Nashville Neighbors
Relaunching winter 2021, Nashville Neighbors exists to promote wellness among newly arrived refugees and build genuine relationships between refugee families and established Nashvillians.
The Vision of Nashville Neighbors
Siloam Health’s Nashville Neighbors program gives local churches and the broader Nashville community a unique opportunity to welcome and build relationships with refugees. Through Nashville Neighbors, volunteer teams commit to walk alongside a newly-arrived refugee family for six months, teaching them basic health lessons while also forming genuine friendships with new neighbors from all over the world. In addition to empowering refugees to make a healthy transition in their new city, Nashville Neighbors is a powerful tool to cultivate and mobilize a spirit of hospitality among local churches and the Nashville community. The new friendships created are already opening eyes and hearts and contributing to our vision for the flourishing of a whole, new Nashville.
“I learned a lot of information about how to take care of my health but the biggest thing I learned is the power of LOVE.”
– Nashville Neighbors Refugee Participant
What is Nashville Neighbors?
Each Nashville Neighbors volunteer team is paired with a newly-arrived refugee family for a period of six months. During this time, Nashville Neighbor teams are equipped with a curriculum and interpreter (paid by Siloam if needed) to teach basic health education, with an intentional focus on fostering relationships and creating a broader social network and support system for the refugee family. Volunteer teams and refugee families are asked to meet at least twice each month in order to build consistent relationships and complete the health education curriculum.
The two main goals of Nashville Neighbors are to:
Promote wellness through a specific health education curriculum.
Deepen relationships between newly arrived refugees and established Nashvillians.
Still wondering what it means to be a Nashville Neighbor? Please take some time to read through the Nashville Neighbors Team Packet.
Ready to Get Started?
Becoming a Nashville Neighbor is a straightforward process, but there are a few important things you and your team will need to do before Siloam can connect you with your refugee family.
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Identify Your Team – Siloam requires each Nashville Neighbors team to have a minimum of six adults in order to share the responsibilities and time commitment that the program brings. In fact, many teams often opt for more than six, knowing that the whole team may not be able to attend every lesson and visit with their refugee family. Families with children are also encouraged to be part of a Nashville Neighbors team, as many refugee families will have children of their own. In order to fully understand the commitment of being part of a Nashville Neighbors team, please make sure your entire team reads the Team Packet before you sign up!
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Select a Team Leader – Your team leader will be the main point of contact when it comes to communicating with Siloam, your refugee family, and your interpreter.
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Contact Siloam – Once you’ve formed your team, your team leader should contact Siloam using the form below. (Please note that only one person needs to complete this.)
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Fill Out Your Paperwork & Attend Training – Once your inquiry form has been received by Siloam, we will email your team leader with links to all the paperwork your team needs to complete in order to become an official Nashville Neighbor! Your team will also be required to attend a training session at Siloam.
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Get Matched with Your Refugee Family – Once you’ve completed all your paperwork and attended a training, Siloam will match you with your refugee family and you’ll be on your way. Congrats!
“I and my family are thankful for what they [the volunteer team] did for us.”
– Nashville Neighbors Refugee Participant
Refugees at a Glance
Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.
Refugees & Immigrants
in Nashville
1 in 8
1 in every 8 Nashvillians was born outside of the United States.
134,000
There are 134,000 foreign-born residents in Nashville.
30%
30% of students enrolled in Nashville schools speak a language other than English at home.
“When we were new, we didn’t know what to do, where to go, but after this class we know many thing about first aid and health related information.”
– Nashville Neighbors Refugee Participant
Nashville Neighbors Inquiry form
To learn more about refugees in the world, the United States and Nashville, consider the following resources:
