the lives of those they're working on. Simply showing up, asking how they can help, asking what's missing, and then following up in an one-on-one or small group format makes a huge difference and has been missing in many ways in the southeast. Aaron is helping with personal, professional, and sometimes spiritual development of indigenous leaders among a dozen other initiatives. Janell is leveraging her mental health professional background to bring attention, create safe spaces, and make progress in addressing mental health issues prevalent in African American communities among a dozen other things she's leading.   If you get anything out of the conversation, I hope you'll pick up their calling and sense of responsibility as two individuals to serve in an area they grew up in. The trend in socio-economically challenged areas is to get educated, find a way out, and never return other than to visit family that may still live there. Rarely do people come back to an area to live, work, and invest. For some it's because they want to leave behind the challenges they faced and still present in the area, and for some like the Lanes, it's because the area isn't capable of meeting their family's needs. However, they are committed to making sure the opportunities grow for those they know that live there and for future generations to have a better place to come home when considering where they'll land to raise their families.   I really look forward to continuing to build a relationship with the Lanes. I've got a lot to learn from them and really enjoy just being in their presence. We all need more people like Aaron and Janell Lane in our lives if we care about improving the holistic health of our neighborhoods.

Janell and Aaron Lane are a couple that is driven and called to reinvest in the southeast side of Fort Wayne, where they grew up in, by leading a movement to ignite a ripple of change through investing in key members of the community. Janell and Aaron created the Community Partner Development Center a few years ago, which is an innovative, proactive way to impact community healthcare by investing in community members and leaders on the front end. These leaders, in turn, continue to invest in others. They believe that if people are taking a more “wellness-centered” approach and focusing on living a healthier lifestyle, making healthier decisions and self-care, it leads to a win-win situation for all involved. They are making an impact in a short period of time through their care, passion, and using their professional backgrounds in mental health counseling and organizational leadership to invest in their neighbors.

I appreciate Réna Bradley greatly. This podcast solidified that reality as I learned more about her background, the intentionality of her past work experience, and her boldness in how she goes about her work. Most of all, I'm so encouraged by how she integrates her faith throughout all she does at Bridge of Grace.  You may be familiar with Bridge of Grace, but you may not be as familiar with Réna unless you work directly with her on a project or two. Loved by two incredible parents, training as a architect, and driven by her desire to transform neighborhoods through relationship, the transforming of the built environment, and the integration of faith, Réna is an asset to the Fort Wayne Community. Réna moved to Fort Wayne in 2015 after responding to a job opportunity posted by Bridge of Grace via the Christian Community Development Organization (CCDA) who at that time was looking for a program manager for a specific program. Réna got to know the organization and during the interview process communicated that maybe what BOG needed was someone that focused on the transformation of the neighborhood, and that someone ended up being her.  Réna currently serves as the Community Development Director and oversees many of the projects that engage neighbors and neighborhood youth in transforming vacant lots into mini-parks through an intentional program that teaches kids the entire process of building something in a community. They identify the opportunity/need, come up with the vision, define the solutions, get approval for those ideas, gather the resources, and then participate in turning a vacant lot into something beautiful and useful. Réna and I talk a lot about her journey to Fort Wayne, what it's like being an intentional neighbor, how to share out of our abundance, and when you go from work life balance to work life integration. She's a beacon of light to her neighbors and has created a safe place to be known, cared for, and believed in. That spirit is transforming the social connectivity in her neighborhood and is beginning to see significant fruit in other more complex issues, like crime reduction, housing development, and youth development. I encourage you to listen to get to know Réna better, visit her at Bridge of Grace in the SE side of Fort Wayne, and get involved however you can.  

Réna Bradley is a designer and community advocate. Her experience working across the private, public and nonprofit sectors has taught her that design is a tool to develop not only places, but a sense of well-being, unity, joy and agency in individuals and communities. In her current position as Bridge of Grace’s Community Development Coordinator, she uses design as a tool to mobilize youth, residents, and volunteers who want to make a difference in their neighborhood. Réna is a joy to be around, loves her neighbors deeply, and is a person to seek out to get to know.

Ask anyone that knows Matt Kelley at all and they'll likely tell you that they want to hang out with him more often. I've thought about trying to learn guitar just to be able to do that. Matt is personably, confident, intelligent, and has the experience and work ethic that backs up what he talks about. Matt and his team at One Lucky Guitar, a boutique creative agency in Fort Wayne, are some of the most on-point creators in our region, which is why they've been hired by many of the regional and local community and economic development organizations over the years. They simply know Fort Wayne and NE Indiana better than everyone because they're invested and live it every day deep in their souls. Matt and I are personal friends and sit down regularly to talk about the role of taking initiative and making sure everything we do is as meaningful and intentional as possible. We just don't like to waste time doing things that don't matter nor do we like sitting on ideas that we feel deep in our guts that we should be doing something about rather than talking about. We feel our work deeply and this is a conversation about work-life integration, doing meaningful work, and creating things no matter how big or small they may be. We both believe some of the most meaningful experiences we've had are the small shows, athletic events, or the things that happen in the margins of our community. I'm constantly inspired by Matt's tenacity, his vision, and his ability to get so many people to go on the journey with him towards places they would have never imagined going. Matt's always going some place and if you have the opportunity to go on that journey with him, hang on no matter what it is because you're going to learn something or you're going to have an incredible experience, even if it's not as successful as you thought it would or should be. Matt encourages us to take the ideas off the shelf, put some energy behind it, and see what happens. I think there are so many of us that have incredible ideas for events, initiatives, or products that we're scared to do anything with because we don't quite have the full picture of success. The success is often in just getting from idea to action, and we need your ideas way more than you think. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Matt started a boutique design and advertising agency 15 years ago called One Lucky Guitar, and has been one of Fort Wayne’s most loved “doers” and brand champions for over a decade. Matt is the kind of guy that doesn’t let his ideas sit on the shelf and is always working to creating the spaces, events, or meaningful experiences that develop and shape the culture that he sees missing in various areas. Matt is an inspiration to many because of the tireless energy and “all-in” nature he brings to the projects that align with his passion for creativity, music, and meaningful events. This podcast is intended to encourage all the neighbors in our community that have great ideas, but haven’t gotten them off shelf yet, and to all those that are doing their thing wondering if anyone notices. We see you.“If you’re the kind of person that likes to help build things, pick up a shovel, pick up the paddle, and go.. This is an incredible place to be.”

Cindy has been one of NeighborLink’s biggest fans and advocates for years at the City of Fort Wayne. Cindy spent over 15 years with Neighborhood Code Compliance as a customer relations manager and then as director for 10 years before becoming the Director of Community Development in 2018. Cindy is passionate about her community, her work, and the residents in Fort Wayne. Her and her husband have been active neighbors in the southside of town for decades and have both served in pubic service to our community. We spend time talking in this podcast about her journey to Director of Community Development, what all is part of the Community Development department in a city office, and some of the great and challenging things going on in Fort Wayne. Her passion and energy comes through and I think you’ll enjoy getting to learn from her as we talk about being a good neighbor in Fort Wayne.

