LogoCommune
Hands exchanging a paper bag of groceries across a chain-link gate, warm porch light behind them, faces cropped just above the chin

Photograph

Eastside Block, February 2026 — Marlena passes Marcus the last of the bulk rice order.

Commune · Founded 2021 · Your City

Nobody here
is a charity case.
Everybody here
is a neighbor.

A network of neighbors pooling grocery runs, rent deposits, and utility payments — so no one on the block falls through alone.

847

Households

$62k

Moved this year

4.2hrs

Avg. turnaround

Put Twenty on the TableMeet your neighbors

The people who give are the same people who receive. Single parents splitting childcare shifts. Elders sharing bulk prescriptions. Gig workers covering each other's car repairs between paydays.

From the Block

Three stories from January.
Told in their own words.

Every month we publish three accounts — unedited, first-name only, with the full exchange on record. This is what mutual aid looks like when it's working.

Woman in her late thirties standing on a porch, warm afternoon light, looking off to the side with quiet confidence

Marlena T.

14th & Spruce

Single parent, two kidsJanuary 2026
Last month I put in forty dollars and got three afternoons of childcare back. I didn't ask for charity — I asked my block.

Gave

Cash · $40

Received

Childcare · 12hrs

Middle-aged Black man leaning against a car in a residential street, arms crossed, direct gaze, natural light

Darnell W.

Maple Ave corridor

Gig driver, 11 years on the blockJanuary 2026
My alternator went out on a Tuesday. By Thursday, four neighbors had covered the repair. I'm back on the road. I already paid it forward twice.

Gave

Rides · 8 trips

Received

Car repair · $240

Elderly couple sitting on porch steps, hands intertwined, soft backlight from the setting sun

Rosa & Clarence B.

Hillcrest, near the library

Retired neighbors, 34 years on the blockJanuary 2026
We buy prescriptions in bulk and split them with whoever needs them. It's just what you do when you've lived somewhere long enough to know the names.

Gave

Medications · shared with 6 households

Received

Grocery runs · 4x/month

Every one of these exchanges shows up in the ledger.

See where the money went
January 2026 · Monthly Ledger

Honest numbers.
Every dollar accounted for.

We publish this every month. No aggregated totals, no vague "impact." Line by line, what came in and where it went.

$0

Dollars moved

Cash, goods, and services at fair value

0

Households touched

Unique addresses in the network

0

Requests fulfilled

Out of 1,241 requests received (97%)

0.0 hrs

Average turnaround

From request to fulfillment

CategoryRequestsValueShare

Grocery & Food

412
$18,240
29%

Rent & Deposit Gaps

89
$21,800
35%

Utility Payments

203
$8,960
14%

Transportation & Repairs

156
$7,340
12%

Childcare Swaps

218
$4,100
7%

Prescriptions & Health

125
$2,040
3%

Total January

1,203
$62,480
100%

Values include cash, goods at fair market value, and labor at $18/hr (local living wage). Full audit available on request. We are not a 501(c)(3). We are a neighborhood.

Now that you've seen where it goes —

Put Twenty on the Table
Non-monetary participation

Offer What
You Have

Commune runs on more than money. It runs on Tuesday afternoons, and knowing someone who can fix a furnace, and a neighbor with a truck who isn't using it this Saturday.

Time

Childcare shifts, grocery runs, rides to appointments, sitting with someone who's having a hard week.

Skills

Plumbing, cooking, translating forms, tutoring, legal advice, hair cuts, car repairs.

Goods

Bulk prescriptions, extra produce, tools, baby clothes, a spare room for a night.

"I've never given cash. I've given sixty-three hours of childcare and two grocery runs. I'm still a full member of this network."

— Yolanda, 22nd Street

What are you offering?

Hours you can give — childcare, errands, rides

Your information stays in the network. We don't share it outside the block.

How the network works

No bureaucracy.
No gatekeepers. Just neighbors.

01

Someone puts it on the board.

A neighbor posts a need — groceries, a ride, a utility gap, childcare — with their first name, their block, and what they need. No means-testing. No application. Just a post.

Average time to post: 3 minutes.

02

The block responds.

Members who can help — with cash, time, goods, or skills — respond directly. The network matches offers to needs within hours. Neighbors handle the exchange face to face.

Average response time: 4.2 hours.

03

It goes in the ledger.

Every exchange is logged — anonymized, categorized, and published in the monthly ledger. No one's business is anyone else's, but the numbers are everyone's.

97% of requests fulfilled in January.

04

The same people give and receive.

There is no donor class and no recipient class. The person who covered your car repair last month may ask for help with rent next month. That's the whole design.

64% of members have both given and received.

Neighbors gathered on a front stoop in warm evening light, sharing food from containers, casual and close

"We've been doing this forever. We just didn't have a name for it."

— Commune founding member, 2021

Commune started because four neighbors on the same block were already doing this informally. The network just made it visible, legible, and open to anyone on the block.

Put Twenty on the TableOffer What You Have