At the beginning of the pandemic, many Denton neighbors came together to form a mutual aid network to help people get their needs met and stay safe. The more we took stock of what COVID-19 was bringing us, the more we realized the need for a decentralized response so we could most accurately know what people needed and have people respond in a fashion that allowed neighbors to help neighbors, not burning anyone out with too much work or centralizing power, influence, and supplies in a few people's hands. We responded to that need with neighborhood pods, and started trying to encourage many of our new volunteers to start these as possible.
Neighborhood pods are hyperlocal coordinations of neighbors from 5-30 households next to each other that allow these neighbors to combat loneliness, get to know each other, share resources, and ultimately democratically or consensually take decisions together on the issues that affect us while working on common projects to meet our needs. There are about 40 pods across Denton, all at various levels of organization and activity. At their best, pod members are slowly beginning to rely on each other more and outsource less of our needs to the state, big companies, or others outside the neighborhood.
During the height of the pandemic, this allowed us to share news through group chats and coordinate supply drop offs to neighbors, to share what we already had- veggies from our gardens, tools from our garages, seeds- so less of us had to be out and about potentially spreading COVID. During the freeze, we did bulk-buying grocery store runs so less of us had to risk the roads, helped fix each other's water problems, and shared the latest news. And now, pods often hold outdoor movie nights and other social events as we celebrate more chances to be together! Of course, time banking can play a huge part in a more self-sufficient, neighbor-powered economy that is less faceless and transactional than money and allows everyone to participate on an equal basis, so we are trying to find ways to integrate time banking more into neighborhood pods.
Pods are different from city-sponsored neighborhood associations because each pod is autonomous, though maybe in loose communication with each other, and they are all about increasing our shared self-sufficiency, creating a cooperative spirit and a culture of neighborly interdependence on each block that makes centralized power as obsolete as possible in our everyday lives. And they can be, through concerted time and effort and as that sense of place begins to become more normal, the basis of a much more lively and empowering bottom-up direct democracy that all residents can take part in!
If you are interested in learning more about pods and potentially starting a pod yourself, Cooperation Denton hosts neighborhood pod workshops every 2nd Wednesday of the month art 7PM over Zoom. Twice a month, we also have check-ins for people that have already attended a workshop and started a pod to share information and tips with one another. One of these is online, and one is an in-person potluck. Respond here or send me a message at 972-971-9345 if you want more information!
The long introduction said, next weekend, July 30-August 1st we are organizing a Denton neighborhood pod Weekend of Action! The point persons of active pods who met last month are encouraging everyone to do something in or with their pods. Whether that is printing out flyers and making your first rounds to meet your neighbors, going and making sure everybody has filled out the neighbor directory, coming together for a potluck, outdoor movie night, or block party, or helping each other with gardening or filling potholes, there’s so many possibilities and we’d really just like to encourage everyone to do something! Even if you don't have a formal pod yet, it would just be amazing to know that people all over Denton were out doing something with their neighbors next weekend!