We talk about neighboring a lot in FCS, the different forms it takes, the strategies for bringing neighbors together, and how to create third spaces. In many communities across the country, the front porch have operated as a third space. Many of us can remember friends and family sitting out on the porch in their chairs or rockers, chatting with neighbors and greeting passers-by.
As we construct new homes in South Atlanta, we wanted to bring back the stoop as a site of neighboring. This desire birthed a simple vision: rocking chairs and solar lights on porches around the neighborhood. Rocking chairs would form a comfortable space to watch the afternoons go by, while the lights would extend the hours people could stay out to shoot the breeze.
We are so grateful to the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta for making this dream a reality! Through their Extra Wish Grant, a grant designed to fund smaller projects that don’t fit into typical funding streams, we were able to purchase rocking chairs, solar lights, as well as porch paint for three homes around Historic South Atlanta. Neighbors immediately took to the new additions, as you can see from the photos.
Steps towards creating that community come in so many forms, including simple ones. As we admire the rocking chairs and lights on these porches, we cannot help but see the ways they will help new relationships to form in the neighborhood!
Thanks for partnering with our community, Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta. It’s a joy to bring others into the beauty of neighboring in South Atlanta.