The Neighboring Movement Podcast

Happy 2024! In this first episode of the new year, we are so excited to welcome our dear friend Carter Ellis onto the front porch. Carter is the executive director of The Hub Argentine, a hub for neighboring and asset-based community development in the awesome, Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. 

A neighbor-led organization, the Hub is a wonderfully diverse gathering space in the neighborhood, providing resources such as a community garden, community market, and clothing closet - all through the lens of abcd. The truly relational work being done there is so incredible, so we can't wait to share this amazing episode with you all!

Conducted by co-founder Catherine, this interview walks through the history of the Hub, the way their programming matches neighborhood gifts with gaps, and the way that individual neighbors are both mobilized and celebrated. For anyone who's interested in how asset-based work might tangibly look in the context of a neighborhood, or how to curate a more asset-based space, this is an episode you won't want to miss!

Click here to visit the Hub's website and learn more!

Welcome to our Part 2 episode with Joseph Rathinam! For today's conversation, Joseph and Ian continue their discussion around the incredible impact of neighborocracy - an alternative system of neighbor-based, inclusive, and fully participatory governance now functioning in hundreds of thousands of neighborhoods across the globe. This episode is jam-packed with amazing stories and wisdom, and you won't want to miss it!

As this conversation is a continuation of our first episode with Joseph titled "Joseph Rathinam (Part 1): Neighborocracy- Global Governance From Below", you will definitely want to tune into that discussion first, if you have not done so already, where we introduce neighborocracy and Joseph as a key practitioner of the form of governance. In today's episode, Joseph continues that conversation by making a case for the practice of neighborocracy in America and by sharing incredibly powerful stories around some of what neighborocracy has accomplished across the globe.

Once again, if you're looking for further connection, you can find Joseph and key resources from the movement at https://ncnworld.org/.

And, here are some helpful articles:

Child-led governance builds a sustainable world:

https://www.theearthandi.org/post/child-led-governance-builds-a-sustainable-world

Children's Parliaments and Sociocracy: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/childrens-parliaments-sociocracy-case-study/

A great interview with Joseph on Neighborocracy: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-qkwv9-133d647

When neighbors come together, everyday people can have some serious power. Around the world, in places like India, Syria, and Mexico, there are massive movements taking what we are doing with neighboring at The Neighboring Movement, building those same kinds of abundant relationships we are, but then turning those relationships into a completely transformative way of governing their daily lives far more empowering for the average person than the divisive party politics we find ourselves in. Starting in India and expanding around the world, Neighborocracy is an alternative system of neighbor-based, inclusive, and fully participatory governance now functioning in hundreds of thousands of neighborhoods. Joseph Rathinam, a key organizer of Neighborocracy, joins us to help us learn about what the most radical horizons are for neighboring in part 1 of a 2 part interview.

Joseph is a wealth of knowledge, experience, and stories, so these will be longer episodes! But you will definitely want to stick around 'till the end of this one! You can find Joseph and key resources from the movement at https://ncnworld.org/.

Helpful articles:

Child-led governance builds a sustainable world:

https://www.theearthandi.org/post/child-led-governance-builds-a-sustainable-world

Children's Parliaments and Sociocracy: https://www.sociocracyforall.org/childrens-parliaments-sociocracy-case-study/

A great interview with Joseph on Neighborocracy: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-qkwv9-133d647

For this podcast episode, we had the great honor of sitting down with Seth Kaplan! Seth is an expert on fragile states with so many consulting gigs to his name, but recently, his work has led him to the conclusion that one of our most fragile states might just be our very neighborhoods. In this episode - based around Seth's book that just came out today - he makes his case for the fragility of our neighborhoods, and more importantly, what we all might do about that.

By consulting gigs, we mean that Seth consults for entities like the World Bank and U.S. State Department, so we're very appreciative that he gave us some of his time! His work is absolutely fascinating, which you'll hear about in this episode, and it's telling that a person like him is now arriving at neighborhoods as a focal point of his work...the larger neighboring movement is real, folks!

