Washington Area Women's Foundation

Real Change Starts With Relationships

Womens Circle SmallAs part of the Leadership Awards public vote (underway now), each organization up for the $5,000 award has been offered an opportunity to use The Women’s Foundation blog to state their case.  Today, IMPACT Silver Spring kicks things off by explaining how the power of relationships can change a community for the better.  Read what these organizations have to say, then head over to our online poll and vote.  It might be the easiest $5,000 you’ll ever give to a great cause.

So, why vote for IMPACT Silver Spring in The Women’s Foundation’s online vote?

If you’re a woman — or a guy who gets it, as The Foundation likes to say — you know that the essence of life is relationships.  Every day when you wake up, you think of yourself in relation to others around you: you’re a partner, a parent, a neighbor, a book club member, a social activist, a comforting hug after a long day, or a smile after a small success…  All of these identities point to a clear relationship with others.

But how far do these relationships go?  If you’re like me — a nice white girl from a comfortable, middle-class home — a quick analysis of your and my social circles might not be so exciting: my friends and closest acquaintances look like me, act like me, have had similar experiences as me, and know my talents and my struggles.  When I need one more egg for my recipe, I know who to call.  When I want to borrow a good book, I know who to call.  When I need help paying this month’s rent, I know who to call.

I live in a unique part of Montgomery County — Silver Spring — where apartment buildings with 30 different culture groups are on the same streets as single-family homes owned primarily by white families.  Where neighbors living in comfort are steps away from neighbors living in near poverty.  So many of my neighbors don’t know who to call.  They live in isolation, and they have vastly different experiences from me, which makes them hard to reach out to.  But when my social circle connects with theirs, it’s easier for us to swap eggs and to find solutions about this month’s rent — and it’s easier for us to build communities that work for everyone, not just for the few who are connected.  Ultimately, these new networks can make it easier for us to know what we collectively need to thrive, even across the deep divides of race, class, and culture.

All this is to say that relationships are the spark for change in neighborhoods like mine.  At IMPACT Silver Spring, we are weaving together the lives and destinies of neighbors because we know that we can achieve more together.  The power of relationships becomes apparent when you have seen a property manager and a renter talk as equals about an issue they face in their complex.  It becomes apparent when the Director of Montgomery County’s Department of Health & Human Services sits down with our staff and network members to make changes to her system that will better serve thousands of residents.  It becomes apparent when an African-American teacher visits the home of a Latino student and begins to see how her classroom and the school can shepherd all students toward success.  It becomes apparent when a strong-willed, white civic association leader has his Ethiopian neighbor over for dinner and they begin to design welcoming neighborhood meetings that everyone wants to attend.

So, what will you do to build the relationships needed for change?  Vote today for IMPACT Silver Spring.

Read more about IMPACT Silver Spring and check out our blog.

Lianna Levine Reisner is the Resource Development Director at IMPACT Silver Spring.

Photo credit: IMPACT Silver Spring: Neighbors in Takoma Park formed a women’s circle for support, learning, and neighborhood change.