Most of us don't know our neighbors. The loneliness statistics are familiar by now. What's less familiar is where disconnection shows up first: the neighborhood, where the people living closest to us are often the people we know least.
The cost of loneliness isn't just personal. Decades of research show that when neighbors know and trust each other, streets get safer, health outcomes improve, and communities recover faster from disasters and hard times. Connection is the upstream input to social, health and wellness outcomes that cities and funders already spend heavily on downstream.
We believe neighbors can rebuild that connection themselves, with the right support. Our job is to teach the practical skills that make it happen.
Since 2024 we've run seven cohorts and reached 163 neighborhoods across 10 countries.
Among neighborhoods that complete our program:
84% report more spontaneous interactions between neighbors: sidewalk chats, front yard time
77% report new friendships formed between neighbors
65% report better communication through group chats and message boards
56% report neighbors now check on and look out for one another
49% report more sharing of tools, skills, food, and childcare
Here's an Example
Robert is a retired dad in Bishop, California, a politically divided town. When he invited his neighbors to a potluck, nobody came.
So he looked for the one thing every house shared: wildfire risk. He invited the same neighbors to a brush cleanup day instead, and together they hauled out four tons of brush and cleared a protective perimeter around their homes. That's wildfire mitigation a city would pay for, done by neighbors who supposedly couldn't be in the same room.
And when Robert asked who wanted to have dinner together after, pretty much everyone said yes.
Read stories from our neighborhoods ->
The Cities of Melville and Mandurah, Australia have sponsored NVP programs for their residents.
The Canning and Kwinana NVP cohorts begin in September 2026
The East Fremantle NVP cohort begins in January, 2027
In Colorado, the City of Arvada has committed to funding NVP programming for its residents.
City partnerships adapt the format to their community: our Australian partners run a ten-week course followed by monthly gatherings, and our stateside program runs a full six months, both with ongoing monthly support year round.
You're not funding an event. You're funding permanent civic infrastructure at a fraction of what cities spend on the problems disconnection creates.
If you're a funder, a city, or an organization interested in bringing this work to your community, we'd love to talk.
Our next programs run in Melville and Canning, Australia this September. In Spring 2027 we run cohorts globally online in US and EU time zones, alongside our in-person program in Boulder, Colorado. City and funder conversations for 2027 placements are open now.
August Elliott, Co-founder & Program Director
august@nvp.community
