Seated around tables, neighbors of different generations, backgrounds, and perspectives became strangers no more.
Seventy-five Naperville residents gathered last Wednesday to kick off “A Seat for Everyone: Naperville Comes Together,” in partnership with the city, North Central College, and Naperville Neighbors United.
Small group discussions
“This event today was about starting an initiative where people intentionally build bigger connections across the community,” said Geneace Williams, the city of Naperville’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion.
In Stevenson Hall at North Central’s Wentz Science Center, residents were seated in groups of six to eight to learn more about each other and consider how to better connect with the Naperville community.
After opening messages from organizers, participants shared an artifact they brought that represented something about themselves.
Small group discussions followed about what organizers called the five circles of connection: you, friends and family, people like you or people like those you love, third spaces, and Naperville.
“Third spaces is really, where do you go to connect with people that you don’t meet or don’t know in your first and second spaces at home or at work? And the final circle, the fifth circle, was about Naperville, and how do we get out of our comfort zones and move out and make direct or indirect contact with others, so that we can continue to build community across people that we don’t know?” Williams explained.
Facilitators at each table led participants through guided questions.
Making connections in Naperville
“The chatter was unbelievable,” Williams said. “People were just talking to one another, and it’s always good when you’re in a room full of people, and you give them instructions, and they just keep talking, because you know something is happening, a connection is being created.”
North Central College senior Jayden Lawrence was one of a handful of college students who attended.
“I met a lot of Napervillians throughout my time in North Central, but specifically in a room like this, or a setting like this, with so many diverse people and crowds of different experiences and different vibes and different settings that they all bring into this space, I really enjoyed the fact that I could just connect,” Lawrence said.
At the end of the event, groups were encouraged to meet on their own three to four times over the next year.
“Next summer or fall, we’ll come back together as a larger group to see what did we learn, what did we experience, and then how do we take this to the next level in our community?” Williams said. “My heart is full tonight, because it really turned out to be a great event, and I’m looking forward to how we continue to build Naperville.”
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