NeighborCircles, Lawrence, Massachusetts

<p>Lawrence, Massachusetts, is a city that has been underinvested in for decades — a former mill town where civic disengagement had become the norm rather than the exception. Lawrence CommunityWorks, a community development corporation, responded with a strategy they called network organizing. At its center is a deceptively simple program called NeighborCircles. A NeighborCircle starts when a host reaches out to eight to ten unfamiliar neighbors and invites them to their home three times over the course of a month for dinner and facilitated conversation. That's it. Dinner and conversation, three times, with neighbors you didn't know before. The format is deliberately intimate — a home, not a community center. The conversation is supported by one or two facilitators but driven by the participants.</p><p>What happens after the third meeting is up to the circle. Some continue meeting regularly. Some have organized alley cleanups, playground improvements, better street lighting, and block parties. Some have become the nucleus for deeper neighborhood organizing. Since 2002, NeighborCircles have spread across Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Mississippi, Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Virginia, and Maryland. Lawrence CommunityWorks has grown to over 5,000 members, with roughly 1,000 actively engaged each year. They've invested $175 million in Lawrence homes, neighborhoods, businesses, and education. They've been designated an Exemplary NeighborWorks affiliate and serve as technical assistance providers to other organizations adopting the model.</p><p>The relational technology is the dinner table. The practice is invitation — specifically, the act of inviting people you don't know. The insight is that civic engagement doesn't start with issues or campaigns. It starts with a meal.</p>