Neighborhood Nights gives citizens a chance to bond

Lots of laughs and virtual connections were made through the Community Foundation of Lorain County and Neighborhood Connection’s first ever Neighborhood Night. The event was hosted through the Zoom platform at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 24. Lorain resident Tammee Jones led the event and got community members to interact with each other. “Through training and experience, our goal is to support collaboration, build trust and connect with our neighbors,” Jones said. “That’s what neighborhood night is all about.”

During the meeting, familiar faces from Lorain County made their way into the meeting room, including Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley, Barb Piscopo, executive director of the Lorain Historical Society, and representatives from El Centro De Servicios Soc.

Participants were encouraged to share something good or new that’s happened to them recently.

After the participants were broken down into different groups based on improvement, they had several questions and suggestions for what can be done.

“This was a way for us to get to know each other,” Jones said. “This is a way to have focused 20-25 minutes discussions that are current.”

The discussion included figuring out how to get people to utilize the parks in Lorain, engaging the youth in programming, finding a way for transportation to be spread throughout the city and a few other topics.

After the discussion, residents were given a chance to share their talents and gifts in order to support and uplift each other through a barter and trade system.

Jones said there will be a total of three neighborhood meetings.

The next meeting will take place in March, however, the date has not been released.