Stories We Share: The Courage to Connect
A month of events, activities, and conversations that bring our city closer, one neighbor at a time.
What is Meet Your Neighbor Month?
Meet Your Neighbor Month (MYNM) is an invitation to connect with the people and places that make Cambridge feel like home. Throughout September, we invite everyone to find their own ways to meet someone new, strengthen relationships, and connect with people around them.
Under the 2026 theme Stories We Share: The Courage to Connect, MYNM celebrates the many ways connection already happens across Cambridge and invites all of us to create more of it.
Your neighborhood is yours to define. It might be your block, apartment building, workplace, school community, place of worship, or anywhere you feel connected to the people around you.
Explore Cambridge with Your MYNM Passport
Pick up a Meet Your Neighbor Month Passport and make September an adventure! Collect stamps at featured events and complete Side Quests that encourage you to explore Cambridge, support local businesses, get active, and connect with your community.
Collect at least 4 stamps + complete 2 Side Quests to earn one raffle entry!
Download the MYNM Passport
Printed passports will also be available at select locations throughout Cambridge. Details coming soon.
Explore Meet Your Neighbor Month Events
Looking for a way to connect? Explore events happening across Cambridge, meet someone new, or find inspiration for something you can do in your own neighborhood.
Throughout September
Explore ongoing ways to connect, create, and get moving all month long.
Meet Your Neighbor at the KiOSK
Explore creative ways to connect with neighbors through art, neighborhood mapping, snail mail, and postcards.
- Paint Your Truth – explore art expression through a group process painting workshop
- Map Club – design a map project to get to know your neighborhood
- Snail Mail – slow down and write a letter to a neighbor
- Send a Postcard – send a postcard from Cambridge to anywhere in the world
Details for these events coming soon.
Meet Your Neighbor through Healthworks Fitness
Get moving and connect with your community through free fitness opportunities in Cambridge.
Events by Date
Explore events happening on specific dates throughout September.
SEPTEMBER 12
Meet Your Neighbor: Evolving Landscapes
Explore Cambridge's archives, libraries, museums, and historical organizations during the annual Cambridge Open Archives event.
View Event Details
SEPTEMBER 15
Meet Your Neighbor: Around the Table
Join the Cambridge Public Library in Central Square and the Peace Commission for a community supper and an opportunity to connect with neighbors.
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SEPTEMBER 16
Meet Your Neighbor: LGBTQ+ Multi-Generational Dinner
Join the LGBTQ+ Commission for an intergenerational dinner focused on building community across generations and learning from one another. All are welcome.
View Event Details
SEPTEMBER 19
Meet Your Neighbor at Danehy Park Family Day
Enjoy one of Cambridge's largest free community celebrations and make sure to stop by the Peace Commission table while you're there.
View Event Details
SEPTEMBER 20
Meet Your Neighbor: Stories That Stay With Us
Join the Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship and the Peace Commission for a screening of A Man Called Otto.
Event details coming soon.
SEPTEMBER 25 | PEACE COMMISSION FEATURED EVENT
Meet Your Neighbor: Community Gathering
Join the Cambridge Peace Commission for our signature Meet Your Neighbor Month gathering, bringing community members together for connection, conversation, and celebration.
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SEPTEMBER 26
Meet Your Neighbor: Cambridge 2026 Cat Tour & Meowfest
Join the Mayor's Office and community partners for a walking tour and playful Cambridge celebration featuring some of the city's feline residents.
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SEPTEMBER 27
Meet Your Neighbor: Move with School of HONK
Join School of HONK and the Cambridge Peace Commission for a free, all-ages afternoon of music, movement, and connection. Try an instrument, learn some dance moves, and have fun with your neighbors.
View Event Details
Get Involved
Attend an event, meet someone new, or bring your own neighbors together through a potluck, block party, neighborhood clean-up, or another activity that works for your community.
Planning something in your neighborhood? Hosting a block party or neighborhood gathering for Meet Your Neighbor Month? Let us know what you're planning so we can highlight resident-hosted gatherings happening across Cambridge.
Share Your Gathering
Guides & Materials
Get Started
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Meet Your Neighbor Month Zine
A mini guide to Meet Your Neighbor Month
Learn what MYNM is, how to participate, and ways to connect throughout September.
Printable version | Large-print version
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Participation Ideas
Looking for inspiration? Explore simple ways to connect with neighbors, from hosting a gathering to everyday neighborly acts.
Printable version
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How to Plan a Large Community Event
Tips and guidance for organizing a larger gathering in your neighborhood or community.
Printable version |
Large-print version
Connect & Play
Bring Neighbors Together
Resources
FAQs for Meet Your Neighbor Month (MYNM)
Who can participate in MYNM?
Everyone! Individuals, families, community groups, organizations, businesses, and others are all welcome to participate in whatever way works for them.
What kinds of activities or events can I plan?
Anything that helps bring people together! It could be a porch chat, shared walk, potluck, block party, neighborhood clean-up, or something completely your own.
What if I'm not comfortable hosting an event?
You don't have to host anything to participate! You could:
- Say hello to a neighbor you haven't met
- Share something with a neighbor
- Support a local community effort
- Join an existing neighborhood event
How do I make my activity or event accessible and welcoming?
A few simple choices can help more neighbors participate:
- Choose a location that is easy to access
- Offer quiet or small group options when possible
- Consider dietary, mobility, sensory, and other access needs
- Share accessibility information with participants ahead of time