Learn a name.
Introduce yourself to someone on your block. Welcome a neighbor you haven’t met.
South Shore · People make the neighborhood
A neighborhood begins
with a neighbor.
Learn a name. Share a story. Make room for someone new. Hey Neighbor is NNA’s invitation to build connection in the place we call home.
South Shore Community Collaborative
An initiative of the Neighborhood Network Alliance
From NNA’s neighborhood walk archive · 2022
How Hey Neighbor began
It started with a greeting.
“Oh, that’s the Hey Neighbor crew.”
The story, as told by Val Free,
founder of NNA.
It began during a Walk, Talk & Roll meetup. We were walking through South Shore, seeing our neighbors, and the next thing we knew, we were calling out, “Hey, neighbor!”
We greeted everyone, including neighbors people sometimes hesitate to approach. We watched their walls come down. People appreciated being spoken to and acknowledged. Drivers honked their horns. We even heard, “Oh, that’s the Hey Neighbor crew.”
The people walking with me noticed it, too. A simple greeting was changing how we connected with one another and how we experienced our neighborhood.
That sent me down a rabbit hole. I began researching the word “hood” and its negative connotations. What if the words we speak help form the reality of our neighborhoods, just as they do in our personal lives? Hey Neighbor grew into a call to change how we speak about the place we live—and to recognize the people who make it a neighborhood.
Listen and share.
Ask how someone is doing. Pass along a useful resource or a neighborhood story.
Do something together.
Check on a neighbor, invite someone to a gathering, or join a conversation about your block.
Short stories with Val Free
A greeting.
A connection. A different story.
Hear three moments from Val’s “Hey Neighbor! Neighborhood, not Hood” workshop: how it began, what acknowledgment can change, and why our words matter.
Our beginning · About 52 seconds
How Hey Neighbor began
Five people started walking and saying hello. Soon, passing drivers were greeting them and neighbors were building connections of their own.
Being acknowledged · About 18 seconds
What a hello can change
Val recalls how being recognized helped neighbors lower their walls and feel included.
Language and community · About 27 seconds
Why our words matter
How we describe our community influences how we see it—and how we relate to one another.
Walk, Talk & Roll
A familiar block.
A new connection.
Our neighborhood walks bring residents onto South Shore streets to greet people, share information, and spend time together across generations.
Moments from the neighborhood walk archive · 2022
Corner and garden karaoke
A microphone.
A song. Your neighbors.
Karaoke creates room for neighbors to laugh, share a song, and enjoy being together. Watch these moments from our 2024 archive.
Video archive · Summer 2024
Corner karaoke
Music and neighborhood energy from our summer highlights.
Watch corner karaoke (opens a new tab)Video archive · August 7, 2024
Garden karaoke
Songs and conversation at a community gathering.
Watch garden karaoke (opens a new tab)Neighborhood block parties
Time together.
Room for every generation.
Music, games, and time with neighbors make space for community life. These moments come from NNA’s 2022 block-party photo collection.
Hood versus Neighborhood
Let’s talk about
the place we call home.
What do you call the place you live? When have you felt welcomed by a neighbor? What do you want people to know about South Shore?
Val’s workshop, Rethinking Our Language: The Shift from “Hood” to “Neighborhood,” explores how our words shape perceptions of the places we live. These questions can start a conversation on your block—and lead to one practical action to build connection.
Keep getting to know your neighbors
More South Shore stories.
Hear community voices on the podcast and follow neighborhood news, resources, and activity announcements in the newsletter.