Yay!
This proposal may feel like it came out of nowhere to some folks in the DAO so I’d love to offer some additional storytelling and context to put into perspective why I’m excited about this proposal:
Cabin Labs Context
Right now the Cabin labs team (@jon, @grin and myself) is focused on supporting the creation of neighborhoods in the Cabin network by running the Cabin Neighborhood Accelerator program. We have a group of amazing neighborhood stewards going through the program. Right now they’re at the stage in the program where they’re knocking on doors, meeting their neighbors, and inviting their neighbors to an event they’re hosting.
Graham + Neighborhood Building
Graham McBain is one of the mentors in the program (alongside Shani Graham, Priya Rose, and Phil Levin). I knew Graham through my partner, Jon Borichevskiy, who told me that he was doing some cool things in his neighborhood and we should connect. Turns out Graham knocked on 300+ doors in his neighborhood in Carmichael, CA a few years ago and built an amazing sense of community there. They have annual traditions in their neighborhoods (for example one is called “Summer of Games” where they organize a bunch of outdoor games and activities for the kids to play all summer), they host a weekly front yard happy hour, neighbors are putting up benches in their front yards so people can sit down, parents are taking each others’ kids to school, there’s a book club, people are showing up for each other in really meaningful and personal ways…
Graham is extremely passionate about helping other people do the same thing where they live. I’m asking for permission to share the link to Graham’s first mentoring call w folks in the program so you all can see how passionate he is and how much value and wisdom he has to share with people on this topic. If folks say yes, I’ll share the link here so you all can see what I’m talking about.
Outside of mentor calls, we have a telegram chat for the program and Graham’s been in there every day being incredibly helpful and cheering everyone on. He also gave me a lot of support and great feedback when it came to the design of the curriculum of this program given that he’s helped other people start communities in their neighborhoods already. He’s been super generous and helpful in every context I’ve seen him in honestly.
Why We Need Marketing Support
We’re not charging for the current Neighborhood Accelerator program, but plan to charge something like $200-$600 for the program when we run it again in the Fall (still need to do some more testing to see which pricing is right here). We’re already seeing some amazing results from the participants in the Summer program (folks are knocking on doors, hosting events with the neighbors, and there’s talk of collectively improving common spaces (rooftops + land around their buildings) and making them feel like outdoor third places. It’s happening!
So you might be asking yourself “Why haven’t I been hearing about all these amazing things? Why isn’t Cabin making more of a stink about the progress people in the program are making?” And the answer is: I don’t have the bandwidth to run this program and also market the program. I want to support the advent of many incredible neighborhoods that comprise Cabin’s Network City and this program feels like such a direct and meaningful way to do that. If we really knock our marketing strategy out of the park, I think we can build something amazing.
I feel like we’re on to something with this program. It feels alive and novel. I want to reach a lot of people between now and our Fall Neighborhood Accelerator and I feel confident that Graham can help us do that.