We're Better Together!

Every day, the people of Jackson are working together to shape a positive future for our community. They volunteer at blood drives, coach youth sports teams, join local service clubs, and stay informed by attending local government meetings.

Share your story – or the story of someone you know – and inspire others to get involved!

Post your story here, or email it to

info@growjackson.com

or mail it to

JCEG
c/o CP Federal Credit Union
1100 Clinton Road
Jackson, MI 49203

 

Social capital, our contact and interaction with one another is declining.  We are not as involved with each other as we used to be, formally or informally.   Without this interaction and contact, we don’t have the opportunity to talk about problems or opportunities in our communities and therefore are less able to organize to take any action.  Following are simple, civic-minded and just plain polite things we can do to improve the level of social capital.

(List edited from Better Together, an initiative of the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America, a project of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government - http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/saguaro/index.htm)

1. Organize a social gathering to welcome a new neighbor

2. Attend town meetings

3. Register to vote and vote

4. Support local merchants

5. Volunteer your special skills to an organization

6. Donate blood (and take a friend!)

7. Mentor someone of a different ethnic or religious group

8. Avoid gossip

9. Organize or participate in a sports league 

10. Join a gardening club or start a community garden

11. Attend home parties when invited

12. Become an organ or blood marrow donor.

13. Attend your children's athletic contests, plays and recitals

14. Get to know your children's teachers

15. Join a local service club

16. Get involved with Boy or Girl Scouts

17. Speak at or host a monthly brown bag lunch series at your local library

18. Sing in a choir

19. Get to know the clerks at your local stores

20. Attend Parent-Teacher organization meetings

21. Audition or volunteer for community theater

22. Play cards with friends or neighbors

23. Walk or bike to support a cause and invite other to participate

24. Employers: encourage volunteer/community groups to hold meetings on your site

25. Volunteer in your child's classroom or chaperone a field trip

26. Join or start a babysitting cooperative

27. Answer surveys when asked

28. Businesses: invite local government officials to speak at your workplace

29. Attend Memorial Day parades and other local events… it shows appreciation for others

30. Form a local outdoor activity group

31. Participate in political campaigns

32. Attend a local budget committee meeting 

33. Form a computer group to assist local senior citizens 

34. Help coach or officiate Little League or other youth sports 

35. Form a tool lending library with neighbors and share ladders, snow blowers, etc.

36. Start a lunch gathering or a discussion group with co-workers

37. Offer to rake a neighbor's yard or shovel a walk 

38. Start or join a carpool

39. Employers: give employees time off to work on civic projects

40. Plan a "Walking Tour" of a local historic area

41. Eat breakfast at a local gathering spot on Saturdays

42. Have family dinners and read to your children

43. Run for public office

44. Stop and make sure the person on the side of the highway is OK

45. Host a block party or a holiday open house 

46. Start a fix-it group – friends willing to help each other clean, paint, garden, etc.

47. Offer to serve on a community committee

48. Join the volunteer fire department

49. If you grow vegetables, plant extra for an lonely elder neighbor 

50. Ask a single diner to share your table for lunch

51. Persuade a local restaurant to designate a “meet people” table

52. Say "thanks" to your public servants – police, firefighters, town clerk…

53. Join a nonprofit board of directors

54. Gather a group to clean up a local park or cemetery

55. When somebody says "government stinks," suggest they help fix it

56. Hold a neighborhood barbecue

57. Plant tree seedlings along your street 

58. Volunteer at the library

59. Form or join a bowling or golf team

60. Return a lost wallet or appointment book

61. Ask neighbors for help and reciprocate

62. Go to a local folk or crafts festival

63. Sign up for a class and meet your classmates

64. Talk to your kids or parents about their day

65. Say hello to strangers

66. Log off and go to the park

67. Ask a new person to join a group for a dinner or an evening out

68. Participate in pot luck meals, and if there are none, host one

69. Volunteer to drive someone

70. Say hello when you spot an acquaintance in a store

71. Exercise together or take walks with friends or family

72. Assist with or create a neighborhood newsletter

73. Collect oral histories from older town residents

74. Join a book club discussion or get the group to discuss local issues

75. Volunteer to deliver Meals-on-Wheels in your neighborhood

76. Start a children’s story hour at your local library

77. Be real. Be humble. Acknowledge others' self- worth

78. Tell friends and family about social capital and why it matters

79. Plan a reunion of family, friends, or those with whom you had a special connection

80. Take in the programs at your local library

81. Read the local news faithfully

82. Fix it even if you didn’t break it

83. Pick it up even if you didn’t drop it

84. Go with friends to a local ball game 

85. Hire young people for odd jobs

86. Start a tradition

87. Join a project that includes people from all walks of life

88. Be nice when you drive

89. Make gifts of time

90. Volunteer at your local neighborhood school

91. Offer to help out at your local recycling center

92. Send a “thank you” letter to the Editor about a person or event that helped your community

93. Raise funds for a new town clock or new town library

94. When inspired, write personal notes to friends and neighbors

95. Attend gallery openings

96. Organize a community-wide yard sale

97. Invite friends or colleagues to help with a home renovation or home building project

98. Join or start a local walking group and have coffee together afterwards

99. Build a neighborhood playground

100. Become a story-reader or baby-rocker at a childcare center or neighborhood pre-school

101. Help kids on your street with a lemonade stand

102. Open the door for someone who needs help

103. Invite friends to go snowshoeing, hiking, or cross-country skiing

104. Offer to watch your neighbor’s home while they are away

105. Organize a fitness/health group with your friends or co-workers

106. See if your neighbor needs anything when you run to the store

107. Join groups (e.g., arts, sports, religion) likely to lead to making new friends of different race or ethnicity, different social class or bridging across other dimensions 

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