First Long Branch Neighbors Exchange!–In it together

More than 30 Nob Hill and Park Montgomery residents got together last night as part of Long Branch’s first official Neighbors Exchange! With various resource partners in the areas of jobs, healthcare and emergency services on hand, neighbors had some their most pressing questions answered. But even with representatives from Montgomery Works, Centro Familia, the TESS Center, Holy Cross Hospital, Montgomery Cares in the room, residents quickly came to appreciate the value of sharing their own personal experiences and struggles with neighbors going through the same things each and every day.

At one point, Martin Zelaya of Nob Hill stood up and told the group of the unbearable pressure he feels to find a job after his wife gave birth to their first child just 5 days ago. To prove to Martin that he’s not alone in feeling helpless, Hugh Bailey of Montgomery Works asked the group, “Has anybody ever felt ashamed for being unemployed?” Nearly every residents’ hand shot up. Within minutes the group had agreed to meet again next Wednesday to continue to get to know each other and find ways they can support each other along the difficult road of searching for employment.

Especially for those who have just recently entered the country and don’t speak English, it’s easy to feel all alone and like nobody else is facing the same daily struggles. But once again last night proved that if only we get to know one another a little better, we realize just how similar we–as well as our greatest challenges–are.

–Sebastian

Just knockin’ in the rain!

Photo op of the group (dry) before heading out

Despite the nasty weather, 28 area residents spent Saturday morning knocking on hundreds of doors in two Long Branch apartment complexes: Nob Hill and Park Montgomery. But before hitting the streets we cozied up inside the Long Branch Community Center Conference Room for a 2 hour training. After Long Branch Coordinator Ray Moreno set the mood by singing Stevie Wonder’s classic “Love’s in need,” Executive Director Frankie Blackburn gave a quick primer on the Campaign goals, emphasizing TWO in particular: connecting neighbors 1) to each other and 2) to emergency services.

Then, we led a short exercise to illustrate that each of us has skills and interests that can be put toward benefitting the greater community. Each volunteer was handed a placard with a short description of a random persona, including three attributes (skills, interests, hobbies) on one side, and one need/desire on the other. Participants then took 10 minutes walking around the room trying to match up their assets with others’ needs. One of the many great connections was made when State Senator Jamie Raskin (a 15 year old basket ball player in the exercise) led a couple other similar aged kids over to meet a basketball coach, looking to start a summer league, and a local Baptist minister who was willing to let the kids play in the church’s basement gym–quite the group!

Volunteers getting into character during asset exercise

We then finished out the training with a few quick role plays, demonstrating the three most common door knock interactions–1) Nobody answers  2) Somebody answers but doesn’t have time to talk and 3) The person answers, is interested, and wants to know more! But even with the great acting prowess of Frankie and Ray (as Ray is known for saying): “There’s no better way to learn then by just doing it.” So that’s what we did.

With 14 pairs of Neighbors Campaign-teeshirt-clad IMPACT volunteers scattered throughout the 141 units of Park Montgomery and the 397 units of Nob Hill, 284 doors were knocked! But even more impressive, of those 284, over 100 actual conversations were had!!! While some of the conversations were little more than a resident asking for the volunteer to return at another time, some were much more–sometimes lasting over 40 minutes! Despite the innumerable troubles that our neighbors face every day during these tough economic times, Saturday’s conversations reminded us of the importance of us all joining forces to put our individual attributes and skills toward the collective good.

Now we’re getting ready for our first Neighbors Exchange in Long Branch, which will take place on Wednesday November 4 from 7-9pm in the New Hampshire Estates Elementary School Main Gym. Saturday’s doorknock was certainly a great start to getting the word out but still much more is to be done! Call Sebastian Brown anytime at 240-247-0286 for details on when we’ll be going out in the next few days to knock on some doors and meet our neighbors.

Speaking Vietnamese, the Wheaton Library, Bus Stops, the Wheaton Regional Park, Knowledge of the School System…

What do all of the above have in common?

They were all identified as community resources by the members of Neighbor Corps this past Saturday.

After spending the morning formulating a common vision for Wheaton (see post here), we then turned our attention to what resources we as individuals bring to the community. For instance, Ann speaks Vietnamese; Roxanne knows lots about government contracts; Miguel can fix just about anything in your house or car; Ayad can build you a computer; Martha is a great cook; Huwey is a great event planner…you get the idea!

Julio explaining which assets he contributes to the Wheaton community

This process was just the beginning — at the next session we will be going out into the community to door knock and meet even more residents who each bring amazing gifts and talents to our community.

After thinking about our individual assets, everyone then jumped in their cars and went out in small groups to look at the community around them with fresh eyes. They came back with lists and lists of community resources: parks, bus stops, schools, churches, local businesses like restaurants and grocery stores.

Rosa, Roxanne and Mike won the asset “scavenger hunt” not only beacuse of the quantity of assets they identified, but by noticing specific things like: there are many home-based businesses in Wheaton; there are spaces that may be available for use on the weekends for community activities; there are a number of senior care facilities, but few for our young residents.

By taking stock of what resources we already have available in our community, we hope to build upon them to reach our common vision for Wheaton.

You can see more pictures from our Neighbor Corps session here. And help us with our community resources list of by adding what assets you see in Wheaton in the comments section.

 

A Common/Colorful Vision!

During the Neighbor Corps session last Saturday, we all drew our visions for Wheaton in 2012 (see photo above and check out more pictures available here).

After listening to everyone’s ideas, we broke up into small groups to discuss what all the visions had in common.

Here are the highlights from that comprehensive, common vision for Wheaton:

*A welcoming, safe community where neighbors are connected to each other to share information and support one another

*A hopeful place with equal opportunities for its diverse residents

*An engaged community that identifies its own strengths and weaknesses

*A healthy neighborhood that builds the self-esteem of children and youth

What’s your vision for Wheaton?

