Building Community by Growing Where You’re Planted Blair Corcoran, Carolyn Jeskey, Nathan Ritter, Nahal Tavangar, Stephanie Wade

Design Criteria Accessible: physically, financially, technologically Connects currently unconnected people Scalable or movable Emotional connection: creates “At Home” feeling Sustainable Desirable Has an impact

Jill is a single mother with two young kids living in the Capitol Hill district of DC

Because she has a full time job and is a single parent, she doesn’t have a lot of time to take care of chores around the house

DC just had a huge snowstorm and Jill doesn’t have a snow blower to clear her driveway

Jill logs onto a website, NeighborShare, that connects individuals who have specific needs to people in their neighborhood that can help them

Jill clicks on the HELP application to find someone to clear her driveway

A text message alert is sent to the 4 people who had signed up for snow removal in her neighborhood

Nathan, who lives down the street and is sitting at home reading a book, receives a text message alerting him of Jill’s need, and accepts her request

Nathan’s acceptance is communicated to the other 4 NeighborhoodSharers Accepted!

Nathan clears Jill’s driveway within the hour so Jill can get to the grocery store

Before she leaves for the store, Jill goes back onto NeighborShare, posts a blog about Nathan’s help and sends him a High-Five thank you gift for his kindness

In the Spring, Jill attends a NeighborShare event that she found out about through a list of community events. While there, she realizes that their outdoor community space could be improved.

She gets an idea to create an outdoor space that replicates a sense of “home” that she can share with her neighbors

She submits an idea to the group using IdeaShare, and within minutes starts getting offers to contribute furniture, lighting, games and collaborative art spaces

Her idea was a success in bringing the community together. Jill documented the process and shared it so other communities could benefit from this idea.

Neighborhoods around DC heard about the success of the Capitol Hill NeighborShare in building community, and started launching sites of their own