Neighbors Helping Neighbors

In early 2020, the pandemic exposed the fragility of institutions that communities depend on for their health and well-being. Having completed its first SenseMaker project, “We Are Here,” Palm Health Foundation had set the stage to respond by allowing novel, innovative solutions to emerge. The foundation recognized that the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak and civil rights protests made traditional solutions (like large-scale, long-term plans for change) less viable.

The Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) fund succeeded by empowering local leaders and residents to meet the community’s needs as they arose. The fund put small grants directly in the hands of Palm Beach County residents so they can recover, rebuild, and plan for the future.

What We Did

• Activated a network of extremely local, relentlessly dedicated actors with an ability to thrive when faced with the unknown. We introduced them to SenseMaker and asked them to collect stories in their communities.
• Compensated people in the network for participating.
• Plugged community intelligence gathered from narrative and neighborhoods into a feedback loop.
• Connected feedback from a crisis to decision-makers trying their best to respond.
• Responded to the feedback loop as an organization by creating a fund for individuals and families in need called Neighbors Helping Neighbors.
• Recognized emergent roles of philanthropy, grants and communications departments, fundraising, operationalizing/coordinating, and storytelling.
• Chose agencies to take part based on Healthier Together project director guidance.
• Reduced red tape as much as possible.
• Supported the best actors in the system to shape the rules.
• Trusted in open-ended systems around the Healthier Together network and take advantage of emergent novelty. For example, the role of youth in the NHN process created something new to explore and build on.

These guidelines provide enabling constraints, allowing partners to play to their strengths and limit bureaucracy and permission seeking:

• People first. When in doubt, do the human thing.
• Act as a beacon and trusted servant in the community, even when financial assistance for an individual or family is not possible.
• Document circumstances and stories in SenseMaker when possible, but no one is required to submit a story.

How Funds Have Helped

As of September 2020, partners have disbursed $126,404 of NHN funds (and $16,333 in car donations) to families to help with rent, utilities, automotive expenses, food, clothing, and funeral expenses. The visual below provides a snapshot of how funds have been used.

Foundation Partners

Partners disbursing NHN funds are diverse. They serve different populations, sometimes speaking different languages and working in different systems.  While the organizations are important, the people driving them are most important.  Some of them are listed below to emphasize how critical they are.  People change systems through their actions and this group changes systems for the better.          

Being a community servant is in their DNA, and they are adaptable to rapidly changing circumstances.  They are at home in the trenches. They distribute food, help kids adjust to online education, check in on families, and guide those in need to resources. 

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