As author of the New Neighborhood Block Club Manual, I wanted to make a note of some of the practices that your block clubs – from around the country – have adopted during this time of human perseverance.
(Please note, these steps do require an administrator/committee chair/action coordinator that is minimally tech savvy, to establish and administer email mailboxes or list serves, so please recruit as necessary to assist.
Also please note, that none of these notes should be interpreted to supersede official guidelines from the CDC or any layer of Government. Follow official instructions of where you are in all cases).
Block Clubs like yours are establishing two primary lists.
- Your Strategic Goals List: many groups have these goals on their lists: 1) attending to seniors, 2) attending to the disabled, 3) running general errands and tasks for each other to maximize social distancing, and 4) keeping virtual company like FaceTime
- Your Strategic Response List: many groups then have centralized response teams to enable reaction or pro-action for the above.
Therefore, do your best to make sure your community members can sign up for their needs. Groups, for example have an email sign up for each subject. “Blockclub.seniorsneeds@email.com” or “Blockclub.errands@email.com.” Or “Blockclub.virtualhangout@email.com” And they are doing their best to make sure their community knows of these emails.
Be sure that in your group many administrators can access and view those inboxes. It is not advised to bottleneck response by monopolizing power of access. However, structure should still be provided. One such example is: the inbox will be primarily monitored and responded to by This Member during 10am to 2pm, while This Member will be the primary servicer during 2pm and 6pm. Or if a response isn’t given within 2 hours it is responded to by another Member in line. Be sure to make it clear what your internal practices will be and what information is needed from the neighbor to fulfill the request. Such as: Name, Contact Info, Type of Need.
Therefore, do you best to make sure community members can sign up to fulfill the needs. Block Club And Neighborhood Groups, for example, have created “Blockclub.serve@email.com” where neighbors can submit what they can do. Some groups and individuals opt to request pay for their service, while others may be able to complete simple tasks as volunteers.
Coordinators can make a list to keep track of options: Name-Contact-TasksWilling-TimesAvailable-FeeOrNot
As above, the priority should be to respond quickly, but structure must be established to prevent avoidable missteps. Shifts help, back up assistance helps, and clear details and explanations of expectations helps.
Truly, your actions of responding to community needs over the past decades and truly, even over the past century, are the same best practices that we are now called upon to trust:
We know what to do. We’ve been practicing.
The health of Yours and that of your Family remain in my Heart,
Daniel,
Founder and Author, The Neighborhood First