I remember standing inside Neat Neat Neat Records just south of downtown Fort Wayne three years ago talking to store owner, Morrison Agen, about a benefit event that the store was collaborating on with another partner to support our work at NeighborLink when Morrison said, “hey, you've got to listen to this.” I'm sure that is a pretty routine statement that Morrison and every other record store owner says to customers and neighbors of their shop, but what Morrison put on blew me away. Morrison played a demo track of his 16 year old daughter at the time, Addison, which was incredible and sounded like she had been performing and recording for years. One of those moments when you hear the immediate talent within thirty seconds of listening. Addison went on to record and release that album called, New Places, and end up as runner up of NBC's The Voice in 2017.   I've never been a huge fan of traditional gala events when it comes to raising funds or awareness for our work at NeighborLink for many reasons, but it ultimately just don't fit our culture at this point. However, we've needed to come up with something unique and bigger than what we have been doing as a way to raise some needed money and ultimately start reaching a broader audience. Our staff came up with the idea of producing an all out concert and focus on being intentional and creative throughout to tell our story. When thinking about who we'd invite, our staff immediately thought of Addison. We knew that she has a benevolent and generous spirit that is backed up by an intentionality of using her time to help others. She's spent time working with the homeless, singing with her mother in the church and music therapy situations, and has a kindness that radiates through her music.   Addison will be headlining a show on Thursday, September 26th, at the historic and beautiful USF Performing Arts Center. Our dear friends The Legendary Trainhoppers will be joining her as well. We're working on some creative storytelling projects as well to seamlessly integrate our mission throughout the event and make this an experience more than a fundraising event. Get your tickets online here.   Addison and her friend, Grace, joined myself on a NeighborLink project recently in a neighborhood not far from where she lives. I wanted to invite her out to see what NL was all about, have her meet some neighbors of hers, and get to know her a bit more. Addison and Grace jumped right in to plant some rose bushes and mow the grass. We had a great time getting to learn more about the neighbors we helped, had fun playing with power tools, and felt good about offering an hour to do a small task that is hard for the homeowners. Addison and Grace seemed right at home, which speaks for her character and care for others. This podcast was a lot of fun and helped me better understand the challenges that musicians face on a day to day basic and what it looks like to be a good neighbor on the road, with often changing bandmates, and as an immediate celebrity who has fans that have instant access to you via social media. It's a lot of responsibility and pressure for anyone to have to embrace and I think Addison is handling it with grace.   Please give it a listen and support Addison as well as join us for our concert at the end of September. It would mean the world to me to see 1700 seats full and singing along with Addison Agen and the Trainhoppers.

“The Voice” finalist, Addison Agen, joined Andrew for a conversation about what it was like growing up in her neighborhood, inspiration, how she makes touring more like home, and what's it is like to be a "neighbor" in a band setting. Addison also reflects on her time during "The Voice" competition, how everyone on the show attempt to care for one another during the process, and what it's like trying to be a digital neighbor to so many "fans." All a good reminder that a neighborhood can be formed anywhere.Addison will be performing a show in Fort Wayne with the Legendary Trainhoppers on Thursday, Sept 26th, at the historic USF Performing Arts Center. This show is going to be fantastic and 100% of proceeds will go to supporting our mission at NeighborLink Fort Wayne.

Part 2 of this podcast talks to all the members from part 1 about their post-event experiences. A couple of interviews were done right away on the way home, some within the next couple of days, and another at least a week after we returned. Needless to say, we were all taking in a lot of information and finding the aspects that really spoke to us along the way. Like any trip where you spend a limited time learning a lot about what is happening, you don't get all the nuances that were part of the multi-year or multi-decade process to get where they are. However, I think that's ok. We need inspiration and those little nuggets of information that have been missing from our knowledge bank that we pick up throughout the conversations. I think you hear that throughout this recap podcast. Here are a few themes that stand out: Innovative financing - We heard about a number of different ways developers are funding their projects as well as a few financial institutions that are creating equitable funding projects to help. Demand for Collaboration - We always need more collaboration and these trips emphasize that. Any time you put 50 people together for 36 hours, you'll see the energy that has been missing that can only be found by being with one another. Collaboration only can be done by being in relationship and proximity with one another. Unified, Known Story - Everyone we met seemed to tell the exact same story about Louisville's history, both good and bad. Racial disparity has happened in every city in the nation and red lining was something that happened. Louisville owns that history and mo many other aspects of their unique experiences, which has helped them find a common ground to move forward on. Data Helps, A Lot - Researched data is vital to justify any socially driven initiative. When the stories of marginalized neighbors and neighborhood injustices don't move the needle, data that tells the economic impacts of doing or not doing projects, does. You have to develop the data to attract funders because you can't expect them to do it for an area they're not necessary looking at. Lead with emotion, follow up with logic. More Listening - Goodness, we need to spend more time listening to the needs and desires of our neighbors in the neighborhoods we want to improve. We have grand visions, but do they match those they impact? If they don't, what do we do then? If we think we're listening, then double down and meet with twice as many people. Mayoral & City Support - There was a lot of energy and reflection on how unified the City of Louisville was on focusing on neighborhood development or redevelopment from the top down. Sit In The Tension - We have a lot to learn as we work on our listening skills to become comfortable with the uncomfortable and to sit in the tension that comes up. This is hard work with deep seated reasons why it's hard. Sitting in the tension in order to learn is only going to help us become better leaders and developers. Personally, there are a handful of things I reflect on in conversations with everyone, especially during Ellen Cutter's segment. This is all hard work and work that despite our best efforts may only be marginally beneficial. However, I think it's important that we all continue to figure out how to bridge the gap between the haves and have nots, and any time we can gain inspiration by others in the margins with us, then we should. I met some incredible Fort Wayne folks on this trip that I look forward to continuing building relationships with and engaging some of the lessons above myself. Huge Thank You to These Participants:  Denita Washington - Adams Township Trustee Alison Gerardot - Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne Savannah Robinson - YLNI  Ellen Cutter - Greater Fort Wayne Michelle Chambers - City Council Hopeful  Links to the Organizations We Met With Russell Promise - https://russellpromise.com/ Louisville Forward - www.louisvilleky.gov/louisvilleforward Access Ventures - Several Projects - https://accessventures.org/ NULU Neighborhood Walking Tour - https://www.gotolouisville.com/neighborhoods/nulu/ SmokeTown Tour - https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/821 Butchertown Market Tour - http://thebutchertownmarket.com/ Portland Neighborhood Tour - http://www.portlandlouisville.com/ Rabbit Hole Distillery Tour & Reception - https://www.rabbitholedistillery.com/ Harvest Restaurant - Local Business - http://www.harvestlouisville.com/ Chef Space - Kitchen Incubator - https://www.chefspace.org/ Park DuValle Revitalization - http://www.lmha1.org/hope_vi/park_duvalle_revitalization.php

Part 2 of this podcast talks to all the members from part 1 about their post-event experiences. Innovative financing, need for collaboration, and having a unified story are just a few of the overarching themes that arose in these post-event interviews. Needless to say, we were all taking in a lot of information and finding the aspects that really spoke to us along the way. Listen in to hear the inspiration and those little nuggets of information that have been missing from our knowledge bank that we pick up throughout the conversations in Louisville.

Huge thanks to the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne who invited and sponsored me as the director of NeighborLink to go join Greater Fort Wayne's inner city to Louisville, KY. Greater Fort Wayne has invited small groups of people to go all over the country to visit cities that have aspirational attributes related to what's happening in Fort Wayne for the past few years. Iowa, Detroit, North Carolina, and a handful of other places to see specific projects or see entire neighborhoods, like we did on this trip. The goal was to see community development in action across three main Louisville neighborhoods that sparked as downtown Louisville saw significant investment. Because these trips are usually full of great people and really insightful conversations, I thought it would be fun to take the Neighboring Podcast on the road to spend some time interviewing a handful of attendees on the way there and on the way home. The most meaningful conversations we have are usually among ourselves as we process what we're learning and what we're dreaming about and rather than loose them to the trip, I attempted to gather bits and pieces to share with others that couldn't make the trip. Part 1 of this podcast introduces you to these wonder people. They share about their current work, details about the trip, background on Louisville, and what they were eager to learn. Ellen Cutter, VP of Economic Development at Greater Fort Wayne Alison Gerardot, VP of Philanthropic Services Savannah Robinson, YLNI President Michelle Chambers, running for City Council at Large Denita Washington, Adams Township Trustee Part 2 next week will include debriefs from each person on what stood out to them after two days of meetings and conversations. For me, I've been to Louisville a number of times the past few years as visitor but never on official business. I got a last minute invite to this trip and cleared my schedule to make it work because of the opportunity. I follow along with a few organizations in this city that I was eager to hear from and I'm always intrigued to learn how other cities are doing neighborhood development. I love to observe, learn, and process with people I know in an effort to be the best I can be at my job at NeighborLink. As you listen, you'll be able to hear some of my anticipated learnings mixed into the questions and conversations. I knew a handful of folks on the trip before the trip, knew of many others, and met some new people that I've never met before. Any time 50 eager to learn individuals get on a bus together and spend two full days together, great conversations are bound to happen and they certainly did.

