Westminster Commons

The Westminster Commons is hosted by the Westminster Presbyterian Church and led by a group of neighbors and friends. Our goal is to help different people and groups in the Capital Region connect to create a sense of common purpose, address problems, and enjoy life more.

Join us! We welcome new ideas for ways to gather and connect. Sign up for our mailing list here.

The Commons grew out of an effort in the fall of 2022 to organize a Friendsgiving event for Afghan refugees and the Good Neighbor teams that had been organized to support them. While a COVID surge prevented us from holding a dinner, we ended up hosting a big gratitude-themed party that drew together an amazing mix of people–refugees and long-time residents, children and elders, renters and homeowners, speakers of dozens of languages. We danced and drew pictures and played games together. By the end of the afternoon, everyone had turned a stranger into a friend.

Since that time, we’ve had large neighborhood gatherings and smaller pop-up sidewalk events. Each event is open to everyone and free of charge. There’s nothing to buy and nothing to sell–we just want to make connections between people, especially those who haven’t connected before.

Read more in our blog: “What is the Westminster Commons?“

We are exploring ways to build community in our neighborhood and throughout the New York Capital region. We want to be an incubator for new ideas and practices and welcome anyone to join us in planning or leading an event of any kind that aligns with our mission. We approach everything we do with a spirit of playful experimentation.

But we’re not just playing around. We believe that a sense of belonging is the foundation of our democracy. It precedes and compels civic engagement. We’re coming together so that we don’t come apart.

The Westminster Commons is a work of love powered by people who donate their time, talent, and resources to make our events happen.

Westminster Presbyterian Church has offered use of the building, free of charge, thrown in a sizable portion of encouragement along with some helpful start-up funds. The Commons builds on Westminster’s long history of welcoming and including a wide variety of people.

In June 2023, Pastor Heather Kirk-Davidoff was named an Inaugural Fellow of the US@250 program of New America, a Washington, DC-based think tank. The US@250 program highlights grassroots projects across the country that cultivate civic engagement and celebrate the values at the heart of our democracy. This Fellowship has allowed us to dream a little bigger and hire talented musicians, artists, and translators to help make our events even more special.

Learn more in this article by New America: The Longest Table: How Civic Space Can Foster Inclusion and Belonging

Our second annual gathering for the winter solstice gave us a chance to gather around our fire pit, roast marshmallows, drink hot chocolate, and make some new connections with neighbors and friends.

This event was modeled on similar dinners that have happened in cities in the U.S. and all over the U.K. Our time together started with an hour of live music, drinks, and snacks while we worked together to set our table and dress it up with flowers, candles, and place cards. At 5:00 pm we all sat down together and toasted all the things that give us hope. Our meal featured fantastic pizza provided by our neighbor Daniel at Apartment Pizza. At the end of the evening, we gathered in a giant circle and shared words of appreciation and blessing with each other. We started as a group of strangers and by the end we felt like a community.

This Sunday, we finally were able to host an outdoor gathering! Our parking lot party featured the Victory Soul Orchestra and Balloon Gal Jenny who kept everyone entertained. We played Corn Hole, Connect Four, and Jenga together. The Red Cross handed out free smoke detectors and Historic Albany’s Tool Library told everyone about what they do. We talked and talked and talked!

The weather was surprisingly warm on this day so we set up our tables on the sidewalk along State Street and invited everyone who walked by to make a card for their neighbor–or for one of ours. We also had warm drinks and cookies to share the love.

This was a fun “pop-up” style event on the brick patio in front of Westminster Presbyterian Church on State Street. People walking home from work joined us around the fire pit for a while, drinking hot cocoa and toasting marshmallows. We welcomed winter by singing “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”