Neighboring Movement

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend At the Table 2026, brought to our community by Care for Every Family through Think Tank, Inc., and it was incredible.

Twelve Wichita Change Leaders shared their lived experiences, while the rest of us were simply invited to listen — to sit across the table, hear their stories, and better understand experiences that may look very different from our own.

There is something powerful about creating space for people to be heard. So much of neighboring begins the same way: showing up, listening, and building genuine connection.

I’m grateful to Care For Every Family, Think Tank, Inc., and especially the Change Leaders who shared their stories with us.

— Brittany, Executive Director

Today, we hosted At the Table 2026, brought to our community through Think Tank, Inc.

12 Wichita Change Leaders shared their lived experiences around things like foster care, poverty, recovery, incarceration, mental health, disability, housing instability, and more.

And community members simply came to listen.

Throughout the morning, listeners rotated from table to table for 20-minute conversations, sitting face-to-face with people whose experiences may look very different from their own.

No panels. No presentations. No experts talking about people.
Just real people. Real stories. Real conversation.

The goal? To listen with curiosity, challenge assumptions, and find kinship across experiences.

And today was so GOOD. ❤️

There is so much I want to share from At the Table 2026. The stories, the feedback, the moments, and what we learned.

But for today, I’m simply incredibly grateful for the 12 Change Leaders who trusted us with their stories and every person who pulled up a chair to listen. Wichita is full of amazing people!

A special thank you to Kansas Department for Children and Families for being wonderful hosts, and to Kansas Children's Service League for helping organize people behind the scenes.

More to come, Wichita.💙

A big THANK YOU to Fidelity Bank, a Friend of the Block sponsor of our National Good Neighbor Day Block Party! 🎉

Fidelity Bank is helping us keep this celebration free for our community — and their team is showing up in more ways than one, with volunteers joining us on event day to help make everything run smoothly.

Community events like this happen because local partners believe in creating spaces where neighbors can meet, connect and have fun together. We’re grateful to Fidelity Bank for being part of it!

🏡 National Good Neighbor Day Block Party
📅 Sunday, September 27
⏰ 12–3 p.m.
📍 Kansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial Park

Come celebrate neighboring with us! ❤️

We’re proud to be an Equipping Partner for National Good Neighbor Day! 🧡

At The Neighboring Movement, we believe strong communities start with something simple: neighbors knowing, connecting with, and caring for one another. We’re honored to be part of a national network helping equip everyday people with the tools to build stronger neighborhoods.

And this year, we’re especially excited to celebrate National Good Neighbor Day right here in Wichita with our National Good Neighbor Day Block Party on September 27!

Thanks to National Good Neighbor Day for highlighting our work and the work of organizations across the country strengthening connection and belonging.

Your grocery run can now support good neighboring. 🛒💛

The Neighboring Movement is now part of the Dillons Community Rewards program!

If you already shop at Dillons and use a Dillons Rewards account, you can link your account to us. Then, when you shop, Dillons makes contributions to support our work — at no additional cost to you.

It only takes a minute:

Sign in to your Dillons account online or in the app
Go to Payment & Resources
Select Community Rewards
Search SOCE Neighborhood Action Foundation
Click Enroll

You’ll find The Neighboring Movement listed under our legal name, SOCE Neighborhood Action Foundation.

Then just shop like you normally do! Every grocery run becomes one more small way to invest in stronger, more connected neighborhoods. 🏡💛

Already linked your account? Drop a 🏡 in the comments!

After nine years with The Neighboring Movement, Kristopher is heading into a new chapter!

We’re incredibly excited for Kristopher and what’s ahead—and nine years of neighboring deserves a celebration!

Join us Wednesday, September 30 from 4–5:30 p.m. at The Neighboring Movement as we celebrate Kristopher and all he has brought to our movement over the past nine years.

While we’ll miss having him on staff, this isn’t goodbye. Kristopher will continue to be an active neighbor, and we’re so glad we’ll continue seeing him around the neighborhood and community.

