Building The Power & Promise of Communities
Strong neighbors mean strong neighborhoods. Neighbors United is a resident-led, strategic, and collaborative approach to grassroots community organizing.
Neighbors United
- Supports community self-determination
- Develops socially connected and active residents
- Counters the minimization and marginalization of community voices
- Builds, strengthens, and amplifies the power of local leaders
- Equips residents to drive positive and meaningful community change
Where It Works
Neighbors United operates in historically isolated, marginalized, and disenfranchised neighborhoods. We target communities facing multigenerational barriers to equity, access, and opportunity.
Locations:
The first cohort of Neighbors United included Lansdowne and Pioneer City. These communities will be transitioning to Neighborhood Zones.
Why It Works
Recognizing and building resident power can deepen community solidarity and collaboration. When people have a say in how their community is run, they’re more likely to work together and support one another in achieving their shared goals.
“Top down” recommendations imposed by external groups are often met with resistance or are not sustainable. Strategies developed by residents work because they are the experts in what their community needs and will advocate more effectively for changes that matter personally to them.
“Residents have the power within themselves to change things. Neighbors United unlocks what’s already inside them and shows them the strength that they have.”
Randy Curtis, Anne Arundel Partnership for Children,
Youth and Families (Neighbors United/Pioneer City)
How It Works
Neighbors United coaches residents to identify assets and challenges together and work with allies in power to improve the health, security, and economic well-being of their communities. This approach promotes building power structures that put residents in a position of strength and self-determination.
Communities progress through Neighbors United with the guidance of a lead agency that is embedded in the community and supported by United Way of Central Maryland. Resident roles and responsibilities are centered and a core team is formed. As engagement with the community deepens, leadership shifts from the agency to the core team, whose capacity to drive positive change remains a sustainable, long-term asset in the neighborhood.
What Makes Neighbors United Unique
Neighbors United is distinctly community driven, with the needs and priorities of residents centered and prioritized. Although a lead agency is supported by United Way, its main goal is to develop resident leadership. The activities and goals of the core team are set by its membership and supported by the agency and United Way.
How We Measure Success
Neighbors United University
Be part of the first Baltimore City NUU class and be a voice for lasting change!
Real change happens when people who live in a community lead it. United Way of Central Maryland is offering 25 people across Baltimore City the opportunity to become the leaders they’ve always wanted to be. Learn more about Neighbors United and Neighbors United University and apply today!
