Nearby Nearby Network

08/05/2026

Raleigh, tomorrow's the day.

If a natural disaster struck right now, would you know where to go? We're working on that solution, but first we need to hear from the community.

Come share what you've seen, what worked, what didn't, and what people really need when disaster hits. And if you're building something that could help communities prepare and recover, bring it.

We're grateful to Taylor Vanden Hoek and the team at Atomic Object for hosting us, and thrilled to have Maria Paula Gomez of Mercy Corps Ventures in the conversation, bringing a global perspective on how communities respond to disasters.

Thursday, August 6, 6 to 8 PM
Atomic Object, 150 Fayetteville Street, 4th Floor, Raleigh
Parking: Street parking is available, or you can park across the street at the Alexander Square Parking Deck, 120 S Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC 27601.

Join us: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/grassroots-disaster-preparedness-listening-tour-raleigh-nc-stop-4-tickets-1993150528886

07/28/2026

Founders and builders of the Triangle, this Thursday Nearby Nearby Network is at CED (Center for Entrepreneurial Development), co-hosted with Maria Paula Gomez of Mercy Corps Ventures.

When Western North Carolina was reeling after Helene, this community stepped up. Entrepreneurs, makers, and people with resources and ideas turned toward their neighbors. That's exactly who we want in the room.

Both this week and next, we're bringing Maria with Mercy Corps Ventures into the conversation, widening it beyond our own backyard to how communities respond to disasters around the world. Come share what you saw, what worked, what didn't, and if you're building something that could help communities prepare and recover, bring it.

Thursday, July 30, 6 to 8:30 PM
CED, 600 Park Offices Drive, Research Triangle Park
(were meeting in the back meeting room - signs will be posted to find us)

Can't make Thursday? Catch us next week in Raleigh at Atomic Object on August 6, also with Mercy Corps Ventures. We also have upcoming conversations in Pittsboro, Siler City, New Burn and Wilmington.

Seating is limited at both, so please register: https://lnkd.in/dM_Hw-ZQ

07/16/2026

When systems fail, relationships lead. That is not just the title of this talk. It is the heart of what Nearby Nearby Network is built on.

Our founder, Rhonda Jean, will be a breakout speaker at the 2026 NCPMI Annual Conference, sharing what rural disaster recovery taught her about leadership when the traditional systems are stretched past their limit.

August 31, 2026, at the Hilton Raleigh North Hills.

Register: https://champ.ly/a-Fqb0LO

07/15/2026

Stop 2 of the Grassroots Disaster Preparedness Listening Tour is heading to Shelby, NC. Monday, July 20, 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Cleveland County Chamber Of Commerce, 200 S Lafayette Street, Shelby, NC 28150, Hosted with Senator Ted Alexander

Cleveland County felt Helene too. But what stood out about this community was what happened next. When neighboring communities needed help, Shelby showed up. That is exactly the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor strength we are here to hear about and build on.

Whether you lived through it, drove out to help a neighboring community, or watched it all unfold and saw things that needed to change, come tell us what you know. What worked. What did not. What you wish had existed. What is still hard. And what you share shapes what we build.

Seats are limited to about 20 to allow time for conversation. Register below to hold your spot.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/grassroots-disaster-preparedness-listening-tour-shelby-nc-stop-2-tickets-1992790800930

Can not make it in person? Share your experience through our community survey.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScke6vwmMhM8oEoxSIhbYLL_N8VJNkT8e6rJDrYMdKT_FJWPA/viewform?usp=dialog

07/14/2026

Nearby Nearby Network is driving from the mountains of North Carolina to the coast.

Eight stops. Eight conversations. One mission.

The Grassroots Disaster Preparedness Listening Tour is coming to eight North Carolina communities across the state and we want to hear from you. Whether you lived through a disaster, showed up to help, or are a concerned neighbor who knows things need to change, your voice shapes what we build.

Here is what this is about

Most disaster tools are built to respond after the crisis. Nearby Nearby Network is being built before it. We pre-identify trusted grassroots places in communities, the local businesses, churches, community centers, and neighbor networks that people already turn to when things go wrong, and we connect those hubs with verified information and communication tools that work when normal communication services fail.

But before we build it, we need to hear from the people who have lived it. The farmer who had no way to tell anyone what they needed. The neighbor who showed up without being asked. The volunteer who drove hours because someone needed help. The organization that is still there long after the news moved on. The official or first responder who needed better information from the ground to do their job. Even those that supported from afar by donating supplies, funding the missions on the ground and shared information on social media.

