Starting a Hood

Once you've joined the site (join here if you haven't already) you will see people who have also joined, in order of proximity to your place. To get more people involved, the first thing to do is to drop welcome letters to your neighbour's houses inviting them to get involved.

We have a draft letter (see below) which has been used with success in plenty of communities so far. Cut and paste the letter, and modify it, or write your own, to suit your hood. We suggest you leaflet all of the houses within a 5 minute walk of your house. Recruit a friend or neighbour you know, and it won't take too long.

A good way to kick off a hood is to organise a meeting or a social event to bring everyone together. There are other examples of other groups doing similar things which may give you some ideas - such as (eat with me.net). You could pick a theme for your first meeting or dinner - such as everyone has to wear a hat, or bring food starting with the first letter of their name (which can help remember all those new names.

At the first dinner or meeting, it's nice to do a round of introductions, with people talking about what motivated them to come along, what they want to get out of it, and ideas they have and what they have to offer. You can also discuss starting various projects, such as a fruit-and-vegie box co-op. At the end of the meeting, plan another social event.

To let everyone know about your event, add it on the Sharehood community noticeboard. The website sends email notifications of the latest content, so every hoodster within five minutes walk of your place will find out about it.

Most of the work involved in starting a Sharehood community is around people getting to know each other. Fun social events include picnics, garage sales, BBQs, garden working bees and so on. Picnics are the easiest – just post the event on the site and then show up on the day with food. More ideas for social events.

Anyone can post an event on the site, so your neighbours can also make things happen. Initially though, be prepared to organise a get-together of some kind every few months to keep the hood bubbling. We've found that people are more likely to share if they know each other!

The Draft Letter
Change anything in square brackets, and anything else you want, or write your own...

Dear Neighbour,

Would you like to be part of a ‘sharehood’?

I live in [street name], and I’d like to share some local resources and build a friendly community.

What is ‘The Sharehood’?

The Sharehood is a way to help you get to know neighbours, and share resources, skills and smiles. On the website – www.thesharehood.org – you can post a profile of things you are willing to lend and things you’d like to borrow. There’s also an online noticeboard that makes it easy to let each other know what’s happening in our area, and lots of information and ideas for things to do around our streets.

Our hood

Of course, no one is obliged to be involved, but using this system we could do things such as:
• Share goods like tools or sewing machines, or extra veggies from gardens
• Organise coordinated garage sales or swaps
• Plan activities, BBQs or working bees in our gardens
• Set up a fruit and veggie box co-op
• Coordinate a babysitting club or a car-pooling group

It would be whatever we all want it to be – and at least we’d have a good reason to get to know each other. It would be fun, cheap and good for the environment.

Meet up

If you’re interested, please come to a [BBQ/picnic/street party] in [location] on [date], to meet and discuss the idea.

Otherwise, call me on [your phone number – if you want] or send me an email [your email address]. If you like the idea, but you’re not sure, please respond anyway and we’ll discuss your concerns. Visit the sharehood website for more information: www.thesharehood.org

Thanks, and see you soon!

[your name]