Neighborhood Navigators (NN) is a neighbor-led network designed to help people both find support and support one another during times of need. The idea for NN emerged over the past year through conversations with renters, Hamline University students, and neighbors involved in HMC’s renter engagement work, and was shaped by a shared desire to strengthen connections to existing resources, mutual aid, and practical learning opportunities. 

Leaning on our relationships and networks with one another allows us to be nimble and quickly responsive to the changing needs of our community. When urgent needs arose in the neighborhood in the winter of 2026, the network of neighbors that makes up Neighborhood Navigators was able to mobilize quickly, organizing a supply hub to distribute more than 150,000 diapers, hundreds of canisters of formula, thousands of menstrual products, and additional hygiene and medical supplies to families and individuals in need. Today, Neighborhood Navigators stands ready to connect renters, homeowners, unhoused neighbors, and families to resource hubs, mutual aid networks, and trainings like Know Your Rights sessions, while strengthening the relationships and local knowledge that allow neighbors to respond to one another with care, dignity, and speed.