Here is where we are headed:

Stop 1: Bat Cave
Saturday, July 18, 4:00 to 7:00 PM
Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration
Community potluck, no seat cap

Stop 2: Shelby
Monday, July 20, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Cleveland County Chamber of Commerce
Hosted with Senator Ted Alexander

Stop 3: Durham
Thursday, July 30, 6:00 to 8:30 PM
600 Park Offices Building, CED

Stop 4: Raleigh
Thursday, August 6, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Atomic Object, 150 Fayetteville Street

Stop 5: Pittsboro
Thursday, August 13, 6:00 to 8:30 PM
Quilt Maker Cafe

Stop 6: Siler City
Wednesday, August 19, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
NC Arts Incubator

Stop 7: New Bern
Thursday, August 27, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
New Bern-Craven County Public Library
Hosted with Spine and Leaf Media

Stop 8: Finale
Wilmington, NC
Location and Date TBD

Most stops are capped at about 20 seats to keep the conversation real. Register early.

https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/grassroots-disaster-preparedness-listing-tour-4853882

Can not make it in person? Share your experience through our community survey.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScke6vwmMhM8oEoxSIhbYLL_N8VJNkT8e6rJDrYMdKT_FJWPA/viewform?usp=dialog



NC registered 501(c)(3), FEIN 41-3087248, DLN 26053448010506

250 Years of Community, Independence, and Resilience. We Are Coming to Honor It. Rural and small town America has always […]

07/14/2026

This Saturday, July 18th, from 4pm - 7pm, join us at The Church of the Transfiguration Bat Cave along with Bat Cave Disaster Relief for a community potluck and conversation. Bring a chair and if you can something to share for the community meal. Come talk through Helene recovery and help shape a neighbor-to-neighbor grassroots disaster network.

Helene is behind us on the calendar, but for this community the recovery is not. You have lived what most people only read about. Come share a meal and talk honestly about it: what worked, what didn't, and what is still hard right now. The people who lived it know things no outside expert ever will.

We also want to show you what we are building, and hear straight from you whether it would actually help. Nearby Nearby Network is a first-of-its-kind, neighbor-helping-neighbor grassroots disaster network, built before the next disaster or disruption, not after. People always talk about the first 72 hours, and we will too, but this goes further. It is about keeping good information flowing inside the community when cell service fails, and helping neighbors not just get through the emergency but recover as life comes back.

If you have ideas, suggestions, or something you wish had existed during Helene, bring it. This is as much your blueprint as ours.

To be clear about what this is and what it is not. We are not emergency management, and we are not here to replace first responders. We are building the support and the infrastructure at the neighbor and grassroots level, before a disaster, so that information and communication open up sooner. That means emergency responders can move faster with real information from the ground, and the organizations and volunteers who come in to help are better organized and actually understand what the community needs.

07/11/2026

The Grassroots Disaster Preparedness Listening Tour
When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina, the problem was not that people did not want to help. Trucks were ready. Neighbors were ready. Supplies were somewhere. What kept breaking down was information. People did not know what was open, where help was, or who to trust.

That gap between a community in need and the help trying to reach it is what Nearby Nearby Network is being built to close. But before we build any more of it, we need to hear from the people who experienced it, whether they lived through it, volunteered, or were a concerned neighbor watching their community struggle.

This summer we are making eight stops across North Carolina, mountains to the coast. At each one we sit down with a small group and ask four things. What worked. What did not. Who and what you trusted when everything else fell apart. And what would have made the biggest difference.

We want to hear from everyone who has a piece of this. The people who lived through Helene, Florence, or a flood that never made the news. The people who stayed and held their community together. The people who drove in from three counties over with a truck full of supplies. The people who have never been through a disaster but love their community too much to look away. Every one of you saw something the rest of us did not, and you know things no outside expert ever will.

What you share is what shapes what we build.

07/04/2026

250 years of rural and small town communities showing up for one another.

Eight stops across North Carolina, mountains to the coast. We are sitting down with the people who experienced disaster firsthand, who volunteered when nobody asked them to, who were concerned neighbors watching their community struggle, and we are asking four things.

What worked. What did not. Who and what you trusted when everything else fell apart. And what would have made the biggest difference.

What you share shapes what we build.

Stops in Bat Cave, Shelby, Durham, Raleigh, Pittsboro, Siler City, New Bern, and a finale stop still to be announced.

Seats are limited. Register at the link below or share your experience through our community survey if you cannot make it in person.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/grassroots-disaster-preparedness-listing-tour-4853882

Share your experience: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScke6vwmMhM8oEoxSIhbYLL_N8VJNkT8e6rJDrYMdKT_FJWPA/viewform?usp=dialog



NC registered 501(c)(3), FEIN 41-3087248, DLN 26053448010506

06/27/2026

After a disaster, something remarkable happens in rural communities. A grassroots response!

A church with a parking lot and a generator becomes a gathering place. A farm with a flatbed truck starts moving supplies. A feed store becomes a drop-off point. A local pilot starts flying in over washed-out roads. A Facebook group becomes the only way information moves. A neighbor with a radio becomes the most important person in a five-mile radius.

Nobody planned most of this. Nobody appointed these places or people. They emerged because the roads were gone, the cell towers were down, the power was out, and communities needed somewhere to turn.

Those improvised points of help, gathering, information, and coordination are what we call grassroots hubs. And after disasters like Hurricane Helene, they are often the difference between communities getting through and communities going dark.

But here is the problem.

Because they are improvised, they are also invisible. Scattered across surviving churches, businesses, airports, farms, and neighbor networks that often nobody knew about, not just outsiders trying to help, but sometimes the community members themselves. Help was there. People were there. But the needs and the resources could not find each other.

Nearby Nearby Network exists to change that. Not after the next disaster. Before it.

We pre-identify the trusted local places in a community that could serve as grassroots hubs and connect them with verified community information and communication tools that work when cell service fails. So next time, the help is not improvised and invisible. It is known, connected, and ready.



NC registered 501(c)(3), FEIN 41-3087248, DLN 26053448010506