Thursday, February 23, 2012

12 Ways to Find Community If You Move

I was recently asked for ideas about how to find a community of friends when you move to a new city.  I thought I'd share my ideas in case you know someone who could use them. Please share your suggestions in the comments.

1. Email your friends and family.
Ask for e-intros to folks they know in the area.

2. Take a class in something you love.

3. Join a grubwithus dinner.

4. Search your LinkedIn connections by location.

5. Volunteer to help with a nonprofit's event. You can search for organizations in your community on GuideStar, and for volunteer opportunities on VolunteerMatch.

6. Ask your Facebook pals, Twitter peeps, and blog readers for e-intros.

7. Attend a Meetup about one of your interests.

8. Find, or create a Dining for Women group.

9. Meet your neighbors. Ask if there is a neighborhood list serv you can join.

10. Read local blogs for events to attend. You can find them through Patch, Google Blog Search, and the blog rolls of local bloggers.

11. If you work for yourself, research local co-working spaces.

12. Have a yard sale. All *kinds* of people will come out looking for cool finds.

What would you add to the list?

7 comments:

  1. I love the idea of volunteering - working side by side with people allows for deeper understanding of each other than ordinary socializing. A really effective way to get to know other people and the community issues at the same time.

    Other favorite methods of finding community: Bulletin boards at local coffee shops and libraries for finding events, and joining a co-op and faith community.

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  2. Thanks for the great ideas. We're moving in a month, so this is quite helpful. As a parent of two small kids, I have found that spending a lot of time at local parks is a great way to meet other families.

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  3. These are great suggestions. My husband is in the army, so moving happens a lot. The first thing I do in my new location is find a Toastmasters group.

    Toastmasters is a place to practice public speaking, and I always find the people who belong to be interesting, intelligent, fun, and welcoming.

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  4. Great suggestions, Stefanie! I especially like the idea of a joining a co-op.

    Neil ~ Yup, I don't have children, but I know that a lot of my friends with children have met people through the park, or by volunteering in their child's class.

    Sharon ~ What a fun idea! I've known about Toastmasters for years, but never realized it was a club.

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  5. Nice and great post

    thank you very much

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  6. i met two of my now really good friends here by reading their blogs, commenting, and linking to their blogs through my own. they each (separately)invited me to dinner and that is how i met them for the first time in person!

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  7. Zoe ~ I think it's a fascinating paradox that technology & social networking are both connecting us, and helping us find people who share our interests, as well as making us less connected (e.g. people always being online, on their phones, etc.). What an unusual time we live in.

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