Each week on The Newsfeed, host Paris Jackson and a team of veteran journalists dive deep into one topic and provide impactful reporting, interviews and community insights from sources you can trust. Each day this week, this post will be updated with a new story from the team.
‘Joiner Jamboree’ helps connect neighbors in White Center
By Venice Buhain
On a recent Saturday, people came to Evergreen High School in White Center to learn about rock clubs, book clubs, White Center Pride and other ways to connect with their neighbors.
This was the second White Center Joiners Jamboree, after one in West Seattle last year attracted between 800 to 1,000 people. Organizers say the turnout showed how much people clamor for community.
West Seattleites, Julie Garbutt and Andrea O’Farrell organized the events.
"I just think people want, an opportunity to connect in a really meaningful way. Again, we billed it a lot about like, connect with people in real life," Garbutt said. "I think we're sick of consuming social media at home. And coming out of COVID, people need opportunities to interact and join up with people that have common interests."
They were inspired by “Join or Die,” a movie based on author Robert Putnam’s idea that the decline of organized clubs would lead to an erosion in community connection, and the building of greater divisions in society.
"It's been a long time coming – this decline of community. So it's not just COVID and it's not even just social media, but these are just. They just made it even worse," O'Farrell said.
Janine Davis, who runs a Facebook group called "West Seattle Women 50+," agreed that people are yearning for connection.
"This just gives them a great opportunity to connect with other people of their age, over shared interests. And I think people are seeking that more. Like COVID kind of separated us. And I think, people are wanting to come back together in community," Davis said.
Strangers connect through touch at Seattle“cuddle parties”
By Lizz Giordano
Folks are snuggling up to strangers to find connection and combat loneliness, as they focus on the basic need of human touch.
Anna Joy Reedy and Ian Wilson began throwing cuddle parties in 2022 -- wanting to create a place where people could connect through non-sexual group intimacy.
“Touch is the thing that we focus on the least in our bodies. We've got a lot of, like, stimulus for the mind and the emotions. But I think the body has gotten left out and left behind,” said Reedy.
Reedy and Wilson founded Happy Humanimals, and both have taken training in cuddle therapy. They both also offer one on one sessions.
“There's a kind of loneliness that can be fulfilled through connecting with another person one on one. But there's also something really magical about being in the group field and getting to find lots of different ways to connect and find belonging that might, look different than even how you might have imagined,” Wilson said.
On a recent Friday, about a dozen cuddlers gathered at a yoga studio in northeast Seattle. It's part social event, part self-care workshop — and it starts with a lesson in consent. As people settle into cuddle puddles, Reedy and Willson encourage participants to ask for the kind of touch they want.
Research shows touch can calm the nervous system, ease stress, and help us feel more connected to each other.
Julz comes to a cuddle party about once a month — to get their touch needs met.
“I came to my first cuddle party because I was incredibly lonely. I had just been through a breakup and I didn't have any family in the area. And I also was newly disabled with a head injury, and I just didn't have, any one that was I could get healthy, consensual, platonic safe touch from,” said Julz.
Since their first experience with cuddle parties, Julz, has since become a trained cuddler.
“A lot of us are touched starved or touched deprived. And so coming to an event like this is a way to actually get those needs met.
Local group aims to help people build “Decent Social Skills”
By Jaelynn Grisso, story published 05/19/2026
In 2024, the year after loneliness was declared a national epidemic, Andrey Sklyar created an event with a novel concept: Maybe socializing could be practiced, just like any other skill.
He said he hoped it could level the playing field.
“There's the ‘rich get richer and the poor get poorer’ [idea], and that absolutely applies to social skills, unfortunately,” Sklyar said. “So if you hit it off, if you were included in groups of people who enjoyed your company, and you felt comfortable presenting yourself, you got an opportunity to develop social skills. And it feels natural... On the other hand, take someone who maybe didn't have such a good initial time, they would have been avoiding those interactions. They wouldn't have been getting the reps.”
He created exercises for strangers to practice talking to each other and build confidence in the same way he’d seen happen as a ballroom dance instructor.
“Someone that started off not knowing how to hear the rhythm or move their body or connect with somebody in a dynamic way [can grow] to ‘Oh yeah, of course I come on the dance floor, people look at me and they think, oh, they're so natural.' Well, it's natural because they've practiced a lot, so in that same way, that's kind of what I'm envisioning,” Skylar said.
He named it “Decent Social Skills” and created exercises like one in which participants strike up a conversation, and others role play responses including limited engagement or outright rejection.
His desire to create this space came from loneliness and a lack of connection, both for himself and others.
“The whole story about, kind of, not having the social skills and finding yourself in adult life and not knowing where to go, I went through that myself,” he said. “I found myself isolated after a series of events for several months, and I didn't know what I could do... And at one point, that loneliness kind of swelled to max and I asked, like, ‘What would make all of this worth it?’ And the thought was, if I could use the suffering that I've experienced to help others suffering in a, in the same way suffer less. That would have made it all worth it.”
He volunteered for the King County crisis hotline.
“A lot of times I would talk to people and I would ask, ‘Is there anyone that you could talk to besides us?’ And the story was pretty common across the board,” he said. “At least 50% of the time, it was like, ‘No, I just got out of something toxic, but now I'm alone.’ Or ‘No, I just recently moved and I don't know anybody or how to make the friends.’ And that's kind of where the idea for Decent Social Skills came up, where if people had the skills to make their own friends, they wouldn't need to call the crisis line as much. At least that's the hope."
Seattle group combats loneliness by connecting neighbors
By Paris Jackson, Story published 05/18/26
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared a ‘loneliness epidemic,’ saying at least 30% of people across all demographics are at risk for social isolation, and that lacking social connection can increase risk of premature death as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
A Seattle organization is in the pilot phase of its plan to help people build connections across the city. The Seattle Chamber of Connection’s executive director, Charlotte Massey, says Seattle loneliness levels are higher than the national average. She attributes this to the many transplants here who did not grow up in the city.
“Those transition points can be really strong opportunities for us to build connection across difference, and also to build the city that we want to live in,” said Massey.
They have identified six points of connection that every person needs to live a connected life. The first point: You should know your neighbors and have a point of contact in your neighborhood.
The organization, in partnership with the City of Seattle and funded by the Allen Family Philanthropies, runs programs such as the Best Ever program, essentially a series of adult field trips to explore and learn more about Seattle neighborhoods and deepen people's sense of belonging in the city.
“We support over 170 community builders around the city who are organizing small grassroots gatherings. And then we also work with larger organizations like the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Fifth Avenue Theater to provide connections in places where people are already gathering. So how can you make sure that if you show up to an event? Even if you're coming by yourself, you end up meeting someone new and feeling like you're part of a community,” said Massey.
