Born 11/9/2016
Closing the Urban-Rural divide one letter at a time.
Very simply, American Neighbors pairs urban classrooms with rural pen pals (and visa versa!). We launched in November of 2016 and one school year later, we’ve matched over 3,000 kids.
Our program truly runs on the amazing teachers in this country — we start by matching teachers and their classrooms, and teachers then exchange emails and set their classrooms to writing, usually from thousands of miles away!
Based on the success of the first year, American Neighbors' master plan —to make American friends again — is working.
We'll be publishing a Photo book of our Pen Pal's letters next year.
Join our Patreon for special Access to our Community and more! .
As seen in THE PRESS:
How to Get involved
Join the hundreds of other classrooms! We hand-match classrooms so your students will have the most horizon broadening pen pals.
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Make America Friends Again
Testimonials
“ It has been a great opportunity for my students and they absolutely loved it last year—they’d come in on Mondays asking if we’d gotten letters back from our pals yet. It’s a great program and I’m so glad to be a part of it.”
“Thank you again for this project. It has been a great opportunity for my students and they absolutely loved it last year—they’d come in on Mondays asking if we’d gotten letters back from our pals yet. It’s a great program and I’m so glad to be a part of it.”
“I realize how much I always send my own art in the mail, with cards and thank yous, etc. so this seems such a natural way to structure projects. It’s awesome to see these middle school kids connecting with others across the nation, making things for someone they’ve never met, and feeling empowered by sending their art as a way of connecting to someone else. ”
“I’ve seen my own heart grow as an adult as I get to know more types of folks. And, well, since adults have failed at that whole ‘love thy neighbor’ thing, I turn to the kids. I want to give them the big hearted opportunities that I had.”
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How'd it start?
American Neighbors project was launched a few days after the 2016 election when one of my Facebook posts went viral.
As soon as I put it up publicly, people from all around the world started tagging each other in the comments, tagging teachers they knew, sharing and commenting on the post ... and they have not stopped since.
Coming soon! SEE SOME of the kids' letters
About Me
My name is Lori
I'm a Brooklyn-based writer/director and community leader raised in rural (Sikeston) and suburban Missouri (Kirkwood) and Mississippi (Tupelo).
“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person."
- Fred Rogers
