⛪︎ SET ASIDE HOLY TIME

The unskippable step

The same way you would (or wish you would) for your creative practice, mindfulness, exercise time, daily walks. This work probably won’t happen in the margins until it’s a part of your daily reality. Maybe it is 10 minutes every Wednesday morning before sunrise. Maybe you get other friends together and go heads down at a coffee shop. Whatever you do, name it, protect it, commit to it. That’s what makes it holy!

✎ WRITE AN EMAIL TO SOMEONE YOU THINK IS COOL

Maybe it is the info@ email of an org you have been admiring. Maybe it is a local councilmember or member of a library or non-profit board. Maybe it is the one person organizing cool things near you and you just wanna know them! You could say something like “I so appreciate what you’re up to – could we grab a coffee sometime in the next few weeks?” and then you go drink some coffee with them!

⏱︎ FILL OUT YOUR CALENDAR WITH LOCAL EVENTS

Find your event sources.

These could be from:

• your local/regional paper’s website
• an Eventbrite search for your zip code
• a simple search for “[my town/state] events”
• local library events
• your city’s website
• meetup.com - it still exists! and even if the results make you cringe maybe it tips you off onto something cool
• gathering places – music venues, pride centers, coffee shops, small theaters, YMCAs, bookstores, parks, schools/colleges, museums or art spaces
• conveners and artists – bands, performers, organizers, mutual aid, food drop-offs, meet-up groups

Add the event details, date, and time on your calendar for the next 2-3 months so all the information is right there alongside your other life stuff. Even if you don’t go, it’s a cool way to have these happenings in your consciousness! And look mom, no instagram!!

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ BONUS POINTS: create a separate calendar for your events and SHARE THIS COOL RESOURCE YOU MADE with a friend! my friend just did this for upcoming screenings at the local film archive and it makes it so easy for me to add it to my own calendar. So cool!

✉ SIGN UP FOR TOO MANY LOCAL EMAIL NEWSLETTERS

You can always unsubscribe later. Literally sign up for 10! See what happens!

ᝰ. HOW-TO PALOOZA

We all know there is no ONE right way to do anything, especially when it comes to building community. It’s all about many actions over time! BUT if you need a jumpstart, here are some great places to browse how-to’s:

• Shareable – 300+ how-to articles on everything from organizing “really really free markets” to “how to share a cow”
• How to create a mutual aid network
• Community Weaving 
• Get Together – templates + frameworks for beginning your own community
• Libraries For The People – an extensive resource on advocating for your local libraries with extremely tangible ways to do so!
• Community Workshop – similar to Shareable, everything from building a library of things to pop-up theatres

𓃹 GO DOWN A RABBIT HOLE

Open the website or a social media account or the recent newsletter from something you follow. Click a link they mention about something else – maybe it’s a local org, gathering, legislation, restaurant – and go to their page. Find another link they mention and click on them. Keep going until you have so many tabs you want to run away from your computer but feel 14% more tapped in to things happening near you.

✍︎ ACTUALLY FILL OUT A VOLUNTEER INTEREST FORM

Find a local organization who could use volunteers by searching “[your town name] volunteers”. Even if none of these opportunities strike your fancy, maybe it sparks another idea or reminds you of something else you heard about. Click on their GET INVOLVED BUTTON and fill out the form to volunteer on their website.