Aside from his consulting work, Seth is also an author, and his newest book Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code At A Time just came out today! This episode is based around our host, Adam, reading the book and dialoguing with Seth about it, so we encourage you to go check it out here!

To learn more about Seth's work, visit his website here. Enjoy this amazing episode!

One of the most globally important examples of neighbor power and possibility is under full-scale military assault. Today we bring on Samantha Teal, a media activist with the Rojava Information Center, to give us insights of life on-the-ground in North and East Syria, where a revolution for women's liberation, direct democracy, and ecology- with neighbors at the center of politics and life- is under attack from drones, planes, and artillery of the Turkish state.

In this episode, Ian and Samantha cover both the incredible stories of hope coming from the region governed by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, colloquially known as "Rojava," and the realities of war. Most of the episode is spent painting the picture of how the "Rojava Revolution" has made neighbors living on their blocks the most important political actors and imagining how Western countries might take neighboring farther to reimagine governance.

Samantha works for the Rojava Information Center, the best resource connecting international media outlets to live updates from on-the-ground. The best source for news, analysis, and explanations of the system is their website.

Ian also posted a blog on The Neighboring Movement website that goes much more in-depth into the context behind the Rojava Revolution. In 2018, he also made a documentary on the system of neighbor-powered direct democracy in North and East Syria. You can check that out here.

Finally, if you want to help the people of NES in their struggle, see the above blog post.

We are so honored to present a podcast episode with Majora Carter! Majora is one of those people who is changing the world in incredibly visible, physical ways. As an urban revitalization strategist and real estate developer, she is taking the lead in facilitating neighborhood-level economic development that is both led by - and directly benefiting - neighbors. Tune in to hear all about this amazing, powerful work!

It was such a joy to interview Majora for the podcast, and we are so appreciative that she said yes. With countless accolades to her name, and so many projects she is always taking on, she could have been doing anything else, so we were so excited to get a chance to sit down with her and share her wisdom with you all!

Born, raised, and still living in the South Bronx, Majora has been championing her low-status community her entire life. Now, she's at the forefront of incredibly massive and innovative neighborhood development projects that are not predatory or gross but instead are neighbor-driven and give neighbors a slice of both the communal and economic benefits. Her work is so so inspiring, and as a nonprofit that is also now starting to dip its toes into economic development in our neighborhood - and attempting to do so in a way that is not harmful to, but instead happily rooted within, the identity of the neighborhood - we cannot get enough.

The subtitle of Majora Carter's 2022 book Reclaiming Your Community, also quoted on a wall at the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture in DC, says it all: "You don't have to move out of your neighborhood to live in a better one." Enjoy this powerful episode!

And, to learn more about Majora's work, check out the links below:

• Majora's 2022 book Reclaiming Your Community: You Don't Have To Move Out Of Your Neighborhood To Live In A Better One
• Majora's website
• Majora's projects
• Majora's Instagram
• Majora's LinkedIn

In this episode of The Neighboring Movement Podcast, host Adam sits down with long-time friend and colleague Dr. Nate Regier. A former psychologist - and now leadership consultant, speaker, and author - Dr. Regier presents his newest book and wisdom around the culture-changing practice of compassionate accountability.

Nate Regier, PhD, is the CEO and founding owner of Next Element Consulting, a global leadership consulting and training firm helping build cultures of compassionate accountability. Dr. Regier is a former practicing psychologist and expert in social-emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication, conflict skills, and leadership. Recognized as a Top 100 keynote speaker, he is a Process Communication Model® Certifying Master Trainer. Nate is the author of four books: Beyond Drama; Conflict without Casualties; Seeing People Through; and his newest book, Compassionate Accountability. He hosts a podcast called “On Compassion with Dr. Nate,” writes a weekly blog, contributes to multiple industry publications, and is a regular guest on podcasts.

To check out and purchase Dr. Regier's newest book, click here. Or, to see what all Next Element is up to, visit their website here! Finally, to get in touch with Dr. Regier and his team, email them here.

