FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Good Neighbor Cohort
Questions? Here are some answers to some questions you might have about the Good Neighbor cohort. If your question isn’t addressed in the FAQ, shoot us an email at info@theimpactguild.com.
What is Good Neighbor?
The Good Neighbor Project is a way for you to follow if you’ll gather and host your friends and neighbors. Our online curriculum will help you guide conversations and develop projects using the principles of asset-based community development.
How do the Fieldguide and Online Course work together?
The Good Neighbor Fieldguide is a book, physical or digital, that your group can follow. It begins with 5 Guided conversations and then moves on to Asset Mapping and Action Plan Roadmap activities. With social distancing a current reality, the Online Portal provides this content online for your cohort group to access from a distance. The Online Portal also gives you a chance to share ideas with other cohort groups around the city. You can login before you facilitate any given week for ideas and also share your groups takeaways and ideas from the previous week in discussion boards.
How do I register?
Physical Fieldguides are $16 and should be ordered from Amazon.
Registration for the Online Course will be available soon. This gives each individual access to the online portal as well as a PDF copy of the book. (Each household that is a part of the cohort should register individually.)
*You do not have to do the Online Course. If you’d like to purchase a set of physical books and come up with your own parameters for how you meet — go for it!
What does facilitating a cohort look like?
A cohort facilitator (or pair of facilitators) are usually the drivers of a group — Inviting people to participate and bringing them together. But your group can decide for yourselves whether that facilitator (or co-facilitators) will lead each session or if you’d like to split up that responsibility and invite a different member(s) to facilitate different weeks. Here are a few questions we recommend answering as a group the first time you meet:
- How will your group approach facilitation? Is one person going to facilitate the entire experience? Perhaps 2 co-facilitators? Or will everyone facilitate a different session? Determine together how you want to approach this.
- Logistics: Get on the same page about format. How frequently will you meet together? When? Will you meet online or in person? If online, what platform and how will that work?
- The Good Neighbor Fieldguide is created as a framework that can be molded to your group. Consider if you will add other content or rhythms — You can decide this now or along the way.
- Guidelines: Are there any guidelines your group wants to establish for meeting together and creating a safe and welcoming environment?
How many people should be in a cohort?
We recommend 8-12 people who share a geographic neighborhood. The curriculum can be approached in an interactive way so that families can include children if desired.
How often should our cohort meet?
Groups should meet at least 8 times, but the frequency and timing of those meetings is up to those in your group. The first 5 sessions are Guided Conversations covering the topics of:
1) What is a Good Neighbor?
2) Extending Dignity
3) A Generous Life
4) Doing For/Doing With
5) Betterment Vs. Development
Followed by at least 3 sessions spent on Asset Mapping and Action Plan Road Map. Our hope is that groups continue taking creative steps to engage in projects in their neighborhoods.
Can I join an existing cohort?
We are launching a cohort though the Impact Guild, focused on the Beacon Hill and Alta Vista neighborhoods the week of June 15th. At this pilot stage we are not connecting groups more broadly, but we hope to in the future. Let us know if you are interested here.
What is the end result of the cohort? What can we expect to accomplish?
Success will look different for each cohort! The ultimate goal is to bring people together, engage your community, and develop creative projects. These projects will be as innovative and diverse as your neighborhoods.
I heard something about Good Neighbor cohorts through churches — What is that about?
One partnership through which Good Neighbor cohorts are being piloted is with the Park Community Church (register here) with other church partnerships in development. We also have cohorts through The Impact Guild (register here) or open community groups being started through friends who are neighbors as well as neighborhood associations. Email info@theimpactguild.com to let us know if you’d like help starting a group.
What does it mean that this is a pilot?
In response to COVID-19 and many of our desires to connect with others and engage our communities, we’ve taken a leap to bring our Good Neighbor Fieldguide to you in the form of cohorts and an online platform. But we are building this quickly and juggling a lot! You will be our first groups to go through this process and as much as we strive for excellence, we anticipate that there might be hiccups. So we are asking for your graciousness as well as your help identifying areas of improvement. Please, email us at info@theimpactguild.com and let us know how we can improve the experience!