Just under 50 business, civic, governmental, nonprofit, and philanthropic leaders joined Greater Fort Wayne on a trip to Louisville, KY with the hopes of learning and gaining inspiration in regards to neighborhood development. GFW has been facilitating inner city visit trips around the country for the past few years and believes that we have a lot to learn from Louisville as it relates to where Fort Wayne is today. NeighborLink Executive Director, Andrew Hoffman, was invited on that trip and decided to take Neighboring on the road in an effort to track with a few attendees on why they were going, what they hoped to learn, and what they walked away with. Part 1 covers the intros and anticipated lessons.

Kristin came up and introduced herself to me at an event we were both attending a couple of years ago. Her husband, Joe, and her along with their son at the time at just moved back to Fort Wayne months before and as they were getting getting reconnected to the area, they were fitting right into the realms they were comfortable in, which are the community development, nonprofit, and social engagement spaces where they have spent the better parts of their professional and personal lives. Kristin in dynamic, has a peaceful and generous spirit, and is really great at giving complements. So, as she introduced herself, she mentioned having familiarity with our work at NeighborLink and shared that her and Joe have similar affinities. Since that day, Kristin has been a go to person for me when it comes to her background in impact investing, her belief that grassroots community development is a viable path forward for Fort Wayne, and her desire to bring her intellect and professional background as an attorney to bear witness to injustices of our neighbors. If you've not met Kristin yet, I encourage you to do so! Kristin and her husband have added a second boy to their family in the past year and purchased an old home on one of the most desirable streets in the 46805 zip code from the original owners! It's a beautiful street with many wonderful, historic homes, but what makes it such a desirable place is the community that the neighbors have created over the years. As soon as I arrived to her home for the podcast, a dozen elementary aged kids rode up on their bikes to the permanent spray painted bases in the middle of the 4-way stop intersection on their boulevard street for a game of kickball. We found ourselves right in the middle of the game as we dodged balls as we talked about the neighborhood. Kristin shares several stories in the podcast about how their early connections with neighbors, the potential challenges that come along with opening up vulnerably with strangers, and how everyone is watching out for you, whether it's your finest moment or not. To be a neighbor is to be vulnerable yourself. In additional to our conversation about her experience as a neighbor in her own physical neighborhood, we talk about a recent opportunity to be a “digital neighbor” with some family friends from her hometown in South Carolina that has a son needing a major organ transplant. The family is receiving help, but is facing significant costs and are in need financially to overcome those challenges. Kristin, being as great as she is, decided that donating and sharing it simply via social media wasn't enough or simply wasn't going to work practically or for her personally. So, she decided that she would face some of her own vulnerabilities and invite her social network to ask her to do things that would stretch her in exchange for donating to the campaign. For Kristin, she wanted to do things that made her feel uncomfortable in an effort to dive deeper into this campaign with her friends. She's sung funny songs, ran a 7-minute mile (which she didn't believe she could do under 10min), has done device free nights at home, and even been asked to reflect on various aspects of life and the initiative to fully embrace the challenge. I was inspired by this effort. We see similar efforts at NL frequently by our community, but rarely are they in a way that requires us to get in touch with areas that we need to grow. It's causing me to reflect and wonder what areas of vulnerability I need to invite others into in a public way in order to receive the help I desire for things important to me. This word Vulnerability continues to be a theme and topic of our work and my life. I think we all need to spend more time getting acquainted with its meanings, its reality, and embrace it as a positive in our lives in order to benefit from its power. I'm grateful for friends like Kristin who push me to be better and for the opportunity to become family friends along the way. I look forward to learning more about what Kristin learns from her efforts to be a digital friend in this way. Think critically, make a commitment, and see what happens.

Kristin and Andrew take a stroll through the '05, discussing neighborly awkwardness, finding your place, and the pros and cons of social media connectivity. Kristin and her family made an intentional decision to move into the 46805 zip code and have discovered a community of neighbors that have quickly become their tribe. From buying a home from the original owners to the dozen neighborhood kids that have a permanent kickball court in the middle of their intersection to know your neighbors are watching you always, they have learned the power of being connected to the physical neighbors. Kristin also shares what it means to be "digital neighbors" with people from her past and people she's met along the way that are no longer close physically, but still present opportunities to be neighbors.

If I've learned anything at NeighborLink, it's the reality that we're all a few choices or life's circumstances away from needing the care and support of others, and when “others” aren't there or no longer able to support, we become extremely vulnerable very quickly. This is the essence of this conversation with Denise Andorfer, Executive Director of Vincent Village. Vincent Village provides a unique array of services that meet the needs of families who are experiencing the crisis of homelessness and continues to meet their needs through providing both permanent housing and supportive services. I encourage you to click here to learn more about the specific programs that drive their mission and work. Vincent Village is located in the Oxford Neighborhood, which is about 2 miles southeast of downtown Fort Wayne. Denise paints a picture of the Oxford Neighbor and shares that it has dedicated and caring homeowners that have been active for decades. Homeownership rates are right at 47%, which is a decent number for neighborhoods with their socio-economics. Denise mentioned that the Oxford Neighborhood is the only Fort Wayne neighborhood that has its own dedicated association property. It's been in disrepair for a number of years, but is a treasured neighborhood asset that neighbors, VV, and NeighborLink have been advocating for its repair. It's a struggle because it's expensive and those that have been captive to the vision haven't quite caught onto it yet. However, little by little, neighbors and volunteers are working to rebuild it to the treasure it once was. The bulk of our conversation revolved around my desire to learn more about the long-term efforts Vincent Village has been making over the last 30 years. As much as we'd love to see things have radical changes and can dream how big of an impact $5-10 million dollars could have, it's not that easy. Beyond the economics and the tangibles, Denise and I talk about some of the life situations and challenges that her staff face as they attempt to provide the safe and supportive structure required to move from homelessness and insecurity towards security and independence. For many, their programs work well and over a couple of years they'll be able to thrive on their own. But, others aren't so lucky and life's circumstances and choices continue to drag them down and beyond the help of organizations like Vincent Village. We have a lot to learn from organizations like Vincent Village and people like Denise and her staff when it comes to the deep and insurmountable challenges that make neighborhood development difficult. I hope you'll listen and make an appointment to go tour the village and learn more. They're doing great work and Denise is someone worth getting to know.

Bernadette Baker is our newest employee at NeighborLink and is joining us as an AmeriCorp VISTA. We spend some time talking about what it means to be an AmeriCorp VISTA, her role doing research in the neighborhoods we're working with, and some initial learnings from our "What Makes a Healthy Neighborhood, Healthy" research project. Bernadette's life experiences, passion for learning, and her desire to think through the economic factors of community development all contribute to why she chose to join us at NeighborLink essentially as a full-time volunteer for an entire year. Look through this channel to learn more about what she's up to as she has a weekly "vlog" we're producing.

