WENA’s new Join In! initiative aims to build and strengthen community by fostering relationships among West End residents and creating a more inclusive and welcoming neighborhood. It includes a focus on intergenerational activities and events to encourage deeper connections between young people and adults. We are grateful to Maine Medical Center’s Community Caring Grant program for funding that supports Join In!
Join In! is inspired and informed by the work of social scientist Robert Putnam, author of the best-selling book Bowling Alone. Putnam’s research on America’s decades-long decline in community connections and engagement holds answers, we think, to our present crises of social isolation and loneliness. The recent film, Join or Die, profiles Putnam’s work and features examples of civic organizations that Putnam argues are foundational to a healthy democracy (one of the organizations featured in the film is “Bowl Portland,” a thriving local bowling league at Bayside Bowl). The film is also available to stream on Netflix.
WENA’s Join In! programming for 2024-2025 will include convening “community study circles” to explore questions, issues, and ideas of interest to folks in the neighborhood; sponsoring a West End Neighborhood Intergenerational Community Celebration; collaborating with other community organizations on an Intergenerational Public Art Project at Harbor View Park; sponsoring a variety of Elder Xercise physical fitness and social activities (e.g., pickleball, cornhole, basketball, volleyball, badminton) and opportunities for intergenerational learning and relationship building (e.g., learning to play cribbage) at the Reiche Community Center on Clark Street.
JOIN IN! EVENTS
December 2024:
Thursday 12/12 6:30 pm: Are you Curious about Hanukkah? With Gail Pantel, Robert Pantel, and Curt Sachs (Reiche Community Room)
Monday 12/16 6:30 pm: Community Study Circle: Being a Pedestrian in Portland (Reiche Community Room)
*Friday 12/6, 12/13, & 12/20 6:00-8:00 pm: Pickleball (Reiche Gym) $5 residents; $10 non-residents
