December 2026 Mini-Retreat for Renewal & Resilience with Community Builders

To be refreshed for the holidays & new year, feed your renewal & power.Recharge for now & grow practices to keep you fresh for the long run!
About this Event

Our communities have much to do - and need us to be resilient.

• If community builders burn out, then “the way things are” wins.
• So how about putting on your “oxygen mask” to catch your breath?
• Tap into & renew what's important to you?

December's theme? Gifts of Inspiration: Your "Highlights & Keeper Moments" of 2026!

• To feed your holiday season and upcoming new year, we'll use a range of gentle ways to invite life-giving moments in the past year to surface. Here are some sample topics. (No advance preparation needed.)

Feed your spirit for 2027, inspired by remembering in 2026...?

• In whose good company did you find yourself?
• A favorite seasonal experience or special place you visited?
• A small act of compassion you witnessed or were part of?
• And so much more…

It's easier than it might seem, in good company!

• As a stepping stone into reflection, one of our inspirations is this poem.

"Choose your own adventure!"

• Experience a range of respectful options to notice the life and hopes that want to live in you and your community.
• These hopes want to be savored, to offer their wisdom, and prepare us to re-enter our communities powered with the energy of both the approaching year-end and its winter season!

Feeling pulled in many directions – maybe it’s kinda hard to catch your breath? Or are you even at-risk for burnout in your community work (paid or unpaid)?

Free! (Donations accepted, not required)

• Childcare provided, free - When you register, indicate the age(s) needed.

RSVP by 5pm Friday December 11 at the latest. Why RSVP?

1. For those who RSVP here, details will be emailed as we get closer to the mini-retreat.
2. Several previous mini-retreats filled all spaces and had a waiting list, so please RSVP here as soon as you can. Back by popular demand - save your spot!
3. We want to let you know about any changes (due to weather etc) and we want to have enough food and supplies, without wasting.

If the tickets are full, please look for the button to join the waiting list, and you’ll be notified if a spot opens up. (Everyone was admitted from the previous waiting lists.)

Schedule for Saturday, December 12

• If you can’t be there the whole time, please find one of the other monthly mini-retreats where you can stay for the whole mini-retreat.
• 11:30am arrival and lunch served, socializing begins. (Semi-potluck; main dishes provided. Please bring something to share if you can, but don't let that keep you away.)

• 11:55am the Circle opens so we can finish up by 4:30pm, including breaks.
• It’s important to be there from 11:55am to 4:30pm, since what we do builds on itself.

Who’s it for?

Anyone who's engaged in building up their community or hopes to do so - however you define it, in any setting, paid or unpaid. Such communities can be found in neighborhoods and social movements, classrooms and congregations, teams and clubs, associations and networks, workplaces and beyond.

• We who give so much to others may want to recharge personally or professionally.

No previous experience is needed. No advance preparation either. Come as you are, who you are.

• There are always newcomers. Please invite others to consider it?

All are welcome! This series is convened by Neighborhood Connections & the Neighbor Up Network, known for bringing people together across lines of difference.

• December 2026 is the 44th monthly edition.
• Each mini-retreat stands alone. And for those who can attend more than one, these build upon each other. So consider learning more, or giving it a try?

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Please click here for more key info on these & other questions.

• What will we do? How will we do it?
• Where, Parking, RTA, Cost/Contributions?
• What about free childcare?
• What to bring or wear?
• Who’s facilitating? Who’s sponsoring this?
• Why and How does this grow your power for change?
• Any questions or obstacles?

For more information or help with any obstacles, RSVPs or the Wait List, please contact Erika Brown at [email protected] or cell (216-313-7263) or Tony Vento at [email protected] or by cell (216-313-0546).

What are others saying about their mini-retreat?

It's a time of Abundance... Wonder... Strengthening... Self care (that) isn't selfish... Grace... Growth... (Being) Rooted... Planting & Replanting... Sprouting (Participants words after April 2024 mini-retreat)

“There is power in knowing that you are not alone as the world burns around us. Being in community with others who run toward the fire helped me accept that there are others who are tending to their corners of the world as I tend to mine.” (March 2025 Participant)

Other Please mark your calendar now or RSVP! For those who RSVP, the theme and details will be emailed as we get closer to the mini-retreat.

• Saturday, September 26, 11:30am – 4:30pm (click here for more info or to RSVP) September's theme? "Living in the Space Between"

We who cultivate our communities hold the gift of standing between the world-as-it-is and the world-as-it-could-be. This miniretreat draws inspiration from the fall equinox — halfway between summer when there is the most light, and winter when there is the most darkness.

• Friday eve, Oct 16, 5:30pm – 8:30pm (click here for more info or to RSVP) - (Please note this one is not on Saturday, when most of these mini-retreats are held.)
• Saturday, November 7, 11:30am – 4:30pm (click here for more info or RSVP)

Why?
“There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for
the sound of the genuine in yourself.
It is the only true guide you will ever have.

And if you cannot hear it,
you will all of your life
spend your days on the ends of strings
that somebody else pulls.”― , former chaplain of Boston U & Howard U, mentor to generations of activists and community builders