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More than ever, people need healthy relationships, but the business of everyday life makes curating them next to impossible. However, community infrastructure and thoughtfully-led initiatives can promote social cohesion, improving resident wellbeing and quality of life. Through strategic investments, revisions in policy, and elevating residents’ voices, communities create strong bonds and deep roots.
1. Build Sports and Recreational Facilities
There’s nothing like rooting for the home team to bring people together. Sports are known for their ability to gather the most unlikely people for a shared purpose: getting the “W.” Communities who invest in sports, especially youth sports, establish a natural gathering space for the whole family. Kids’ sports can be demanding, but the opportunity to learn, grow, and experience new things is rewarding.
Caregivers cheer on from the sidelines and get to know one another during weekday practice and on weekend games. They discuss challenges and struggles, workshopping strategies to help their kids thrive. By investing in recreational sports fields, communities drive engagement in active lifestyles, which can also improve community health. If you can, petition to enhance sports amenities with necessities like restrooms, water stations, and shade structures, all of which improve safety and boost usage.
Encourage city leaders to add play spaces to keep younger kids engaged and active while athletes practice too. They should install playground swings with a range of seating for babies, youth, and those with accessibility needs. This low-maintenance, inclusive recreational addition offers hours of fun and requires only a small footprint to install. Benches for caregiver seating and low-maintenance horticulture to beautify and shade the space encourage regular visits. By building a purposeful and fun gathering space, people will build connections around shared interests and ideals.
2. Create Intergenerational Programming
Loneliness is one of the biggest risks to healthy aging, but strategic community engagement efforts can make a difference. Older individuals often retreat to retired life, eager for a break from the grind. However, their exit from the workforce often means giving up a routine that had brain health benefits. Younger individuals may crave connections beyond their phones or want to learn new skills but don’t have access or funds. Community programs close this gap and bring people together who never would have met otherwise, creating new relationships and memories.
Restore social connections and expose younger generations to different perspectives, experiences, and skills. Host community programming that places various generations as the lead, sharing their expertise with others. A tech-savvy Gen-Z student may thrive when leading attendees through a social media tutorial. An experienced octogenarian gardener may relish the opportunity to share her propagation techniques with an eager group of learners. Create volunteer programs that leverage individuals’ skill sets and give them a platform to share their gifts with others.
Partner with community groups and religious centers to identify a range of gathering spaces for these programs. Strive to disperse program locations throughout the community, especially in places that are accessible and offer free parking. Strike a partnership that ensures programs are respectful of the host location while offering benefits for their generosity. Agree on event promotion parameters, rules about food and drink, and how meeting spaces will be cleaned up.
3. Establish Community-Minded Events and Initiatives
Seeing yourself reflected in the community you call home makes you feel welcome, respected, and wanted. Community leaders can instill this sense of comfort and hometown pride amongst people of all backgrounds through cultural events. Look to existing cultural districts, religious groups, and businesses for initial inspiration, but a grassroots approach will reveal opportunities. Work with elected officials and government liaisons to earn introductions to communities you don’t currently engage with. This can help you build authentic relationships and connections and begin to build trust.
Collaborate with groups to identify opportunities they are interested in and can facilitate. A Latino group may love celebrating their culture and sharing dishes from home, but a forced-upon food festival builds walls. Instead, focus on getting to know the people and listening, which will be more fruitful in both relationship-building and creativity. A public art project featuring culturally important murals may liven up an otherwise dreary retaining wall. Think of initiatives that elevate art, culture, and music that live on beyond a labor-intensive one-day event.
Once you’ve established some rapport, let them know of your goals for building a more cohesive community. They may have ideas waiting in the wings or may be working toward a similar aim. Share what you’ve discussed with city leadership and gatekeepers, such as creating cultural celebrations and reducing event-permitting complexity. Let them know what level of commitment you can provide, and be patient as they consider the opportunity. Establish a committee of cultural leaders where they can discuss community needs and elevate them to civic leaders directly.
Intentional Community Connections Enhance Quality of Life
Your hometown should be one you’re proud to call your own, and it’s worth investing in making it that way. Collaborate with your neighbors to elevate everyone’s voices, creating an intentional, inclusive community-building effort. Push through the abstract wall of what could be, inciting curiosity and excitement in the process of co-creation. Keep an open mind, and you’ll establish public-private partnerships that build a healthy, cohesive, and thriving community.
