This awesome project will do more than show a movie. Join Up! South Bend will show South Benders how to join more clubs, and why it matters.

A community like South Bend is only as strong as the connections people make within it. But there’s something unfortunate happening all over America. We’ve stopped joining. For decades, membership has declined in Rotary clubs, congregations, even bowling leagues.

In 2000, Robert Putnam’s book "Bowling Alone" detailed this decline in community connections and its startling link to the fate of American democracy. The groundbreaking book is now required reading at universities nationwide.

These important insights should be made accessible to South Benders. How?

Good news: the book is now a documentary. "Join or Die" is a film about why you should join a club – and why the fate of America may depend on it. The film is not available in local theaters or online. Rather, the filmmakers invite communities to host screenings of their own. We want to do that, and take the connection-building to the next level.

With help from the Awesome Fund, Join Up! South Bend will do three things:

First, we want to host a free screening of "Join or Die" on the afternoon of Sunday, October 13, 2024 at the Main Library’s Community Learning Center auditorium, with a talkback discussion to follow.

Second, we want to connect people to clubs. Once the movie concludes, a free, open house-style club fair begins. We will fill the Library’s ballrooms with more than 30 tables of local clubs, associations, and organizations so South Benders can find out what they do, and which ones they might like to join.

Third, we want the joining to happen all year round. The club fair would also be launch day for the JoinUpSouthBend.org website, an online directory of every club, association, or organization in South Bend whose membership structure fosters social capital-building connections, and who would like to submit a free listing.