Have you met Ian yet? Ian's our newest staff member here at The Neighboring Movement, and he's making the move from Dallas to Wichita in the next couple weeks! In this episode, hosts Adam and Kristopher ask Ian about his past neighboring, what drew him to this work, and what he's looking forward to as our faith-based organizer. We're so excited to introduce Ian to you all!

Amongst so much more, Ian is an incredibly kind, thoughtful, and intentional person. Conversations with him tend to end up around deeper subjects, and he has a true gift for drawing out a person's giftedness! As you hear in this episode, Ian has been very intentionally practicing neighboring for many years now and also brings with him so much organizing wisdom. Whether with folks on Zoom in different countries, or on his own block, Ian is truly committed to the neighboring life, and it's so inspiring to hear his many neighboring stories.

We hope you enjoy this fun episode in which we introduce Ian to you all, and we also hope you can meet him some day soon! To learn more about the Good Neighbor Experiment and our faith-based organizing work Ian is helming, click here.

Welcome back to The Neighboring Movement Podcast and Part 2 of our conversation with community animators Melissa, Emily, and Eric from Austin, Texas! In this episode, hosts Elizabeth and Catherine ask them about the ways they navigate resistance to neighboring, where they're currently discovering energy, and what they're each curious about in their next year of neighboring.

In short,  Elizabeth is the director of the Community Animator Network (or CAN), in which we hire folks from various communities, train them in the principles of asset-based community development, and then companion them in their organizing work within their individual communities. You can learn more about CAN here! Melissa, Emily, and Eric are three neighbors from a neighborhood in Austin, Texas, three of our community animators, and neighboring rockstars! We have been so honored to journey alongside them as they experiment with neighboring in their own context.

So, we were super excited for the chance to sit down with them on the indoor front porch and interview them about their recent neighboring efforts. This episode is the second part of a two-part conversation, so if you have not yet tuned into "Texas Neighboring (Part 1): Good Neighbor Fest", we would encourage you to do so now. As always, thanks for listening, and happy neighboring!

And, don't forget to check out the work of Emily and Eric's nonprofit We're All Neighbors at: www.wereallneighbors.org! They're doing such incredible work!

The Neighboring Movement podcast is back from a brief hiatus! We're so excited to kick things off with this episode from some of our community animators! Tune in as hosts Elizabeth and Catherine interview three of our animators from Texas - Melissa, Emily, and Eric - about their recent event: Good Neighbor Fest.

In short,  Elizabeth is the director of the Community Animator Network (or CAN), in which we hire folks from various communities, train them in the principles of asset-based community development, and then companion them in their organizing work within their individual communities. You can learn more about CAN here! Melissa, Emily, and Eric are three neighbors from a neighborhood in Austin, Texas, three of our community animators, and neighboring rockstars! We have been so honored to journey alongside them as they experiment with neighboring in their own context.

So, we were super excited for the chance to sit down with them on the indoor front porch and interview them about their recent neighboring efforts. In this first episode, we dive deep on their recent neighboring mega-event: Good Neighbor Fest. There's so much neighboring wisdom in this episode, so we're very excited to share it with you all. Enjoy!

And, be sure to check out the work of Emily and Eric's nonprofit We're All Neighbors at: www.wereallneighbors.org!

Welcome back to The Neighboring Movement Podcast! We know it's been a long break, so we really appreciate you sticking around and staying in the loop! Here's an episode with some updates and celebrations around what's up ahead for both this podcast and The Neighboring Movement as a whole. As always, we hope you enjoy, and stay tuned!

In this episode, hosts Aileen Rueda-DaCosta, Adam Barlow-Thompson, and Kristopher Swanson give some updates on how the podcast will look moving forward, plus what our nonprofit as a whole is looking towards in the coming year. One of the updates is that - perhaps unsurprising to some after our long break - we will from here on out be releasing episodes irregularly. Because things are really busy here at the moment (in the best way, too!), and because we desire to put out episodes as the conversations naturally come up between us and our colleagues, we are moving to this system of sporadic release. If you've been listening for a long time, thank you, and you will know that this has always slightly been our release style anyway; we are now seeking to formalize this and simply put out content as the conversations spring up. As ever, we hope the content will be helpful and encouraging to you in your neighboring experiments.