What a joy it has been to have Bernadette Becker on our team for the past month and a half. I first met Bernadette last summer during her summer internship at Ambassador Enterprises when they invited me to speak to their team of interns as well as when some of them took on volunteer projects. Bernadette was captivated by the nature of our work, has a deep desire to learn more about socio-economic factors facing our community and what we can do about them, and has a energetic spirit that is perfect for connecting with people. At the end of last year, we began looking into what it would take to bring on AmeriCorp VISTA members at NL. AmeriCorp is the domestic PeaceCorp where individuals sign up to for a year of volunteer service with organizations working on poverty related issues in an effort to provide capacity building energy to help our organization grow, learn, and solve the problems we're working on. In exchange for the year of service, the VISTA member receives a living stipend which is adjusted to local poverty wages, a financial credit to be used for educational loans upon successful completion, a number of smaller benefits, and then a whole lot of intangible perks due to the highly respected nature of the program among graduate schools, big organizations, etc. It's a huge stretch and a commendable effort for anyone that chooses to essentially choose poverty for a year and have to figure out how to survive on little to no resources. This was part of the appeal for Bernadette and something she wanted to experience as a way to learn more about future professional and educational pursuits. Bernadette and I talk about VISTA, her journey to NLFW, and some of the research we've been working on together so far. She's extremely bright, very motivated to learn, and a delightful person that is making a relational impact already as she builds relationships with our partner neighborhoods and the neighbors she meets. I think you'll enjoy our conversation. I'm really excited to have Bernadette come alongside NL and myself as we dive deeper into our Healthy Neighborhoods research. I'm going off 12+ years of practical lessons learned from neighbor interactions and from our time in neighborhoods with little to no formal education. Bernadette is bringing the academic side to this project and rounding out the practical with concrete, researched evidence that aligns with our current findings. You can hear that in our conversation near the end as I share about the lessons we're learning and Bernadette giving definition to what it is we're feeling and seeing. Expect to see some really great reports that combine the quantitative with the qualitative data and lessons. Bernadette isn't afraid of the camera or sharing her personal story as it happens, so tune into our blog to see her “Bernie on a Journey” series, which is a weekly reflection journal.

Neighboring launched it's 27th episode last week, which is 14 more than we thought we'd ever do when we started this last summer. Whether or not we're generating an audience, it's been an incredible exercise in listening to our neighbors and friends who are living life intentionally in their neighborhoods, at home, or at their workplace. I'm thrilled with our progress and the conversations we're having. I think they're extremely important for anyone trying to learn how to be a better “neighbor” in the places where they want to have, or need to have, influence. Building community is hard work and as leaders, we're usually trying to get people to follow us to the places where we're going to need help. In environments where there is no acting accountability or requirements to participate, you have an uphill battle. Unless you spend time with others in your community to build trust, you'll walk a lonely road. In many cases, you have to work hard to get the community to show up around you before you can even get to know them, which is even harder at times. What I think these Neighboring podcasts are doing are giving us insights on how to be the type of people that gather an audience and build trust with our neighbors. We all see the brokenness and the things not getting done that no one is responsible for around us, and we're waiting on someone else to do something about it even though we know that we could be that person. The best neighbors are the ones stepping into the brokenness to try to sort it out or their taking responsibility for the things no one wants to. What happens when neighbors step in, it breaks the ice for all those that know what the right thing to do is, but have been waiting on the fence to do it. Neighboring is all about sharing stories of those that hopped off the fence first and are working out the way forward. I hope you've found a few episodes that have resonated with you. I know I'm continuing to learn each episode and those lessons are impacting our work at NeighborLink. If nothing less, NeighborLink is going to be a stronger organization because of this podcast series. Thank you for listening and please offer some feedback, questions, or suggestions on topics or people we should talk to, even if that's you. We want to talk to the people that are quietly and often behind the scenes being radical neighbors in your circle of influences. Email me at andrew@nlfw.org if you have some folks. Please share the podcast with your friends, give us some stars, write a review, and whatever else you think you can do to help us raise the awareness of this show. In addition to all of that, I highly recommend you consider joining us for Be A Good Neighbor Week at NeighborLink between July 8 - 14th. Our staff will be organizing projects and making volunteering with us as easy as we can. There will be big projects, small projects, day time and evening time projects. It's simple, your family is invited, and we'd love to spend time with you. Details here.

Homelessness and poverty can seem like issues that are far removed; the sort of problems that affect other kinds of people, but certainly not us. On this week's Neighboring, Denise of Vincent Village describes a difficult reality—that some of the people who rely on their services have lived prosperous, hard-earned lives, only to lose everything to circumstances outside their control. It is a stark reminder that we do not own our fate, and that anyone could find themselves needing a hand. Join us to learn more about Vincent Village, and the support they provide to our neighbors in need.

This is a special check-in addition of Neighboring due to me having surgery on a vocal cord and not being able to speak for a week. I give some quick updates on some projects, where we are at with Neighboring, and invite you to join us for our Be A Good Neighbor Week at NeighborLink. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with new episodes.

You can't go a week without hearing about Sweetwater in our community. Chuck Surack started a music recording business in his VW van and poured his life into building what is now the largest online retailer of music instruments and pro audio gear in the US. They experienced another record-setting year in terms of sales growth and job creation, adding over 400 new employees in 2018. Forty percent of those coming from outside of Fort Wayne, IN. There is a great press release outlining all the details of that growth here: Sweetwater Announces Another Record Year Sweetwater isn't just getting attention because of their economic impact in our region. Chuck is one of the most generous businessmen in our area who invests millions of dollars into other community projects, a number of local businesses, and in hundreds of philanthropic efforts. He and his wife are extremely generous and care deeply about people, which was a motivator for this podcast . Working with over 150 different groups of volunteers, many coming from the corporate world, NeighborLink gets a look into a lot of different organizational cultures over the course of the year. The reality is, all entities take on the life of the leader and reflect their values, good or bad. You would tend to believe that it would be hard to stay connect to the org culture when you have 1,500+ employees and more things trying to get your attention than you can keep up with. Somehow, Chuck is able to keep up with those right alongside his very competent leadership team. There is an ethos that runs deep in the culture that shows outsiders like me that this is an important place to work, and you want to take responsibility for its success as an employee. Many see it as an opportunity to be employed at Sweetwater, not just a job. I first met Nate Edwards through a local church in a neighborhood where we did a lot of projects. His congregation was trying to figure out how to be more intentional neighbors and be a resource for their community. Nate is a dynamic and energetic guy who brings all that energy to all the things he's involved in, not just work. He also happened to have relocated to Fort Wayne to take a position at Sweetwater in the early 2000s when there was almost 200. He's now a manager in the sales department and we've developed a relationship over the years. He's been thinking critically about ways they do their work at Sweetwater and how it could impact NeighborLink. As we have these discussions, I learn a little more each time about how unique their culture really is. One of the things I learned is that Sweetwater uses a “neighborhood” model for diversifying and building their teams of sales engineers and support staff. They've had this model for over 15 years and I was instantly intrigued because I've never heard of another business using a neighborhood model of connecting teams internally. Essentially, they break down all their employees into smaller groups of 10-12 employees with two neighborhood leaders in each group. These groups are made up of diverse backgrounds and employment duration in an effort to make what is huge, small. They've learned that relationships and creating small communities of people that have a shared vision will care for each other much better than keeping large numbers of people together. In addition to connecting their sales engineers and support teams together, they connect each neighborhood with a different division of the company, like distribution. Another way to encourage organization cohesion when division is natural. Nate Burkhardt was recruited from a competitor and moved his family across the country from California to work at Sweetwater. That's a significant move and has more than just an economic impact on a family. Life is disrupted and starting new in a big company can be overwhelming, even if you're competent in the job. These neighborhoods allowed him to get connected inside and outside of work quickly. These neighborhoods support each other at work and create opportunity to be connected socially, including opportunities to be generous together. As you listen to the podcast, you'll hear Nate talk about how vital these neighborhoods are to the success of the company, but to each other. Nate Edwards talks about having 25 new sales engineers start in his area each month, which is the kind of growth that feels like you're chasing after to keep up with. The neighborhood model allows new employees to be dispersed with other employees at various states of their journey, whether that's just a few months or a few years. From listening to these guys, it sounds like you're never alone and have all the resources you need to succeed if you want to on day one. There is nothing like starting a high intensity job and feeling like you've been thrown into it without help. The operational impact of this effort is that Sweetwater has roughly 10% turnover rate in their sales team each year, which is unheard of in the sales profession, let alone in their industry. Investing in creating community, focusing on relationships, and supporting your people is worth every penny and moment of energy if I hear these guys right. There is a communal love for music, musical gear, and all the structure needed to keep you motivated and supported. It always comes down to people and Sweetwater is investing in their people.

