Every citizen neighbor of every country is constantly doing calculations of risk versus rewards for a stream of decisions every day of their lives. That is the nature of living here on earth.

High Risk

The empowered volunteer also faces the risk versus reward scenario’s, but for the most part they are not life or death when it comes to inviting a prospect to join a neighborhood charity volunteer group. The risks are less of a threat, but the rewards can often be much more far reaching and in some scenario’s much more dramatic.

If the risk for the empowered volunteer is low then, what is the potential reward? Glad you asked! The reward for gaining the skills and knowledge in how to get people to join a group for their own benefit as well as the groups benefit is huge and can be applied to the local community where you live as an example.

Communities survive and thrive on risk management transferred through individual levels of reciprocity between members. It’s just that simple.

If the local community members are known to each other and have previously established a level of trust then in situations of outside stress they can rely on each other and support each other. This was the basis of the American community for our early years.

In cities or in the rural areas neighbors helped neighbors all over the world 50 years ago. Today, in many areas neighbors don’t know each other more than to wave when they are outside shoveling snow or cutting the grass. They more often than not are unaware of the other’s name. Even in the cities where being from the “neighborhood” meant something years ago, today it is much less meaningful in many places, unfortunately.

If the empowered volunteer finds him or herself learning their neighbors names and other associated information they are in a much better position to engage in reciprocity and networking.

This is social capital in action, as reported on in the book, Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam, a Harvard scientist. He identified the issue that initially generated my convictions on helping solve the membership decline in American volunteer groups. But the issue extended to neighborhoods too. So my solution to this should extend to neighborhoods as well, in my mind at least.

When you help someone, even if it is only to show an interest in them and establish a bond or some level of trust, you help both parties involved. See previous posts on the many health and other benefits gained by both parties in these type of events.

They don’t have to join to become a bit more interested in the neighborhood, they could simply take an interest in another neighbor and being more friendly to someone else, extending the idea in a domino effect.

American farmer stories abound with someone getting hurt and his neighbor drives the tractor over, plows the field or plants it or even harvests it, and never even stops to say much. They do the work, and return to do their own. In my youth they may have shouted out on the CB radio a hi or bye, but that’s about it. Everyone stood by each other, without fan fare or any fuss.

Neighborhoods in the city often operate in similar fashion. Believe it or not, this is not an American institution, it can be observed in many countries. People locally are much more likely to help their neighbor than someone they don’t know in these cases.

Neighborhood risk management is fundamental to American citizenship and to the American lifestyle.

We are constantly pulled towards big government for some things and to local government for other things. This can make for a stressful political atmosphere, where one candidate can claim that 47% of the other group is not worthy of his votes even.  This kind of division is really sad.

For the empowered volunteer anything and everything that can happen will impact the local community. Thus, if you are to hedge your bets on how to react to any one event or even a large event such as a power grid-down scenario you are much better off if you have already established yourself in your community as a worthy person who is known and respected.

There is no need for politics here, indeed I would counsel against it. Politics divide and in this type of thinking you want inclusiveness rather than division. You want to know each and every person within walking distance at the very least if you can. Know them by name if possible, but know them by face at the very least.

It is empowering to just be one of the people who knows everyone in the neighborhood by name, or even a first name basis!

In my youth block parties were common. They are still used in some parts of the country but I think they are used less and less. This is a shame.

For any disaster that you can think of, citizens are impacted and react according to how well they know their neighbors. For economic stresses, neighbors that care are better than strangers. For major natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, wild firers, or even mudslides knowing your neighbors as you are standing behind the police tape is better than suddenly introducing yourselves to each other.

People that know others and can ask for help with a better than average likelihood of success are valuable, but to be in that position you must be known and have a network already created.

The empowered volunteer is in a unique position for influencing the risks of his or her neighborhood. They will find success helping their group over time and that learning process will be one that can transfer to other team building groups forever. All groups, churches, volunteer groups that are less organized than the formal ones I have mentioned before, perhaps a start up group to construct local neighborhood needs, any sort of needs can be better met with a group of like minded citizens.

I would encourage all empowered volunteers to actively solicit in their neighborhood for their group, if appropriate. This is a great excuse to exercise your techniques, meet the neighbors and embrace them wither or not they join the group, to fully extend your network beyond your work or charity related associates, raise awareness for your cause or charity and ensure a positive messages is transmitted in your immediate area, and to learn how to make friends and influence people of all kinds. These skills may just come in handy some day if you ever have a situation where you face a risk versus reward that is wide spread in nature.

The risks for meeting your neighbors is small and the rewards may just be life saving some day. Embrace your neighbors, you will be better off for it.

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