Tips + Advice
Starting a Neighbourhood Support Group
First up, find out if there’s an existing group in your area. To do so, head here to find your closest Member Organisation and contact them to find out if your neighbourhood or street already has a group set up. If there’s already a group in your area, then contact your nearest Member Organisation will provide you with relevant forms and information to join.
Can’t Find a Group Near You?
There isn’t a standard procedure for how each Neighbourhood Support Group starts, as each group usually has their own unique needs, but the following process should give you a general idea of what may work well in your area.
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Talk to your immediate neighbours and see if they are interested in being part of a group. This can be done in a number of ways i.e. door knock, mail drop, or perhaps a street meeting. As a possible starting point, you might like to connect with your neighbours using this mailbox flyer (and here’s a ‘two-per-page’ version for printing). Simply add your contact details (this can be done digitally), print it, and pop it in your neighbours’ mailboxes to see if they would like to join with you in forming a group.
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Discuss reasons for setting up a group, such as creating a safe, resilient, and connected community.
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Once you have a few people interested in forming a group with you, then you might like to gather and establish a brief ‘Neighbourhood Plan’ together.
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Discuss whether your group wants to have an initial get together. Not every group does, some groups like to keep it informal and just share contact details for use in an emergency.
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Discuss whether your group wishes to assign a street contact for your group. This person could serve as the main contact for the group and liaise with the local Area Coordinator. This person could be responsible for maintaining their street’s details, and for sharing any information they get from the Coordinator or local Police.
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The final step is to register your group. You can do so by emailing your nearest Member Organisation, or email National Office and we’ll put you in touch. At this point we can also help you with some initial resoucres to distribute to your group members.
If you need any assistance, you can call us on 0800 4NEIGHBOURS (0800 463 444) or email us for more information or support in getting started.