A New Partner: Leadership Montgomery

Thanks to the initiative of Uma Ahluwalia, a recent graduate of Leadership Montgomery and the Director of Health and Human Services in Montgomery County, the current class of Senior Leadership Montgomery adopted the Neighbors Campaign as their action project this year. The two lead organizers of this partnership sure did jump into action this past Saturday, as they joined in the launch of the Neighbors Campaign in the Long Branch area of Silver Spring. Listen to Esmail Tabibi (first video) and Joan Schaffer (with Belkis Talavera, a new Community Connector) share a few stories about this experience.

Take Note: Serious Needs in Your Community

As part of the Neighbors Campaign, in partnership with Montgomery County’s Community Service Day this past Saturday, October 24, new stories of need in Silver Spring were revealed.  As we feel good about those who came out and volunteered this past Saturday and as noted in this blog, we must sit up, acknowledge and take action in response to the silent suffering going on in our community. Please take a moment to listen to three short stories shared by Tim Warner and Reemberto Rodriguez below.  If you wish to take action immediately, consider making a donation to the Montgomery County Community Foundation’s Neighbors in Need Fund by clicking here.

New Bridges in Long Branch

To understand the value of reaching beyond our personal comfort zone to greet our neighbors in need and build new bridges of hope, I encourage you to watch this short video clip of Tibebe Samuel and Jessica Fusillo sharing a story about their recent door knocks in the Long Branch community of Silver Spring:

This past Saturday, four members of the Silver Spring Community Advisory Board (SSCAB) participated in IMPACT’s kick-0ff of the Neighbors Campaign in the Long Branch area of Silver Spring (see related post for more details). These members were: Darian Unger, Chair, Mark Woodard, Vice Chair, Kathy Stevens and Jessica Fusillo. We had 28 door knockers that each devoted over five hours of personal time, first being trained on how to knock on doors in apartment communities and then helping knock on approximately 300 doors in the Park Montgomery and Nob Hill apartment communities, which resulted in 123 one-on-one conversations with the residents.

Jessica, Darian and Mark participate in mutual support exercise along side State Senator Jamie Raskin.

For those who are relatively new to Silver Spring, this moment may not seem as big and positive as it does to me.    I have been working in and around Long Branch for fifteen years and have not witnessed or known of this level of outreach and connection between established civic leaders and the many diverse residents living in our many large apartment communities. (I feel sure I have missed some moments, so please forgive me for not recognizing these).

We at IMPACT, one of the lead partners for the Neighbors Campaign, wish to thank Reemberto Rodriguez, the newly appointed Director of the Silver Spring Regional Center, for conceiving of this Community Service Project.  See clip of Reemberto talking about his vision for making new connections in Silver Spring, one of the most extremely diverse communities in our nation.

August Campaign Report

We made great progress towards our door knocking goals during August!

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the during the month of August! The Neighbors Campaign started energetically: we knocked on 1,157 doors for a total of 214 one-on-one conversations.  These residents come from at least 38 different countries, with the largest group—no less than 45—coming from El Salvador.  During door knocking, the most common concerns residents discussed were employment (in almost 30% of all conversations) and health care (16%).  Door knocks were conducted predominantly in Wheaton, where we also held our most popular Neighbors Exchange yet–58 residents and 8 Resource Partners participated.  Although there was no Neighbors Exchange in Gaithersburg, door knockers referred residents to the local Neighborhood Service Center.   In Long Branch, we continued to plan for our October Kick-off.

Keep up the good work, everyone. We’re over a quarter of the way to our Wheaton goal already!

To view the whole report, click here.

Wheaton Coffee Chat

On Thursday, October 15^th, the Wheaton Neighbor Corps program took an exciting trip to learn more about local businesses in the Wheaton community.  We began our evening by meeting at the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) offices in downtown Wheaton.  Paula Sternberg, the Program Manager for Wheaton Buy Local, met the group and talked about what LEDC does to support local businesses, including helping with loan applications and innovative marketing strategies.  We discussed some of the benefits of local small businesses.  For example, local entrepreneurs provide places of employment for neighborhood residents, serve as community anchors, and ensure that money stays in the community.  While at the LEDC offices, participants discusses the many local businesses they frequent in Wheaton, and learned about even more.

After finishing the discussion with Paula, we took a short trek (in the rain!) to Dejabel Café, a local business.  After enjoying a delicious dinner, we heard from Eddie Velasquez, the owner of Dejabel.  Eddie discussed his dreams for making Dejabel a community meeting place, where residents could gather and interact in meaningful ways.  However, he also talked about the struggles he has been facing as a small business, competing against national chains and a sluggish economy.  The group was struck by Eddie’s vision and commitment in spite of the hardships he faced and offered suggestions for reaching more potential customers.  We left the evening with a better understanding of the Wheaton business community and the important interplay between neighborhood residents and local small businesses.

Neighbor Corps participants ham it up for the camera at Dejabel Cafe in Wheaton

Winta Teferi posing with Dejabel Cafe owner Eddie Velasquez

Wonderful World of Montgomery Festival!

Katie Schmahl, Rosa Sanchez, Tim Warner, Frankie Blackburn

Maria Lopez, Rosa Sanchez and friends

Last Sunday afternoon, the streets of downtown Wheaton were alive with people dancing, singing and eating deliciousfood! It was a great celebration of all the diversity that Wheaton has to offer! With the help of 4 members of Senior Leadership Montgomery, who did virtual doorknocks at the IMPACT booth, and a great group of Neighbor Corps members, Maria, Martha and Rosa, we were able to connect with lots of interesting people, tell them about the Neighbors Campaign and refer them to the Neighborhood Service Center!