Menu
Better Together
Being connected creates a sense of well-being in our community.
Building social capital – the networks between ourselves as neighbors as well as with leaders and other residents, in addition to our connections to resources – creates a rich, thriving community. It increases our health, boosts our economics, and even lowers crime. We really are better together.
“The Secret for Creating the Beloved Community”
— Doug Shipman, TEDx Atlanta
“Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”
– Dr Martin Luther King Jr
The community King envisioned is all-inclusive. Everybody’s a part of it. It can’t be exclusionary, if it’s beloved. Second, if it includes everyone, the differences of its members have to actually be embraced. Then King talked a lot about the fact that we all had to work for justice – not only justice for ourselves, but we had to work for the justice of every member of the beloved community. Because in an interconnected world, the only way we would develop the empathy required to actually solve our problems across our differences, was by building the beloved community. So, how do we build the beloved community?
“Take a Street and Build a Community”
Shani Graham, TEDx Perth
You’ll be amazed by what they did!
“Soon the street became more about people, connection, and community than it did about cars.”
“How to Be a Good Neighbor: A ‘Daily Drip’ of Kind Deeds”
WNYC Studios/The Takeaway/America the Kind
It’s easy to be a good neighbor. It’s the little gestures, the kind deeds, that make a world of difference.
“Top 10 Ways to Be a Good Neighbor in the Pacific Northwest”
Sound Built Homes/Blog
These tips aren’t specific to living in the Pacific Northwest. They’re ideal to apply wherever you live or visit. Great neighborhoods aren’t about the size or expense of the homes. They’re about the people who live there. Sometimes, we all need a gentle reminder of how we can create an amazing neighborhood by simply being a better neighbor.
Loneliness is an emotional state we have when we’re feeling disconnected. It can cause depression and premature death. Now, more than ever, we’re living alone, we’re spending more time online and less time making meaningful, in-person connections. So when emotional storms hit – like losing a job or going through a divorce or a death, instead of leaning in towards our community, we’ve learned to suffer alone. What follows is one solution to bring us more connection and help cure the epidemic of loneliness.
“The Simple Cure for Loneliness”
Baya Voce, TEDx Salt Lake City
“A Social Prescription: Why Human Connection is Crucial to our Health”
NPR.org/Hidden Brain
Former Surgeon General of the United States, Vivek Murthy, discusses “the importance of relationships, the hazards of loneliness, and what we can do to live a more people-centered life.”
“It stands out to me, despite being a doctor who has prescribed a number of medications over the years, that one of the most powerful medicines we have is love. And the vehicle through which that love is delivered is relationships. At a time when we’re struggling with such high levels of suicide, anxiety, and depression, relationships aren’t just nice to have – they’re necessary. They’re an essential part of the foundation which makes us healthy, well, and strong.”