Magazine article: Creating an Ideal Scientology Community: The Clearwater Neighborhood Campaign (2008)

No matter where you live, chances are there’s another Scientologist living down the street. Certainly within a short radius you’d find many. But how many of them do you know? And how many of them are on the Basics? The answers to those questions might surprise you.

What started here at Flag has now grown into the largest field movement in Clearwater’s history and it’s spreading across the planet. Here is an in-depth look at how it all began, what it took to make it happen and what it means to those who experienced the Neighborhood Campaign first hand.

Within a few months of the release of the Basics, the face of Scientology in Clearwater was already changing dramatically. Many Scientologists were availing themselves of these materials and grasping Scientology the way Ron intended it to be. But for each of the hundreds of Scientologists winning on course, there were others, many living just minutes away from Flag, who were not.

The reasons they weren’t on course were as varied as the people themselves. But the intention to bring LRH’s legacy to each and every one of them raised the bar of purpose to a new level. And so, Flag executives studied the scene to answer the question: What would it take to get the entire local field on the Basics?

It started with a giant map of Clearwater which soon revealed a pivotal datum: in most cases where Scientologists were on the Basics, there were other Scientologists living right near them who were not.

Even on the same street. And so the Neighborhood Campaign was born.

ORGANIZING THE FIELD

The principle was drawn from a basic LRH fundamental of organization, “A LARGE ORGANIZATION IS COMPOSED OF GROUPS. A SMALL ORGANIZATION IS COMPOSED OF INDIVIDUALS.” With thousands of Scientologists living in such a concentrated area, forming up groups within the field was the only way to build a strong enough support base to reach everyone.

Taking a neighborhood as the building block of the community as a whole, it all started coming together. The plan was simple: divide up the community into neighborhoods and get the Scientologists who were on the Basics to contact the rest and help them get connected up, too.

It was launched at the monthly Captain’s Field Briefing at the start of the year. In-Charges were named for each neighborhood, and a race was launched to see which neighborhood would be the first to get all Scientologists in their area on the Basics.

The keynote was participation. No matter the person’s case or training level, anyone could walk down their street and knock on the door of a neighboring Scientologist. As one of the Neighborhood In-Charges put it, “I found four other houses on my street with Scientologists living there. I’ve been here for years, but I had no idea they were out there.”

HITTING THE STREETS

Armed with little more than their own wins and determination, Neighborhood teams started hitting the streets and reaching out to those Scientologists living near them. The response was immediate, with dozens of Scientologists flooding into the Coachman Building to get started on the Basics as a result of the Neighborhood Campaign.

What rapidly became apparent was the untold value of what each visit meant. In many cases, Scientologists had been parked off The Bridge for some time, enmeshed in the day-to-day myriad of MEST universe barriers and stops. But it didn’t take long to rekindle the failed purposes and restore life and vigor to their progress in Scientology.

As local Scientologist Elaine Nizet said after getting onto the Basics, “I have factually regained my purpose in life.” She had been living in Clearwater with her husband, but had been stalled on The Bridge for several years. It all changed when she was contacted and brought in to start the Basics.

Today, Elaine is hardly recognizable from just a few months earlier. Several years ago, she had sold over 150 Dianetics books in the space of less than three months. But her enthusiasm faltered as she was never able to get through Dianetics herself, no matter how many attempts she made. Now with the Basics, Elaine has not only made it through Dianetics, but Science of Survival, Self Analysis and on up the route to Handbook for Preclears.

It all came full cirde when Elaine herself became a Neighborhood In-Charge. As she said, “I look at people with more theta and compassion and my responsibility is through the roof. “I’M CAUSE.”

THE CAMPAIGN ROLLS ON

In the weeks following the launch, the Neighborhood Campaign took on a life of its own. It wasn’t long before the first Neighborhood achieved their goal of getting all Scientologists on the Basics.

Week by week, the numbers added up. Hundreds more coming on course. Dozens of neighborhoods getting done. Thousands of miles put on their cars. And over 1,200 byroads, highways and streets traveled by Neighborhood teams. Within 10 short weeks, the numbers of those on course passed the 2,000 mark.

TAKING IT EVERYWHERE

By that time, the Neighborhood Campaign and the now-famous Neighbor-hood Kit were traveling more than just the streets of Clearwater. Soon the campaign was launching everywhere, from Milano, Italy to Los Angeles, California and many cities in-between.

It changed the course of a community. Now it’s changing communities all over the world. And it’s all built around one of the simplest and most powerful elements of human nature: reaching out to help your neighbors.

NEIGHBORHOOD CAMPAIGN GOES COAST-TO-COAST

Los Angeles neighborhood teams pick up their kits and hit the streets!

Within a few weeks of the launch of the Clearwater Neighborhood Campaign, word was out across the Scientology world. Initially generated by word of mouth alone, the campaign was
first formally implemented in Los Angeles, with Neighborhood I/Cs from the Valley to Beverly Hills hitting the busy LA streets.

From there, the roll-out continued through Phoenix, Seattle, Las Vegas and New York, with nearly a dozen more cities now scheduled to launch the Neighborhood Campaign in the coming weeks.

For more information on how to get this campaign started in your area, contact the Groups Officer at Flag at (727) 467-xxxx.¹

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