Once more, thank you so much again for being a loyal listener and sticking with us, even as we adjust and pivot. We really appreciate you and your support. Happy neighboring!

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! Even though the podcast is on a short break, we wanted to release this amazing episode in honor of the celebratory month. In the episode, hosts Aileen Rueda-DaCosta and Kristopher Swanson sat down with Cecilia Thibault and Danny Barrera from Young Latino Professionals of Wichita in order to talk about their organization's powerful work and the many ways in which this aligns with abcd (asset-based community development). We hope you enjoy, and again, happy Hispanic Heritage Month!

Young Latino Professionals of Wichita (or YLPW) was started in 2018 and "aims to create and leverage an entire network of Latinos to positively influence our community". As you'll discover in this interview, their work is so grounded upon relationship and connecting, and it's truly wonderful to see the amazing impact - and growth - they've had in the Wichita community over a period of only 4 years. Cecilia and Danny are both leaders within the group, and they have so much wisdom and insight around leading in these kinds of community spaces in an asset-based way. We're so excited to share this episode with you all!

You'll learn so much about YLPW in the midst of this interview, but to learn even more, check out their website here! And, to get more details about their Art After Hours event mentioned in the episode, check out their Instagram here!

Hello friends and loyal listeners! In this episode, we give a couple quick updates. First, our online store called the "Neighborhood Shop" is now live! Listen to the episode to learn all about the 3 items that are now available for purchase there, and visit the shop by clicking here: https://neighboringmovement.org/shop. Second, due to a busy season here, we'll be taking a little break from the podcast. We'll keep you all posted, so stay tuned, and as always...thanks for listening, and happy neighboring!

Hello friends! This week, we're presenting a neighboring tip episode. For those who don't know, we send out weekly neighboring tips - simple ways to get to know your actual, literal neighbors - via email and social media. So, in this week's episode, a few of our staff members sit down to spotlight this week's neighboring tip: Check in on a neighbor, bring a casserole.

We hope you enjoy this episode, and to sign up for our emailed, weekly neighboring tips, scroll to the bottom of our home page at https://neighboringmovement.org/.

Welcome to the series finale of The Neighbor Within! This episode is the fifth and final segment of a multi-part series from The Neighboring Movement staff members Elizabeth Ramirez and Maddie Johnson. In the series, Elizabeth and Maddie examine the importance of self care - or neighboring within - before being able to be a good neighbor to others. We hope you enjoy this powerful conclusion to the series!

In this series - which we can attest is exponentially more thought-out than pretty much all of our other staff episodes - Elizabeth and Maddie walk listeners through their personal journeys of how they arrived at The Neighboring Movement. These episodes are, in many ways, deeply personal, so we thank Elizabeth and Maddie for their willingness to share their stories with us and our audience.

It goes without saying, but as this is the final episode of a five-part series, we would encourage you to listen to Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 first, as the content of Elizabeth and Maddie's episodes follows a chronological order. Within this series finale, the two hosts discuss the moments immediately following their final decisions, how they felt after leaving their respective toxic places, and the wisdom they now carry into their next phases of life and have to share with us all. We hope you enjoy this final episode, and we would love to hear your feedback. As always, thank you for listening, and happy neighboring within!

The penultimate episode of The Neighbor Within is here! This episode is the fourth segment of a multi-part series from The Neighboring Movement staff members Elizabeth Ramirez and Maddie Johnson. In the series, Elizabeth and Maddie examine the importance of self care - or neighboring within - before being able to be a good neighbor to others. As always, thanks for listening!

In this series - which we can attest is exponentially more thought-out than pretty much all of our other staff episodes - Elizabeth and Maddie walk listeners through their personal journeys of how they arrived at The Neighboring Movement. These episodes are, in many ways, deeply personal, so we thank Elizabeth and Maddie for their willingness to share their stories with us and our audience.

