Last October, I attended a Virtual Belonging Cafe with the Tamarack Institute during their virtual gathering called EngageFest. It was led by Jorge Garza and another colleague who is passionate about Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), Heather Keam. During this session, I was inspired to try fostering connections digitally during the colder winter months in a fresh way. Thus, Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity hosted our first Virtual Belonging Cafe with Walnut and Church Row Neighborhood residents on Friday, January 31, 2025 from 3:00-4:00pm over Google Meet.

In trying to launch a new event, I knew that we would the need to effectively promote it in order for people to attend.

To the left, you can see the flyer that I used to help spread the word about this first Virtual Belonging Cafe.

I started out the event by talking about belonging and its definition, mostly sharing how belonging has elements of one's personal feeling in addition to how others embrace someone in their community.

I then shared my own belonging story, summarizing a few key stories of when I did and did not feel belonging throughout my upbringing on a rural farm, transitioning to adulthood during my studies at Iowa State University, and finally to the workforce in the Cedar Valley, with numerous times of moving between Cedar Falls and Waterloo along the way. I shared that I am so grateful for the church communities and local arts groups in dance, theatre, and music that I've been able to prioritize for many years.

After my story, I opened up the floor to discuss the following questions:

• What context do you come from?
• Do you want to share a personal belonging story?
• What does belonging look like to you?
• How can we foster a sense of belonging with those we meet in our everyday lives?

Five residents dove into rich dialogue about these questions. Our conversation ranged from the joys of belonging to the hardships of isolation. Many expressed gratitude simply for the opportunity to gather and connect in a virtual space.

Even though the weather was sunny and beautiful on the day of this event, some neighbors mentioned that they often find themselves rushing from one thing to the next, so this digital option where they didn't have to leave the house was a welcome change of pace. One person in particular would not have been able to attend if it was an in-person event, due to their need to head to work.

Everyone agreed that another opportunity to meet and foster more positive dialogue would be enjoyable. I proposed the last Friday of the month from 3:00-4:00pm, so we plan to touch base again on Friday, February 28th. During this meeting, two residents will be sharing their belonging stories at the beginning before we open up the floor to the larger group dialogue. We also discussed the option split up into digital "breakout rooms" if we have a lot more folks join for this upcoming Virtual Belonging Cafe.

Please do consider joining the dialogue if you are available and interested! Residents can email me at jpetersen@webuildhabitat.org to get the registration link.