Joy Hartman takes intentional walks around Eastcore and keeps a map on her fridge of all her neighbors’ names and addresses as she meets them. Joy is a charismatic leader and says that being on the 3sixty Neighborhood Advocacy Team (NAT) helps her fulfill her life calling.

Originally from New Hampshire, Joy attended Hope College and Western Michigan University for degrees in social work. She was a social worker at the Holland Rescue Mission until living with a family in Eastcore changed everything.

At this family home, neighbors stopped by multiple times per week and dinner was always an open invitation. 

“They had people stopping by their house unannounced at least three or four times a week. I saw them come around neighbors and friends as if they were family. That changed me and the trajectory of my life,”

Joy saw a lot of overlap in her two communities of the Rescue Mission and her neighborhood. She felt called to be more personally involved with fewer professional boundaries. She moved into her own place but stayed in Eastcore. Joy also took a position working for her church to connect with people in the community.

Initially, it was more challenging than she expected to make connections with neighbors. Collaborating with 3sixty on a block party was when she started having more of a reason to go door-to-door meeting people. “It’s just in the last year that I started to see some relationships form. It’s slow but it’s definitely building,” she said.

People responded to Joy’s invitation with excitement. Neighbors returned with their own ideas of community events that they’ve never had the courage to initiate on their own. They asked Joy to partner with her on pancake breakfasts, pumpkin carving, and Christmas caroling. People told Joy that they’ve lived here for 15 years and desire more connection in their community.

“It’s easy for me to develop connections in spaces that I’m comfortable in. Like at church or at work or with other friends,” she said. But neighborhood work took more boldness than she expected.

“3sixty is able to support me in the things I am called to do … it was a really freeing thing to hear that I don’t have to do this alone,” she said.

Joy met other families on her block through 3sixty that have come around her, too.

“I would love to see 3sixty continue to let people know that we’re a resource to help you get things done. I’ve been so encouraged being on the NAT—knowing other people want to do this and to join together and support them. And to know that I’m going to meet with someone quarterly and they’re going to want to know what’s going on. That’s really good for me, and motivating,” she said.

Joy loves living in Eastcore. She started off renting a house but her landlord asked to sell it to her when they saw how committed she is to the area. “Proximity is a really amazing way to build relationships … It’s vital. I want neighbors to know that there are others who want to invest in them and want a community,” she said.

The joke among Joy’s friends is that she hates privacy. She tore down her front yard fence when she bought her home. For someone with the desire to be this available to her neighborhood, 3sixty is a mutual partner in neighborhood empowerment.

“I feel called to help restore broken relationships that we all have with the Lord, each other, ourselves, and the rest of creation. As we all experience our poverty and brokenness, we get to walk side-by-side with each other and with Jesus as we trust His reconciling work in our lives. The Lord has called me to do this through building proximity-based community in my neighborhood and in other spaces I’m naturally in throughout the week. I feel called to build a bridge between people who are different from one another and struggle to relate,” she said.

A person of faith, Joy quotes scripture to illustrate her sense of calling and what she brings to the mission of 3sixty. “There is a ton of overlap with my church, my relationships with neighbors, and what 3sixty is doing,” she said. And being on the NAT allows her to give a “full yes” to her life calling and her neighbors—which, really, are one and the same.