September 24, 2026
Neighbor to neighbor means the WHOLE neighborhood. 🏘️💙
At our 8th Annual Statewide Conference, Dr. Katrina “Katt” Polk, Executive Director of the DC Village Collaborative (DCVC), led one of our most talked-about sessions, asking a question that matters to every village: What does it take to build a village where everyone truly belongs, not just in theory, but in practice?
DCVC, a coalition of 17 villages, is reimagining what it means to age well by centering the voices of communities of color and women, whose wisdom has too often been left out of decision-making. Earlier this year, three Black church-centered groups joined our Village Incubator to bring villages to unserved parts of DC.
Joining Dr. Katt were:
• Rev. Joseph Williams, Board President, Faith North Michigan Village
• Rev. Anita Crawford, Executive Director, Nehemiah Intergenerational Village
• Rev. Dr. Kendrick Curry, Executive Director, Village on the Avenue
• Sharita Slayton, Consultant, DCVC Incubator Program
The panel left us with questions we’re still sitting with: Who is not at the table? What becomes possible when the whole neighborhood belongs? Rev. Williams shared how he had to set asidehis institutional perspective, listen to elders, and let them lead. And Rev. Dr. Curry described belonging as “intimacy within community, grounded in love.”
Multi-racial, multi-cultural membership is something we build for, not simply an aspiration.
Want to start the conversation in your village? Explore DCVC’s Equity Toolkit: https://villagemovementcalifornia.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/DCVC_Toolkit.pdf