Sweetwater, the No. 1 online retailer of music instruments and pro audio gear, experienced another record-setting year in terms of sales growth and job creation in 2018. They added just over 400 employees to go over 1,500 employees in 2018. With that type of growth, organizational culture is vital to manage that growth in a healthy way. Nate Edwards and Nate Burkhardt, two members of the sales team, share about how Sweetwater has been using a "neighborhood" concept for over 15 years to structure their growing team into smaller groups for relational connectivity and co-worker support. Caring for people has been the foundational ethos of Sweetwater since Chuck Surack started the company from a VW bus, and is the reason for extremely high employee retention and attraction to NE Indiana. Neighboring in the workplace can happen and makes a tremendous difference to the organizational culture.

YOUR KIDS ARE READY FOR MORE THAN YOU THINK. QUESTION IS, ARE YOU READY? As a father of three young kids that wants to do all that I can to develop them into well rounded, loving, generous, brave and a million other adjectives, this is one of the most relevant conversations I can have. Parenting is hard, developing your children is harder, and trying to live a balanced life that includes the things that bring you joy without abandoning your family is the hardest. This podcast with Jason is a great illustration of a parent doing his best to be able to do all of these in unison. Jason started getting involved with NeighborLink through our Team NeighborLink efforts by riding bikes with us and eventually picking up a cycling kit. We usually don't get to know many of our TNL athletes kids unless the kid is a bit older and also active in the sport, or if they family travels to races with us. So, it's rare to meet the younger kids for a lot of logistical and kid watching reasons. When someone does incorporate their kids regularly, it's noticeable and that was the case with Jason and his daughter. Get to know Jason and you realize that doing these kinds of things together has been woven into their lives since the beginning and it's normal. And, it's great to see them share these experiences and have a mutual level of desire to participate. This is a practice that I experienced as a kid with my dad and one that my wife and I embrace with our kids. I've got so much to learn from Jason and his daughter as well. Jason has his own website and YouTube channel, Adventure Widely. Check it out if you're interested in learning from them as they explore. This is an important conversation as part of Neighboring because it relates to all aspects of parent/kid/activity. It brings light to the barriers in our lives that keep us from pursuing the adventures or the experiences that we know will shape our kids into the people we hope they become. Developing our kids starts early and has to be modeled by us as parents. We get asked all the time at NeighborLink whether we allow children to volunteer with us. The answer is always as big of YES as I can express. NL will never ask you to take on a project that you aren't confident that you can accomplish on your own, and if you're choosing the project you do and want to incorporate your kids, then you'll choose a project right for them as well. Even if you go out as a family with toddlers knowing full well that all the work responsibilities may fall on dad, being present together in a service context is the right thing. Play with your kids in the front yard, talk to the person you're helping, walk the neighborhood you're in, and know that presence is as powerful as the activity. By the time my kids get to teenage years or older, I hope they have a broader worldview than I had at that age. I hope they are more compassionate, courageous, and gracious towards the diversities they'll experience. I realize that it will only happen if my wife and I embrace that for ourselves right now and take them along for the journey as we work that out. If we wait until they're older, easier, or have better attitudes towards the discomfort that is part of the journey, then we'll have an even harder time getting started than we do now. Jason's stories inspire me to keep taking my kids with me. Jason's daughter is pushing past her fears, growing as a person, and gaining confidence along the way. And, it sounds like they are having a blast along the way. What's better than that? While I know that embracing this may compromise achieving my own personal pursuits or cut into some much needed personal time, I think it's worth it. I would rather ride bikes with my kids or take on smaller volunteer projects than not be able to do it with them. I see this playing out with parents that are have kids getting older and I know if I'm patient, soon enough my kids will be on a similar level and ready to blast past me. I think it gets really fun then.

Jason Eicholtz and his daughter, Kylie, haven’t let much stop them from enjoying the adventures they’re seeking for the past five years. Many of the things they find themselves doing are far beyond the comfort level of most parent/kid relationships, such as rock climbing, road cycling, and backpacking. Many of us let the logistics, lack of experience, kids attitudes, or the belief that our kids aren’t ready or old enough keep us from choosing new or challenging experiences. Jason shares how to overcome those fears, how to approach experiences at a kid friendly level, and the positive impacts that he’s seen on his daughter and their relationship. Jason shows us that our kids are more ready than we think they are, and can teach us a few things about being a good neighbor as we journey in the adventure with others.

I have the greatest co-workers and couldn't imaging not having these two guys working with all our volunteers and overseeing the projects at NeighborLink. Jeff and I have been doing NL projects and leading volunteers together for 13+ years as we both got started doing NL work as volunteers at our church. I became the director in 2008 and as soon as I could hire someone to join me, I hired Jeff. Jeff is the definition of a servant leader and has lead his way through some really difficult projects at NL. From countless hoarding projects, urgent moving projects due to evictions, ice waterfalls inside homes due to burst pipes, bugs, and so many more. Derrick joined the NL staff a little over two years ago after over a year of volunteering weekly with us. He volunteered his way into a part-time job and then into a just short of full-time job leading aspects of our operations. Derrick is the guy you want to be on your projects due to his charisma, wealth of experiences, and his positive attitude that no issue can't be overcome. Extremely important characteristics required to stay committed to loving your neighbors through challenging circumstances. In what I hope becomes a regular series about what you can expect to experience as a volunteer (or, intentional neighbor as I prefer) at NeighborLink, or as a committed volunteer wherever you spend your time, we're starting to share our experiences as volunteers and staff members in an effort to help you either know what you may experience or to stand in solidarity with those that have had tough experiences. Two things are true: One, you're going to have a difficult projects with in the first 3-5 NL projects. Two, there is no way you can do it alone and expect to stay committed once you hit a few tough projects. They're overwhelming and without preparation and community to process with, the burden proves to be too much. We have too many volunteers that have gone solo, stayed solo, and then burned out due to their experiences. If this resonates at all with you, then I think you'll really enjoy this podcast as Jeff and I recount one of the very first challenging projects we worked on together, and several that have impacted Derrick along the way. We're much more seasoned now and have plenty of experiences where we didn't feel that it went all that well to inform how we do things now that prompt our suggestions on how to address them if you find yourself there. Final thought: WE DON'T HAVE THIS ALL FIGURED OUT! And, we don't imagine that we ever will because transformation is constant and you “never arrive.” What we have done is develop boldness and courage to engage relationally with our neighbors that have invited us to be a solution to their problems. We've learned that the right solution isn't always what they've asked for, which we know instinctually when we meet them, but it takes time to work together to find that solution. So, be bold, ask questions, and feel empowered to get to know neighbors in order to make sure what you have to offer is the right thing and will be appreciated for the long haul.

