RNeighbors is partnering with the Mayor’s Office and other community groups to organize a week in May to cultivate and celebrate neighborhood connections across the city with💚my Neighborhood Week.

May 19-25, 2024

How You Can Celebrate:

• A “Ways to 💚 Your Neighborhood” list is being distributed across the community; you can access it below. If you’d like cards to give out to your class, neighborhood, or club, email RNeighbors.
• Get inspired by completing one of the list actions (or be creative and make your own up) and take a photo. Enter the photo contest to win prizes and the possibility to have your work featured on RNeighbors’ Facebook page and website. 
• A fun comic-like map of Rochester neighborhoods is also being created for the week. Please follow the link below if you want your neighborhood on the map. Descriptions must be 25 words or less, and priority will be given to registered Neighborhood Associations.

Ways to 💚 Your Neighborhood

• Leave flowers, a coloring book, or a goodie bag on a neighbor’s doorstep with a note about paying it forward.
• Ask a neighbor if they need assistance with yard work.
• Leave a handwritten note for a neighbor wishing them well.
• Play a musical instrument? Give a concert on the front lawn at an appropriate time.
• Offer to walk your neighbor’s dog.
• Set up a neighborhood-wide garage sale
• Organize an annual neighborhood trash pick-up for Litter Bit Better, last week in April.
• Say good morning to a neighbor- maybe a new person you have never met.
• Plan game night or story time in the yard.
• Organize a bike or costume parade.
• Set up an outdoor selfie-taking spot for kids, pets, and grownups.
• Plan a cooking contest with neighbors as the competitors and judges.
• Outdoor movie night: Project a movie onto a garage or outdoor screen. RNeighbors has a Movie in a Box for reservation.
• Take walks or bike rides with neighbors and sign up for Move with the Mayor.
• Plan a neighborhood scavenger hunt.
• Adopt a stormdrain in your neighborhood.
• Host or enjoy donuts and coffee on the driveway, pancakes in the parking lot, or soup or dessert potluck in the garage.
• Start a neighborhood lending library. Go to www.littlefreelibrary.org
• Organize a neighborhood progressive dinner in which each home offers a different course.
• Host a neighborhood book club.
• Use sidewalk chalk to write an inspiring message or draw hopscotch on the sidewalk in front of your home.
• Compliment a neighbor on a feature of their home, garden, or front door.
• To get inspired, read a good book about placemaking. Try to find one at the Rochester Library! Try Jay Walljasper’s The Great Neighborhood Book.
• Create a neighborhood contact list with emails and phone numbers.
• Organize a neighborhood cornhole, basketball, or whiffle ball game.
• Welcome new neighbors with a list of your favorite things in the neighborhood.
• Visit the Olmsted County History Center to research your neighborhood. Share what you learned with neighbors and ask them to share their neighborhood stories.
• Cheer on your neighborhood youth by attending their events.
• Join your local neighborhood association. If you cannot help lead, find ways to support and thank them for their efforts.
• Offer to teach a skill to local neighbors. Skills like baking, sewing, watercolor, or fixing a lawn mower are just a few ideas.
• Support local businesses in your neighborhood.
• Start a community garden.
• Speak at or host a monthly brown bag lunch series.
• Play cards with neighbors.
• Walk or bike to support a cause and invite neighbors.
• Form an outdoor activity group.
• Plan a walking tour of a historical area in the neighborhood.
• Start a fix-it group: friends help each other clean, paint, garden, etc.
• Say “thanks” to public servants: police, firefighters, government officials.
• Gather a group to clean up the neighborhood and play a game afterward.
• Log off and go to the nearest park.
• Attend a public meeting.
• Start a babysitting cooperative.
• Start a carpool or a group of parents taking turns walking the children to school.
• Be real. Be humble. Acknowledge others’ self-worth.

Logo

The vibrant logo for the week is a collaboration with local artist Tierney Parker.

“The Doodles” is artwork from a local artist, Tierney Parker, aka “mixie madness,” who serves rich, layered, raw, deeply personal, and unapologetic work grounded in her experiences as a bi-racial bisexual woman navigating her individuality and struggles. Tierney strives to make art that opens up minds and hearts to a space for uncomfortable, necessary conversations. 

Have a comment? Join us on Facebook!