“Love” your neighborhood.

A team of community connectors that I support recently shared stories of the assets they had discovered over the past several weeks and the ways that they were engaging with each asset.

As I listened to the stories I thought of this photograph I took of a mural in St. Petersburg, Florida. It’s not just that I/you really like St. Pete, Northside, Stevens Point, Newport, or any neighborhood; but that we engage, support, care, and build connections here: that we love our neighborhood.

The engagement I heard in the stories was much more relational than transactional. The “love” was an action verb with engagement, support, contribution, and reciprocity.