Volunteering can be hard, especially when you encounter challenging circumstances or difficult situations when attempting to help neighbors navigating the vulnerabilities of their lives. I invited Jeff Shatto and Derrick Smith who manage and oversee all things projects and volunteers at NL to share a few stories and offer some advice on how to work through those challenging projects. The insights they share are relevant whether you're taking on a NL project or volunteering at a different organization. If we've chosen to volunteer to help someone overcome there crisis or transform their circumstances, we need to be prepared for the challenge that will be for them, but for us as well. With over 15 years of experience, we know that this work is often far more about our own transformation than what we're attempting to transform, which is why we love the NL model because that's what we ultimately want as compassionate or faith-driven people.

Part 5 of a 5-part series where we interview the five neighborhoods that NeighborLink has invited to part of a 2019 comprehensive research project. Our desire is to learn what makes a healthy neighborhood healthy. These five Fort Wayne neighborhoods have been chosen for their unique socio-economics, demographics, geographic influences and levels of neighbor engagement at the association level. Mark, Laurie, and Randy joined NeighborLink for an insightful conversation about the Pettit Rudisill Neighborhood. Laurie was born and raised in the same home that her and her husband, Randy, have been living in since 1986, which gives tremendous insight into how the neighborhood has changed and stayed the same over the past handful of decades. Mark and his wife migrated to Fort Wayne over 20 years ago and as they got involved in a southside church. Over a couple of years, they continued to move south to their current home that they purchased 17 years ago. Pettit Rudisill is the neighborhood I know the least about and the one I'm most excited to learn about because I think it's a perfect example of a neighborhood that has definitely been impacted by socio-economic factors beginning in the last 60s, but maintains it's strong neighbor-to-neighbor connectivity and health. I drive through it almost every day as I either drop off or pick up my kids from school and travel down it's main corridor. We do a lot of NeighborLink projects in that neighborhood each year and meet some incredible, long-term neighbors there. Rudisill is one of the main east west corridors on the south side, and it is quite the boulevard with bigger homes, wide streets and mature trees covering the landscape. Laurie shares with us that the neighborhood started to change demographically and racially in the late 60's as more African Americans began to buy homes and realtors began to scare many white homeowners out of the neighborhood with fear that their property values would suffer. Laurie's family stayed put, raised their families, and proved that the neighborhood was just fine with an increase in diversity. Pettit Rudisill may have always been the side of Rudisill Boulevard that was represented by the blue-collar working class that made up so much of International Harvester and GE's workforce, but it was and still is a great neighborhood for families looking for affordable, solid housing. Mark, Laurie, and Randy all share that yes, there are some challenges in the neighborhood, the media often portrays the SE side of town as a collective problem and that not all neighborhoods have problems. Mark shares about how vibrant and full of young life the neighborhood is and how his family has grown up benefiting from the neighborhood. “People are people,” Mark shares, which is so true. Everyone is trying to do their best with what they have and search for a quality of life that meets their desires. We all want to be known, loved, cared for, and part of something. Pettit Rudisill is a solid neighborhood with great neighbors. I hope this project helps share the bright sides of PR and the SE side of Fort Wayne to begin changing the narrative that our community believes about the southside. PR talks about the increased investment of outside groups, new neighbors, and a major infrastructure project that the City of Fort Wayne is going to start this summer. With a huge increase in housing activity just to bit further to the west on the same street, I can imagine PR is going to be on the come up really soon. We're looking forward to our next phase of the 2019 research project, which includes a two-hour workshop with neighbors from each of the five neighborhoods: North Highlands, Williams Woodland, West Central, Hoagland Masterson and Petite Rudisill.

Pettit Rudisill candidly talks about their part of town, The "06.” Laurie and her husband Randy have raised their family in Laurie’s childhood home after they moved back to Fort Wayne in 1986. Mark migrated to that area with his family for proximity to their church and the cost of living. It's often said that Pettit Rudisill is in the "not so good part of town". But Mark observes that once moving to the southeast side of Fort Wayne, that "People are people. There are people that make good choices and there are people that make poor choices. And yet, for the most part, people want to be known, they want to be cared for, they want to be liked, as we all do." Pettit Rudisill may be in the "Southeast side" of Fort Wayne, but it's a strong neighborhood that has been writing a different narrative than the one that gets told about it for decades.

I've been pitched retirement since I was in college. It usually starts with me being asked to think about what I want to be able to do with my free time when I get there, how much money would I like to have in the bank, and and the type of lifestyle I want to have. The sales pitch usually includes being able to play golf, travel the world, and be able to afford the house that I always wanted. Not all financial planners are pitching that story, but we can agree that sort of narrative dominates. While I do believe being prepared for that phase of life is responsible, the way it has always been pitched just never settled with me. It simply seems to lack any sort of purpose other than leisure and I find leisure pretty boring. But, I'm only in my late 30s and a lot can change and I certainly have a lot to learn before I ever get to that point. What's is encouraging me regarding that discussion is how NeighborLink has benefited greatly from men and women who enter retirement with intention and purpose with a desire to use their time, abilities, and resources to help other neighbors through their life's circumstances in tangible ways. For nearly 10 years, NeighborLink has had small communities of retirees, folks between jobs, or those under-employed with free time who intentionally organize by getting together weekly to take on projects that find our website. Each year, 300+ tangible home repair projects get completed because of a collective group of around 40-50 people throughout the year through three different groups currently. What they're able to do, and what they choose to do, is absolutely incredible. So, I ask a lot of questions about their lives, their careers, how they get connected to NL, and what their motivations are when they could be doing anything other than helping. I sat down with Mark Schmidt on this episode of Neighboring to discuss his personal journey. We take time to talk about how he navigated his 30 year career at one company, how he did or didn't manage work/life balance, his family, the role faith plays in his life, and how he's chosen to retire early from a professional career after his company moved away from Fort Wayne to take up a career as a volunteer. Mark is an extremely humble guy and doesn't love answering these personal kind of questions because he wants to make sure that credit is given to God and those he serves with. I think anyone that has spent time with Mark knows that he's as genuine of a guy that there is. He has always cared deeply about people and lived a live of service whether it was serving his co-workers during his career, his fellow volunteers with Carpenter's Sons, or now neighbors with tangible needs. We hope to tell some stories of our other retirees soon as well. I was encouraged to hear that things haven't always come easy with Mark when it comes to trying to manage work/life balance or the fact that he'd say that volunteerism wasn't as core of a priority during most of his working years outside of coaching his kids' soccer teams. Proved to me that he's just a normal guy trying to do the best he can with what he has and is in need of grace just like the rest of us. I've not met a person who has the work/life balance or integration thing figured out completely, and I'm not sure it's even possible. I'm personally finding it hard to find time to volunteer at my phase of life, and I even run a volunteer organization. Things ebb and flow, and Mark's story reminds me that there are all kinds of avenues to be a “good neighbor' and serve others. That service to others is as much about how we perceive our responsibilities to others around us wherever we are as it is about “doing things.” Being a good neighbor is about being, not just doing. I hope people find this podcast encouraging because there are a lot of people in our community that are nearing retirement age without a plan in place of how they're going to spend their time who also lack the community to navigate a radical change in “time” well. There is no right way to spend retirement, but there are ways to spend it if caring for others, using your hands to help, or if you want to keep working but in a different context. NeighborLink is benefiting from Mark and dozens of other men and women's lifelong investment into honing their profession as they bring it to work with them on projects. They're organizers, leaders, builders, creators, communicators, teachers, and compassionate people that want to love others with their gifting.  I'd love to connect you to Mark or other leaders at Nl who would welcome you to join them. Simply send me a message at Admin@Nlfw.org.