We hope you’ll stop by, say hello, and help us celebrate him!

RSVP + leave Kristopher a note: https://buff.ly/Rb8U7cM

“I was really surprised that The Neighboring Movement knows what it’s talking about. People want to connect, and they don’t know how.”

We'll take it, Rochelle. 😂

Rochelle started her Faith Animator Network experience by getting curious about her Hutchinson neighborhood — what people loved about living there, what they cared about and what might bring them together.

She discovered some common threads. People loved the trees. They valued feeling safe. Several neighbors shared a heart for helping kids in their community.

But one of Rochelle's biggest discoveries was much simpler: people really did want to know each other.

So she brought them together.

And it isn't ending with one gathering. Her neighbors are planning to continue getting together monthly, including a gathering for Good Neighbor Day. Rochelle's plan is simple: keep inviting people, adding another neighbor or two as they go.

That's exactly what we hope happens through this work. Not one perfect event. Not knowing everyone on your block overnight. Just creating a place to start — and making it a little easier for people who already want connection to find one another.

🎨 What does being a good neighbor look like on South Broadway?

At this year’s National Good Neighbor Day Block Party, Harvester Arts is bringing South Broadway Speaks — a new interactive storytelling experience created to lift up the voices of the people who call the South Broadway corridor home.

Neighbors will be invited to respond to questions like:

❤️ Who has shown up for you here?
🏡 What do people misunderstand about this neighborhood?
🤝 What does being a good neighbor look like on South Broadway?

Share your story through a recording, written reflection, or youth drawing, and watch as some of those words and messages come to life throughout the day.

Because South Broadway is more than a corridor. It’s a neighborhood. It’s home. And its story belongs to the people who live here.

Come add your voice — and celebrate National Good Neighbor Day with us!

📅 Sunday, September 27
📍 South Central Wichita
🎉 Free + open to everyone

➡️ Find all the Block Party details and let us know you’re coming: https://buff.ly/Hnw97gY

Thank you to Harvester Arts for helping us create a space where neighbors can be seen, heard, and connected. ❤️

What happens when we stop joining?

On September 16, Friends University is hosting a free public screening of Join or Die, a documentary exploring the connection between community participation, social connection, and the health of our democracy.

Following the film, The Neighboring Movement’s Executive Director, Brittany Kruger, will join a panel conversation about civic participation, social belonging, and the importance of connecting with our communities.

These are questions that sit right at the heart of neighboring: How do we build relationships? Where do we find belonging? And what happens when more of us choose to participate in the places where we live?

📅 Wednesday, September 16
🕡 6:30 PM
📍 Riney Fine Arts Chapel at Friends University
🎟️ Free and open to the public

We’d love to see some neighbors there!

A new chapter at The Neighboring Movement! 🧡

We’re grateful to the Wichita Business Journal for taking the time to share more about our work and our new Executive Director, Brittany Kruger.

We’re excited about what’s ahead as we continue helping people discover the gifts already present in their neighborhoods, build meaningful connections and put neighboring into practice.

Thanks, WBJ, for helping tell the story — and stay tuned. There’s a lot more to come!

She most recently served as the executive director for the Mulvane Chamber of Commerce. >> See the full article below ⬇️

This is what it looks like when neighboring spreads. 💜

Kristopher shared this photo from his sister’s classroom, where Head, Hands, Heart is one of her go-to activities for getting to know her students at the beginning of the school year.

We love seeing tools from The Neighboring Movement show up in places we never could have planned — helping people start with a simple question: What gifts are already here?

Head, Hands, Heart (and Wisdom!) is one of the ways we help people recognize the knowledge, skills, passions, and lived experiences that each person brings to a community.

And there’s another reason this story feels especially sweet: September marks 9 years of Kristopher being part of The Neighboring Movement. Nine years of helping this way of seeing people and communities travel far beyond our own neighborhood.

Thanks to Kristopher’s sister for repping TNM in the classroom — and to Kristopher for nine years of neighboring. 💜

What gifts would be on your Head, Hands, Heart & Wisdom list?