On Tuesday, August 23rd, over 60 community members came together at the Love My Neighbor! gathering event to celebrate connecting with each other, building relationships of trust and becoming stronger together.

The Gathering, an event of relationship building, true connection, and learning among Applicants concluding the first round of the Love My Neighbor! Grant Program.

The Gathering culminated the grant application and selection process of the Love My Neighbor! initiative, a grant program designed to build neighborhoods by identifying, empowering, and supporting projects imagined by and for residents of our community. In the end, 20 resident projects received grants totaling over $30,000 of direct investment into communities from the program! However, the gathering event was not about honoring those projects; it was about honoring the gifts, talents, and passions that filled the gymnasium.

Presley Gillespie, the President of Neighborhood Allies, warmly welcomed the large group of applicants and neighborhood residents. He shared that resident knowledge and participation in community work is key to informing and directing the initiatives and efforts that Neighborhood Allies leads. Shikha Jerath, previously Community Leadership Fellow and now the Program Coordinator for Community Building and Civic Engagement for the organization, explained the importance of connecting and building relationships during the event.

“The gifts and talents in this room are out of control. It is key, tonight, to connect these gifts and talents to each other in a way that amplifies their power and effectiveness across our communities.”

-Shikha Jerath

Tia Torres and Donna Jackson of the Grassroots Grantmaking Committee, the body that reviews, interviews, and decides on projects of the program, spoke to the power of resident capacity in transforming neighborhoods. Tia Torres elaborates on how the program leverages this resident capacity,

“Love My Neighbor! is a co-constructive opportunity that was structured by community leaders looking to fund projects that best fit their communities based on what the residents wanted.”

-Tia Torres

During the event, we asked residents to discuss with their table groups and share their responses to “What matters to you right now?” Bridgette Ways, who will be organizing and preparing a theatrical performance that highlights the concerns and issues of young women in Homewood, shares:

“What matters to me is that girls have the opportunity to express themselves in ways and in places they feel comfortable. We believe, and our project is all about, that one has to have a heart to touch a heart.”

-Bridgette Ways

The next question we asked was “what crossroads are you at in your life?” Deacon Thomas of Lincoln Lemington shared,

“In the conversation I just had with my table, I was vulnerable, we all were. We were able to be vulnerable together because we felt like we could trust each other.”

-Deacon Thomas

The event was celebrated with joy, excitement and connections across neighborhood boundaries and brought residents closer together. When asked if they wanted to do this again, residents, without hesitation, replied, “yes”.

We look forward to leveraging the incredible momentum that residents built with new and asset-building relationship building opportunities!