It goes without saying, but as this episode is Part 4 within the series, we would encourage you to listen to Parts 1, 2, and 3 first, as the content of Elizabeth and Maddie's episodes follows a chronological order. Within this fourth episode, the two hosts discuss how they entered some final meetings in their respective toxic places and the narratives they experienced as a part of this. Enjoy, and stay tuned for next week's series finale!

We are excited to announce the third episode of The Neighbor Within! This episode is one segment of a multi-part series from The Neighboring Movement staff members Elizabeth Ramirez and Maddie Johnson. In the series, Elizabeth and Maddie examine the importance of self care - or neighboring within - before being able to be a good neighbor to others. Welcome back!

In this series - which we can attest is exponentially more thought-out than pretty much all of our other staff episodes - Elizabeth and Maddie walk listeners through their personal journeys of how they arrived at The Neighboring Movement. These episodes are, in many ways, deeply personal, so we thank Elizabeth and Maddie for their willingness to share their stories with us and our audience.

It goes without saying, but as this episode is Part 3 within the series, we would encourage you to listen to Parts 1 and 2 first, as the content of Elizabeth and Maddie's episodes follows a chronological order. Within this third episode, the two hosts discuss how they began taking action within each of their respective situations, doing so in a way in which they were able to examine their values. As always, stay tuned for next week's Part 4, and enjoy!

Welcome back to The Neighbor Within! This episode is the second of a multi-part series from The Neighboring Movement staff members Elizabeth Ramirez and Maddie Johnson. In the series, Elizabeth and Maddie examine the importance of self care - or neighboring within - before being able to be a good neighbor to others. Thanks for listening!

In this series - which we can attest is exponentially more thought-out than pretty much all of our other staff episodes - Elizabeth and Maddie walk listeners through their personal journeys of how they arrived at The Neighboring Movement. These episodes are, in many ways, deeply personal, so we thank Elizabeth and Maddie for their willingness to share their stories with us and our audience.

It goes without saying, but as this episode is Part 2 within the series, we would encourage you to listen to Part 1 first, as the content of Elizabeth and Maddie's episodes follows a chronological order. Within this second episode, the two hosts discuss their processes of reflection as they began to ponder leaving their respective toxic places. As always, stay tuned for next week's Part 3!

And...it's the series you've all been waiting for...The Neighbor Within! This episode represents the first of a multi-part series from The Neighboring Movement staff members Elizabeth Ramirez and Maddie Johnson. And it's such a good one! In these episodes, Elizabeth and Maddie examine the importance of self care - or neighboring within - before being able to be a good neighbor to others. Welcome to The Neighbor Within!

In this series - which we can attest is exponentially more thought-out than pretty much all of our other staff episodes - Elizabeth and Maddie walk listeners through their personal journeys of how they arrived at The Neighboring Movement. These episodes are, in many ways, deeply personal, so we thank Elizabeth and Maddie for their willingness to share their stories with us and our audience.

For this first episode, Elizabeth and Maddie examine the first segments of each of their journeys of leaving toxic places. In their words, they're "spilling some tea"! We hope you enjoy this first episode of the series, and stay tuned for next week's Part 2!

After a short break, we're back! For today's episode, host Adam sat down with Rob Shorter, the Communities & Art Lead at the Doughnut Economics Action Lab. In the episode, Rob explores the necessity of reimagining economies and how this intersects with living in community.

Doughnut Economics, you say? That's right, Doughnut Economics! This fun name describes an idea that was first coined and written about by economist Kate Raworth and which essentially outlines how humanity might thrive in this modern era - reimagining economies in which everyone's basic needs are met while also respecting the beauty and boundaries of the planet we call home. And yes, all of this is symbolized by none other than a doughnut! Tune in to the episode to hear Rob describe this fascinating concept and how it intersects with community development.

To learn more about Rob's work and Doughnut Economics, visit the Doughnut Economics Action Lab's website here. You can also visit Kate Raworth's website here to learn more about her work and purchase the Doughnut Economics book.

Enjoy!