Love Your Neighborhood Article

Resident-Led Action

After all the listening, organizing, and planning, the people who like to do will be chomping at the bit to act. 

The process of listening, aligning, and then acting matters, though. Action without a strong foundation can be short-lived, while vision without action goes nowhere. As Joel Barker puts it in his video ‘The Power of Vision,’ “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”

When community organizers take the time to truly get to know a neighborhood, identify the assets that are already present, draw out talents that may be hidden or underutilized, and connect neighbors to one another and the resources they need, they are not slowing things down. They are creating the conditions for meaningful and lasting change.

Residents as Agents of Change

There are a few phrases we use so often in neighborhood work that they have almost become clichés.

We move at the speed of the neighborhood…
Neighbors are the heroes of the story…
We do with neighbors, not for…

We repeat them because they are true, and because they sit at the very core of Love Your Neighborhood.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a Harvard academic, captures this idea well when she says that change done to you is experienced as violence. But when you are the agent of change, it is experienced as liberation.

Historically, neighborhood revitalization has often looked like fixing problems by delivering programs or services to residents. The ABCD model takes a different approach. Instead of filling gaps with services, it fills gaps with assets. It empowers neighbors to work together, using what they already have, to create the change they want to see.

This does not always move at the pace a Lead Agency would like it to. Sometimes it feels slower than we would like. Other times, momentum builds way faster than expected. Either way, action is resident-driven, and even small wins generate hope, confidence, and a growing belief that change is possible…and it’s possible by us (the residents).

"Change done to you is experienced as violence, but when you're the agent of change, it is experienced as liberation." -Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Empowerment Through Association

Once a neighborhood creates a shared vision, the role of the Lead Agency shifts toward connection. The work becomes about bringing people together around common interests that align with that vision.

This often takes shape through some iteration of work groups or action teams. These groups might focus on safety, youth, livability, food access, or any effort that brings people together in a positive and unifying way.

At the heart of these work groups is association. ABCD recognizes that informal groups of neighbors with shared interests are powerful drivers of change. These associations form when individuals bring their gifts, skills, passions, and relationships together around a shared purpose.

Work groups in ABCD are bottom-up and action-oriented. Rather than starting with needs, they start with capacity. Residents define their own goals, identify local projects, and take collective action to improve their neighborhood. Formal institutions such as schools, nonprofits, or businesses may support the work as stakeholders, but the leadership remains neighborhood-based.

This is where the real power of ABCD lives. Sustainable change grows not from programs alone, but from relationships and shared ownership.

Direct Investment

In traditional community development work, investment often comes second-hand to residents. 

Organizations invest in programs that provide services, the government invests in infrastructure improvements, developers invest in homes or commercial buildings, etc.

Residents can sometimes see the results of investments, but they rarely see the dollars themselves.

Love Your Neighborhood initiatives often involve these second-hand investments, but more importantly, we want to see dollars directly in the hands of residents. We call these “direct investments.”

Through initiatives such as Action Projects and Action Teams, residents are empowered to bring change to their neighborhood with real money in their hands. Through direct investments, residents have agency to bring change to their neighborhoods.

Celebrate Wins, Big and Small

Neighborhood revitalization is a marathon, not a sprint. Neighborhoods did not become disinvested overnight, and they will not be revitalized overnight either.

Initial excitement for the LYN Initiative can catalyze engagement, but celebrating success sustains when revitalization gets hard. 

To keep residents engaged and encouraged, it is essential to tell the stories of success along the way. Celebrate every win, no matter how small. A new relationship is a win. A first meeting is a win. Neighbors taking action together is a win. Most importantly, when sharing wins, ensure residents are the heroes of these stories!

As community organizers, part of our responsibility is to pause, lift our heads above the day-to-day work, and remind residents that progress is happening. Even when the work feels slow or hard, our neighborhood is transforming.

Servant Leadership

In an ABCD approach, Lead Agencies lead by stepping back. Their role is to support, encourage, and equip, while leaving decision-making to associational leaders within the community.

Achieving a shared vision begins when people recognize the power of their own associations and accept the challenge of making things happen together. External resources are not sought until local resources have been identified and activated, and there is a clear understanding of what additional support is truly needed.

This shift changes the dynamic between communities and institutions. Instead of residents reshaping themselves to fit external programs, resources, and investment are aligned to support community-led priorities. The result is development that is more responsive, more rooted, and more sustainable.

When residents lead, associations thrive, and institutions support rather than direct, neighborhoods move from dependence to possibility. And that is where real transformation takes root.

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