By Natalie Angelillo, VP of Community at OfferUp
As we shared in our first blog post, the NeighborUp program came from many months of research and discussion around the state of trust in our communities and neighborhoods. We were motivated to act out of concern over the statistics, the angst happening in our own discussions with family and friends, and the real challenges facing our country that were evident wherever we turned.
However, what makes this program a calling for us isn’t the problems, the data, or the news stories, it’s the way we see people push back in spite of the challenges they face — the unrelenting resilience of people facing overwhelming odds. It is the work being done in neighborhoods all over our cities that is good, positive, and life affirming. We decided to create NeighborUp, not because of the problems at the macro level, but because of the individuals who are looking for, and creating, solutions at the local level.
NeighborUp is our way of putting positive stories front and center. It’s about celebrating the good neighbors in our communities. The ones that don’t often make the local news or the headlines. It’s about rewarding and amplifying the moments when people work together, when strangers help strangers, and when trust is asked and rewarded.
At our recent dinner in LA we listened and we learned. We met people’s stories we want to tell. We met Patty, a lifelong skidrow advocate in Downtown LA who’s making a difference for families in her neighborhood, including adopting her own daughter from the homeless community she serves. We met Robert, a successful entertainment lawyer who after a cancer diagnosis and failed marriage, ended up in a men’s’ home for the homeless. After turning his own life back around he is now a developer for low income housing in that same community. And we watched first hand as a community police officer and a woman whose brother was killed by the LAPD years ago, put aside their years of pain and distrust, and agreed to stay in a conversation for the sake of today’s youth.
At that same dinner we got to know David Price, who is profiled in our latest video. He grew up in South LA, attended Georgetown and Harvard Universities, and now dedicates his life to the teens in his community.
In addition to featuring the individuals we meet along the way, we will be sharing lessons we learn from them and offering ideas on how to integrate those lessons into our own lives. We can all be good neighbors. Stay tuned for next week’s post where we’ll share some tips that we all can use to be a positive role model in our communities. We’d love to hear your ideas as well. Follow us as we tell more of these stories on our Instagram account at @NeighborUp Now. We’d love to hear your stories: Tag #neighborupnow on Instagram or follow the link and tell us how you NeighborUp here.
