Neighbourhood Network Starter Kit.
"Leadership is accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose under conditions of uncertainty." – Marshall Ganz
This starter-kit is a step by step guide to building your own network neighbourhood that can support one-another through the work of community building and resource sharing while protecting yourself from the spread of COVID-19.
When we began our neighbourhood network in own apartment building in early March, we didn’t know this type of community organising had a specific name. Turns out, it’s called Mutual Aid.
Mutual aid is “cooperation for the sake of the common good.”
It’s getting people in your local neighbourhood to come together to meet each other’s needs, recognising that through challenges, we depend on each other. We encourage you to read this starter-kit and feel free to share this resource with your friends, family and networks across Australia to encourage others to begin community building in their apartment building, flat, street or neighbourhood and help locals during this global pandemic.
Furthermore, if you would like additional help with community building during this crisis, we’re here to help and provide free advice, hit us up on our social media platforms (links on this website) or leave us a message here.
What is Mutual Aid?
Mutual Aid is a practice that emphasises solidarity rather than charity.
It means we recognise that our well-being, health and dignity are all bound up in each other. It means that we understand our survival depends on cooperation, not competition. In this particular moment, we see that our health is also dependent on other people’s health, and we can literally save each other’s lives. Rather than disengage through physical isolation and feel powerless, mutual aid enables us to develop leadership, and work together to make an impact locally by organising our collective resources.
Help spread your important community building.
As you start to build your network and move through these steps, we encourage you to keep us updated by sharing your network building experiences, your stories and your community organising successes with us by posting on social media and tagging Dunn Street.
How to build a Neighbourhood Network.
Step 1: Don’t start building on your own
Find a friend, flatmate or neighbour or two (if you can) to assist you in building your neighbourhood network. Let’s call them a “mate”.
A mate helps make the work feel less overwhelming — you can plan things together.
A mate keeps you accountable to each other.
A mate may have relationships with others and have resources you don’t.
Start by identifying someone in your apartment building, flat or street, and text/call them to ask them to be your “mate” in building a neighbourhood network.
Step 2: Identify your neighbourhood zone
Are you trying to support people on your floor, in your entire apartment building or flat, on your street or your neighbourhood?
Identify the size of your neighbourhood you seek to work with in your network. Try to start small: 5 - 30 people is a good size to start with, and build out from there if you need.
Step 3: Invite your neighbours to join the network
If you don’t already have phone contacts for your neighbours, you’ll need to reach them somehow. Here are some suggested ideas:
If you have some phone contacts of your neighbours but not all of them, ask for your contacts to connect you with the neighbours you don’t know.
You can write a personal note to each of the neighbours you wish to engage with. (Check out this template for drafting a letter to drop under your neighbours door). Just be sure to maintain social distancing guidelines and limit person-to-person contact, so slip the note under their door.
You can flyer in spaces where people tend to pass through, such as lifts, laundry rooms or bike rooms.
Reach out to people via email or social media such as a building Facebook group.
Note: Initial outreach should be language-accessible. For example, if your building is majority Vietnamese-speaking, include both English and Vietnamese in your invite. Ask a bi-lingual neighbour to work on the outreach together.
Step 4: Build your network
You have a couple options in terms of communications setup:
Make a group text or social media chat (Eg: Facebook messenger, WhatsApp, Slack) if everyone is comfortable with text/social media.
As the spread of COVID-19 forces many employees to work from home, many Australians are now discovering the new world of tele-conferencing software like Zoom, Skype or Google Hangouts. If those in your neighbourhood are comfortable, this could be another option.
If most people can do text but some can only talk by phone, assign people responsible for calling those people to update them.
If most people are only comfortable talking by phone, set up a phone tree.
If you do grow beyond 30 neighbours, it’s best to establish a new neighbourhood network and find mates to take leadership roles within that network (Eg. on the floor below, the other side of the street, the next street block over.)
If your network is more than 30 neighbours, consider splitting into two groups and enable others in the second group to take on leadership roles as “mates”.
Big groups can get unwieldy and you can always still reach out to and coordinate with the other group through teams of mates!
Step 5: Build your relationships
In community organising, relationships are the glue that binds our community together.
Start by asking people in the group to create a name the network. Make the name fun or something that everyone can identify with. It’s a great ice-breaker and a way to begin building relationships with your network. Next step is to have an intro conversation with each other on your social media chat group.
Set some sensible network neighbourhood norms, for example, treating each other with respect and assuming the best intentions. You also want to get a sense of what each person needs, and what each person can do to help.
Here is a list of suggested questions to ask each other to kick things off:
What are your hobbies and interests?
What languages do you speak?
When are you generally working/busy and when are you generally available?
How regularly do you want to check in?
What is your living situation like and who else lives with you?
Who are your emergency contacts?
What resources, skills or knowledge do you have that you could share with the network or help others with?
What are your needs? What are you afraid of losing? What do you need help with?
Do you have any important health info about yourself you want to share with me? For example, do you have regular prescriptions or appointments you need to maintain?
What will be your primary concerns if the shutdown lasts two months or longer?
You might find that it takes multiple conversations with each other before people feel comfortable discussing some of those questions. That’s okay! Relationship building is not a means to mutual aid, but fundamental to the work itself.
There are several ways to do this in a group that’s larger than a couple of people.
We recommend focusing on building relationships with each other before immediately jumping into asks. One way to do this is dividing everyone up into pairs. Each pair then talks to each other over video/phone/online chat and takes notes about the conversation to input into a spreadsheet. Switch pairings and do a couple more rounds of 1-on-1 conversations so people in your network have relationships with not just one other person in the network, but multiple other people.
You could also use a Google Form or Spreadsheet and have everyone input their responses on their own and read over each other’s responses to the questions.
If you go with #1, make sure to clarify upfront what information gets shared with everyone in the network and what information stays in your small group conversation. Consent about information sharing is important.
Step 6: Support each other
Your network will have lots of needs at this time, and they may change as this pandemic continues. Some needs that might or have already come up may include:
Food (both supermarket trips and prep)
Childcare (especially as schools close)
Picking up medicine or other absolutely essential medical needs
Cleaning supplies
Financial support (especially as more workers get laid off or have to stay home without pay or unpaid sick leave)
Emotional support
Recreational activities, for both adults and children
Help navigating social security and government processes
Language translation/support
Tech and internet assistance
Timely and accurate public health information
Health and safety tips
Organising mutual aid during COVID-19 means taking extra precautions to protect yourself and your community from the spread of the virus. Here are some tips for minimising your exposure:
Practice social distancing. Do not interact with people face-to-face. Connect with each other through phone/online.
Go to supermarkets and pharmacies for essential errands at non-peak hours.
Use delivery services when possible so you stay home. Pool money to pay for these services or find a volunteer delivery collective in your community.
When dropping off food/medicine for someone, they should not open the door while you are there. Coordinate the drop-off through text/phone/group chat or speak through the door. Don’t touch doorbells, door handles, and lift buttons with your hand.
Consider using online payments rather than handling cash for reimbursements.
Try to remain local and bike, walk, or drive. Avoid public transport like buses, trains or trams when possible. Avoid rideshares and taxis when possible.
When you’re outside, always maintain 1.5 metres from other people at all times.
Wipe down and disinfect everything you bring into your home.
Wash your hands thoroughly when you re-enter your home.
For additional resources or assistance with community building during this crisis, contact us via our social media platforms (linked on this page) or leave us a message here.
Remember, don’t agonise. Organise.
This starter kit was inspired by the teachings of Marshall Ganz, and additional concept ideas from Mariame Kaba.