Mark and his wife, Geri, made a conscious decision for Mark not to search for a new job at 58 years old when his career of 31 years at the local General Electric facility ended upon the business unit he worked for re-located to a different community. Instead of moving with GE or finding another job locally, he made a commitment to volunteerism and community engagement. Mark doesn't really consider himself in retirement, just in a new career that doesn't pay in monetary terms, but in impact. Mark is an extremely humble man and I admire Mark for many reasons. I wanted to talk to him about how he managed work/life balance, whether volunteerism and service were always a part of his life, whether he ever questioned whether he was on the right career path, and what motivates him to be so involved as a volunteer. As someone in my late 30s, I have a lot to learn from guys like Mark. We also talk in-depth about the rise of men and women entering retirement at a younger age and how many are finding purpose and community as they transition via volunteerism.

Part 4 of a 5-part series where we interview the five neighborhoods that NeighborLink has invited to part of a 2019 comprehensive research project. Our desire is to learn what makes a healthy neighborhood healthy. These five Fort Wayne neighborhoods have been chosen for their unique socio-economics, demographics, geographic influences and levels of neighbor engagement at the association level. Arline and Jim join NeighborLink for an insightful conversation about the Hoagland Masterson Neighborhood. We started by asking them how they ended up in Hoagland Masterson (HM) and into leadership roles. Then they describe the neighborhood dynamics, the burdens and battles they've been facing for years, and what they think makes HM healthy at this moment. Hoagland Masterson has always been a working class neighborhood with higher levels of poverty, but has a long history of committed homeowners that go several generations deep. Arline describes her neighbors as “resilient,” because of the challenges they face and seem to weather. (Link to Neighborhood Map) I'm pulled to Hoagland Masterson like no other neighborhood other than the one I live in, which is just a block away to the south of HM's border. I believe that HM is the next up and coming neighborhood in Fort Wayne that no one can quite remember where it's located, except people like Arline, Jim, and the dozens of long-time residents waiting for the attention they deserve from the City of Fort Wayne, developers, and potential neighbors. It is uniquely positioned between an established, stable, and growing neighborhood, the most ethnically diverse commercial corridor, the potential of Electric Works, and downtown's current crown jewel, Parkview Field, home of the Tincaps. I've been trying to buy a building for NeighborLink here for four years and I tell everyone that will listen that HM is where to invest because it's the neighborhood that is full of long-time residents that deserve to see things progress. There is a community of committed neighbors like Jim and Arline that work tirelessly, know more about their neighborhood than any other neighborhood leaders I've met, and are the resilient fighters that Arline talks about in the podcast. These are neighbors I want to live by, resource, connect others to, and see what happens for the entire south central Fort Wayne region. The struggle is real for them though as they are marginalized, struggle to get the attention they need to get projects done, and there just isn't quite enough people energy that other neighborhoods have. This neighborhood is part of why I felt compelled we do this study. They have so much of the same assets that we do in Williams Woodland, just not the same amount of them, and I think that matters. It's not knowledge, vision, intent that's holding them back, because they are doing great work. It's mostly capacity. If they had more capacity, what could happen? I appreciate Arline and Jim's candor about what's been a struggle and seems to fight against justice seeking neighbors. I also appreciate how they acknowledge some recent wins in getting the attention of the City for some infrastructure projects as well as putting pressure on the local electric utility that just built a major substation in their neighborhood without much consideration for the neighborhood. Arline and Jim see promise, see speculation happening as home values increase in their own area, and continue to invest their own resources into stabilizing the neighborhood one house at a time with their own resources. I think you'll really enjoy this podcast because it begins to shed some light on the other side of the “healthy” neighborhood reality. It at least for us helps us begin to see how much things are the same among neighborhoods at the core, yet different on the surface. If you're looking to start investing in neighborhood development, come join NL on a project in HM this summer.  We're looking forward to our next phase of the 2019 research project, which includes a two-hour workshop with neighbors from each of the five neighborhoods.

We talk to two residents, Arline and Jim, from the Hoagland Masterson Neighborhood Association about the characteristics of their neighborhood, the challenges faced by being more marginalized than most neighborhoods, and what they think makes their neighborhood healthy despite those challenges. Arline always wanted to own and restore a grand Victorian home and after locating one in this neighborhood, was encouraged by the realtor and her insurance agent to reconsider due to the reputation of the neighborhood. Jim and his wife happened to end up on HM due to their daughter purchasing a home just prior to taking a military assignment. They ended up moving into the home after some time and have been residents for almost 10 years. HM has some of the most challenging issues of any neighborhoods we've researched as Arline and Jim share. It feels like the rules are the same and they've been passed by for a lot of years, until recently due to the advocating of some neighbors and the speculation of downtown development. It's a fascinating conversation on a neighborhood fighting to be seen, heard, and cared about.

Ben and Tyler join NeighborLink for an insightful conversation about the West Central Neighborhood. We started by asking them how they ended up in West Central and into leadership roles. Then they describe the neighborhood dynamics, the projects they've been able to successfully accomplish, and what they think adds to the health of West Central. West Central is celebrated for its diverse population, has benefited from its downtown collar neighborhood status where grand homes were built in one of the first Fort Wayne neighborhoods, and a significant boost in economic development that has been building past 5-10 years. (Link to Map)   West Central has been the place to be if you want to live downtown in a neighborhood setting since it was formed in the late 1800s. It's the quintessential and grand downtown collar neighborhood that was built by industrial and professional icons of Fort Wayne, which have a history of weathering the seasons of economic swings better than other neighborhoods in a city. Like any neighborhood of that era, some streets and sections of the neighborhood were more grand than the others as the wealthy built their mansions near their empires while those that built the empire lived in close proximity to the places they dedicated their lives to build. West Central is full of grand homes, traditional sized homes of the early 1900s, worker's cottages, and several historic apartment complexes. While many of the homes may have survived to some extent, many of them were divided into multi-plex homes that made rent cheap and accessible to a wide variety of individuals, particularly artists and young professionals.   West Central has long been touted for its many forms diversity from economics to professions to generational to many other areas. While this is still true to their story, things are starting to change in West Central as the national trend to return to the central core over the past decade is in full swing in West Central. It's been happening for years in West Central as there have been many concerned residents who have been on personal conversation and development initiative to buy vacant or dilapidated properties with goals of preservation and economic development. Rather than allow a property to play roulette of staying the way it is with the next buyer, they'll buy it, renovate it a higher standard and sell it in an effort to attract a more affluent or stable homeowner. Those efforts have been combined with some City of Fort Wayne initiatives to leverage federal dollars to renovate key properties on throughways to spur additional development. Ben shares about this development as well as some other situations where longtime owners of multiplex homes are converting them back to single family homes with the desire to sell them rather than continuing to be landlords because the time is now to do those kind of things.   Ben and Tyler talk about a major development in their area, Electric Works, which is a comprehensive redevelopment initiative of a former General Electric manufacturing facility that was responsible for the development of the area in the early 1900s. Ground hasn't even been broken and just the potential is driving development in their area, which is great for their neighborhood but also brings issues to the surface as well as new issues as they think about the impact of such an effort. They're huge supporters, but asking really great questions about the human and economic impact of the place they love.   We also talk about in the podcast the role geography plays in neighborhood development and perception. West Central has two many roads in and out of downtown that divides the neighborhood, it technically includes all of downtown, and has a major train track that acts like a wall dividing a section of the neighborhood. Each section has its own character, challenges, and opportunities along with feelings of included or excluded. I've been thinking a lot about how things “feel” in a neighborhood within just a block or two of each other and how that plays a part in neighborhood health and connectivity.   West Central is in a really exciting time with some extremely smart leaders at the helm. Their home and garden tour generates significant revenue and exposes them to a lot of potential neighbors. They have intelligent and experienced neighbors leveraging their skills to lead larger scale developments that benefit all neighbors, like preserving old brick alleys. And, they are aware that not all development may be good development. We're excited to learn from them because we think they have a lot to teach other neighborhoods that are trying to grow and develop.   We're looking forward to our next phase of the 2019 research project, which includes a two-hour workshop with neighbors from each of the five neighborhoods.

