Neighbor Up discussions go public for 2021

“Through training and experience, our goal is to support collaboration, build trust and connect with our community, our neighbors.” — Tamara Jones

The Neighbor Up program that started in Lorain last year will spread out with connections to the city’s neighborhoods this year.

And Elyria is next. Neighbor Up is a Cleveland-based initiative supported by Neighborhood Connections, a nationally recognized communitybuilding program established in 2003.

Funded by the Cleveland Foundation and other partners, the mission is “to fuel the power of neighbors to create, together, an extraordinary world right where they live.”

The Community Foundation of Lorain County brought the approach to Lorain with a series of online meetings in fall 2020, led by facilitators Jerry Elias Pena and Lisa-Jean Sylvia.

The meetings usually are in-person, but Lorain participants went online last year and this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“Despite the pandemic and not being able to connect face-to-face, it’s still on the top of everyone’s mind as to how do we connect?” asked Linda Styer, senior program officer at the Community Foundation. “Even if we’re not doing it face-toface, but how do we build a network to make improvements in key areas of Lorain County?”

Participants already have raised concerns about youth and families, two consistent topics in months of discussion, Styer said.

But, it’s a process to continue the dialogue, she said.

“It’s not a switch that you turn,” Styer said, because people in the community have worked with those challenges for many years.

More talks went public this year, with Neighbor Up hosting virtual meetings Feb. 24 and March 24. The next one is April 28. Sessions are open to the public and the participants hope more people will get involved.

The Neighbor Up 2020 cohort members host the meetings.

“Through training and experience, our goal is to support collaboration, build trust and connect with our community, our neighbors,” Tamara Jones said in the March 24 session.

Other participants were Styer, Loretta Jones, Michelle Peoples, Norva Ross, Sally Peoples, Valerie Dillard, Vonisha Isom-Massey, with Debora and Jack Bradley.

Bradley is Lorain’s elected mayor, but said just names, not titles, would be part of the talks.

The gathering was designed for participants’ ideas and priorities to be at the center. The meeting had a casual feeling.

The March 24 session opened with “New and Good,” a round of sharing personal news for participants to get to know each other.

Bradley spoke about growing up in Lorain and his new puppy, an AussieDoodle named River.

Debora Bradley spoke about working with school principals to raise civic engagement by students, so they will work on a Pride Day project cleaning areas around schools in May.

Sylvia spoke about her son’s acceptance to the college of his first choice with a scholarship.

Peoples said she recently had a birthday, so she received well wishes from those involved.

The Community Foundation will hire a community engagement fellow, a new position for a year.

It is taking applications now, Styer said.

The group addressed “Business of the Network” in three break-out sessions with 20 minutes of small group discussion around three questions proposed by the participants. They chose to address:

• Crowdfunding and what it is, suggested by Arrington.

• Finding solutions for gun violence in Lorain, suggested by Jack Bradley.

• How to help parents get more children to school, suggested by Loretta Jones.

Each group reported back a key takeaway for each talking point.

The final discussion was the “Marketplace,” in which participants had 30 seconds to make an offer, request or declaration.

Jack Bradley offered representatives from nonprofits to contact the city of Lorain for financial help that could become available through the federal American Rescue Plan economic stimulus plan.

Debora Bradley had a request — for help training a 9-week old puppy. Styer asked for suggestions on finding a good fish fry.

Robinson offered her business services in graphic design and T-shirt printing.

Ross asked for help registering names of people who attended a food pantry she worked with that day, because the pantry was short of volunteers.

There is more to come. Along with the April 28 meeting and a new Community Foundation engagement fellow, the Foundation plans a Neighbor Up cohort in Elyria this year.

There also will be minigrants up to $500 for up to 20 neighborhood projects in Lorain this year, Styer said.