Cool Block

The City hosted its third and final Cool Block leader training this month, and we are very excited to welcome an incredible new group of block leaders! After a long wait for the program's relaunch, after it was put on pause due to COVID in the spring of 2020, twenty new block leaders are now gearing up to start their blocks throughout Mountain View!

Each block leader is bringing their unique skills and passion to create more connected, sustainable, and thriving neighborhoods and communities.

Good news alert! Remember Cool Block? At the end of September, Mountain View's first Cool Block team finished the program. The initial organizer, Neal Gorenflo, had some powerful words to share. Read his full story here.

"If this experience taught me anything, it’s this — there’s a huge untapped demand for commoning. I knocked on a few doors to get people together for Cool Block, then the activity just gushed. Perhaps the pandemic helped, but this is an era of emergencies. People want to pull together even if they aren’t always quite sure how to... As a result of my experience, I can’t recommend Cool Block or similar programs enough. What counts is the right kind of invitation and process to participate. It needs to be trusted, inclusive, flexible, and well structured. Cool Block offers that."

A member of a new Cool Block team shared in Mountain View's "The Briefing" how the program and the team have been a resource to lean on during these challenging times. One neighbor shared, "I love our community - when I emailed this afternoon asking for a lime I got several emails offering limes and lemons." Another shared, "While we were all friendly, we were never this connected before."

Read the full story here!

Two Cool Block Leaders turned to a digital newsletter to keep their neighbors connected and informed during the Shelter in Place order. Check it out here!

On Sunday, February 23, the City hosted a third Cool Block Leader Training. There are now roughly 20 Block Leaders who will be forming teams in the coming weeks! Everyone had their unique reason for joining, but it was great to see so many people gathered together with a shared commitment to improving their neighborhoods and communities.

One Block Leader wrote about his experience with knocking on his neighbors doors to start his Cool Block team -- read his article here for a heartwarming story and firsthand look at what it's like to be a Cool Block Leader.

There will be one FINAL training on March 15 -- RSVP here!

On Monday January 13, we held the first of three Cool Block Information Sessions, officially kicking off the launch of the program in Mountain View. Read more about the program in this article, which appeared in the Los Altos Town Crier on January 15. Thank you so much to all of the passionate and interested residents that came to the first information session! Anyone can sign up to attend a Block Leader training HERE and learn how to create a Cool Block team in their neighborhood.