We talk to two residents, Ben and Tyler, from the West Central Neighborhood Association about the characteristics of their neighborhood and what they think makes their neighborhood healthy. Ben has lived in the neighborhood for about a decade and been president for the past two years. Tyler is buying and renovating his first home in West Central, but began his connection to the neighborhood as a renter eager to get more involved. Ben and Tyler talk about the history, growth, diversity, and some of the challenges within of one of the most prominent and attention getting neighborhoods in Fort Wayne. If you've wanted to know more about what happens behind the scenes WC, this is a great start to the discussion.

Part 2 of a 5 part series where we interview each of the 5 neighborhoods we've invited into a comprehensive research projects NeighborLink is facilitating in 2019. Our desire is to learn what makes a healthy neighborhood, healthy. Each of the 5 Fort Wayne neighborhoods have unique socio-economics, demographics, geographic influences, and levels of neighbor engagement at the association level. Lyndsay and Charlie, two residents of the Williams Woodland Neighborhood, join us for a conversation about their neighborhood. They spend time describing their neighborhood, some of the projects they've been able to accomplish successfully, and a lot of reasons what they think adds to the health of WWPN. One thing is for sure, WWPN has strong social connection among neighbors, which impacts their ability to accomplish as much as they do.  I'm particularly biased about WWPN because my family lives there and we love being in this neighborhood. We decided to move into WWPN about 11 years ago after determining that proximity matters, and if we're going to be intentional with integrating our desires for being active in the community we serve in more fully, then we should really consider where we live. We didn't do this alone or even necessarily choose WWPN on our own, we did this with another family. We knew that at least we'd have some friends in this new neighborhood. What we quickly found out as we were looking for the right house to buy in the first year, that there was a thriving neighborhood full of people that wanted to more people to join them. We met so many neighbors while we looked for a house and felt relationally connected without even living there. We HAD to buy a house there and we couldn't imagine living anywhere else. As you'll hear in the podcast, that's true for Lyndsay and Raul as well as Charlie and Nancy. You can't be out on the sidewalk during good weather days looking at homes to buy in the afternoon or evening without being approached by a number of neighbors eager to introduce themselves, tell you about the neighborhood, and encourage you to buy that place you're looking at. That's truly special and not all neighborhoods have that. As Charlie and Lyndsay discuss, this spirit in WWPN goes back 30-40 years as the generation before us made intentional decisions to live there and begin this culture of social connectivity, neighborhood pride, and creating strong initiatives to create the space they wanted to live in. Many of those neighbors that moved in a generation ago are still there and as active as ever right alongside all the young families that have moved in. For several family units, the kids of the generation before are now raising their own families in WWPN. An additional thing that WWPN has that a lot of other neighborhoods don't is an annual holiday home tour event that draws people from all over Fort Wayne to tour its historic homes. This event generates a sizable revenue in which the association uses to fund events, incentivize homeowners to make beautification improvements, and common area improvements such as historic street signs and the flower baskets that hang from them during spring and summer. A historic neighborhood generating revenue through an event is not a new concept and not exclusive to the neighborhoods that we research, but it very uncommon in general and does have an impact on various aspect of neighborhood health. Any time there are resources to be spend on behalf of the neighborhoods, neighbors are going to show up to share their opinions on what they should be spent on. Williams Woodland is a small historically designated neighborhood located just about a mile south of downtown Fort Wayne. WWPN was an early suburb that developed in the late 1800s to the 1910s with some infill that happened over the decades following. The homes range from smaller bungalow style to traditional four square homes to grand victorian homes surpassing 5,000 sq ft. There were measures taken 20-30 years ago to change zoning to reduce the number of rental properties although many still exist. There is a wide range of ages of neighbors and is becoming a go-to neighborhood for younger families looking to raise their families in the central core. With the hotter real estate market in our area, move-in ready homes are usually sold before they even hit the market and the ones on the fringes are being picked up by neighbors with the income to invest in preserving the home to make sure its ready to last another 100 years. My wife and I really love our neighborhood and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. It has been interesting to watch the neighborhood develop over the past decade and see our property values go up significantly in the past two years. We aren't sure we could afford to buy here if we hadn't moved in when we did, which creates a lot of conversations on the impact of generification and how we as neighbors are or aren't contributing to that. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next 5-10 years and see if WWPN expands beyond its current smaller bounders in an effort to support neighborhood growth to the north or south of us as the demand for downtown housing continues to increase.

We talk to two residents, Lyndsay and Charlie, from the Williams Woodland Park Neighborhood about the characteristics of their neighborhood and what they think makes their neighborhood healthy. Lyndsay has lived in the neighborhood for almost 10 years and has served as the neighborhood president for the past few years while serving in a variety of other leadership positions. Lyndsay brings her administrative gifting and drivenness to make sure that all the initiatives neighbors want to see happen. Charlie and his wife started as renters in the neighborhood before buying a home two years ago. They have been involved since day one in all social events and association business. Charlie took over the leadership of WWPN in February.WWPN is one of the most socially and relationally connected we've been in. We see the impact of that social connectivity in their success with their neighborhood home tour, the amount of social events they have, and the intergenerational support that neighbors have with one another.

Part 1 of a 5 part series where we interview each of the 5 neighborhoods we've invited into a comprehensive research projects NeighborLink is facilitating in 2019. Our desire is to learn what makes a healthy neighborhood, healthy. Each of the 5 Fort Wayne neighborhoods have unique socio-economics, demographics, geographic influences, and levels of neighbor engagement at the association level. Kay and Bailey, two residents of the North Highlands Neighborhood, join us for a conversation about their neighborhood. They spend time describing their neighborhood, some of the projects they've been able to accomplish successfully, a new event that went extremely well in 2018 at a brand new park they helped make happen, and some of the challenges of getting neighbors connecting, informed, and active. Kay is a long-time resident of over 30 years and has been the active president for a long-time. Kay and others have advocated for and helped make some of the most comprehensive infrastructure projects happen in their neighborhood that we've not seen in other neighborhoods. Between street and sidewalk improvements, safety measures with the police, and the conversion of an old school into a public park. They have a lot to teach other neighborhoods about how to work with local government in order to improve your neighborhood. Bailey and her young family moved into North Highlands less than a decade ago and have been getting more actively involved in the past few years in a more organic and neighbor-to-neighbor way. Bailey works hard to facilitate the social connectivity of the neighbors through more engaging conversations on modern communication platforms, asking for help with even the smallest of needs such as whether anyone had any tomatoes left from fall harvest rather than running to the store, and making sure neighbors know who to reach out to if there are issues. Bailey is growing in her leadership and desires to help create the neighborhood that her family and neighbors want to have. North Highlands is a relatively smaller neighborhood located just about a mile north of downtown Fort Wayne. The homes are of average size between 1200-2200 square feet and remind you of a very early suburb in terms of street layout and common age of housing stock. They have the highest median income of any of the 5 neighborhoods we've researched and have the least amount of racial diversity. Residents tend to be a bit older as it's a great starter neighborhood for younger families and a great place to downsize and retire. The smaller housing sizes make it hard for growing families to stay in their homes without feeling the size of their home closing in. North Highlands is a very popular downtown collar neighborhood and has homes turn over relatively quickly when on the market. NeighborLink volunteers helped over 100 homeowners in the zip code of North Highlands in 2018 and spend quite a bit of time in this area. We're looking forward to our next phase of the project, which includes a two-hour workshop with neighbors.