Ten Years of Knowing Your Neighbours
Every Autumn, on streets across West Auckland, something simple happens. Tables and chairs get dragged outside. Kids take over the road. Someone brings too much food. And for a few hours, neighbours who might only usually exchange a nod - sit down, and talk with each other.
That's Neighbours Aotearoa – a national campaign to connect communities street by street - and this year marks a decade of it happening in partnership with the Whau, Henderson-Massey and Waitākere Ranges Local Boards.
“A BBQ and finger food gathering complete with name badges, gazebos, bunting, bouncy castle, pavement chalk and other games. This annual event is well supported with normally around 80 neighbours attending and has created a wonderful sense of community where we wave out and speak to others we pass in the street and look out for those in need such as the elderly or a family in need.”
- Peter, Neighbours Aotearoa Street Organiser
Since 2015, Community Waitākere has administered Neighbours Aotearoa funding on behalf of the three local boards, distributing small grants of up to $200 to streets and community groups wanting to bring people together. Around 70 events happen each year. Over ten years, that's roughly 700 deliberate acts of neighbourliness across West Auckland.
Some streets have been doing it since the beginning. What started as a funded nudge has, in many cases, become something they just do - a rhythm the community created, held on to and continues to hold up year after year.
“We've been having these Neighbours Aotearoa events for 15 years now. I've watched young people start families – some of those kids are teenagers now. I even had my 60th birthday under this tree.”
JB, Neighbours Aotearoa Street Organiser
The kaupapa behind Neighbours Day is straightforward but significant. Connected communities aren't just happier - they're more resourceful, more inclusive, more alive. When neighbours know each other, share what they have and celebrate where they live, something shifts. That kind of community doesn't build itself. It takes investment at every level - local boards who back it, neighbours who organise it, and communities who turn up for each other.
It's why the three local boards have consistently chosen to invest in this for a decade. Community Waitakere CEO, Kerry Allan, reflects on what the investment represents.
"For ten years, three local boards have quietly backed this, because they understand that strong communities are built on the foundations of connection. That kind of sustained commitment to people and place is something West Auckland should be proud of."
Seven hundred events later, it's still just tables on streets and too much food - and that's exactly the point.
