Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 Group Stops Soliciting Donations, Revamps Website in Response to Reporting

by P.D. Lesko

On June 8, 2026, the A2Indy published “Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 Wants Answers From Council Candidates, But Members of the Group Have Some Explaining to Do.” The Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 group sent out a questionnaire to local City Council candidates which several candidates declined to answer. In the June 2026 article, the A2Indy reported that the Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 group was not an entity registered with the State of Michigan or with the IRS Charitable Division. The article pointed out that the group was nonetheless soliciting donations, but that no financial records were made public to show what the group did with any money donated. Questions about the group’s finances and the scope of its membership went unanswered. A recent look at the Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 website shows that it has been revamped. However, even with the changes, transparency is still lacking; the entity remains unregistered with the State of Michigan or the IRS Charitable Division.

The new website has a revised About page. The previous About page (captured and indexed by Google) listed the names of 23 individuals called the Team of Neighbors. In June, the A2Indy reported, “On the Neighbors for More Neighbors Ann Arbor website, no Board of Directors or Election Committee is listed…” The new About page posted two months after the article was published, lists a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors includes individuals not included among the Team of Neighbors two months previously. The newly listed Board members include Adam Goodman. Goodman is the retired co-founder of Duo Security, which was purchased by CISCO for $2.35 billion in 2018.

Removed from the group’s website is any mention of Team of Neighbors member Alex Lowe. In June 2026, it was reported:

“Linda Dabrowski says she attended a meeting of City Council focused on zoning and land use. ‘This organization lost me completely when one of their members used a Mr. Nimby prop at a city council meeting. I wouldn’t consider this group a reliable or transparent source of information.’ Another Ann Arbor resident who attended the same City Council meeting said, ‘Yes, Mr. Lowe [Alex Lowe, listed among the Team of Neighbors] spoke just before me using his little [Mr. Nimby] puppet and a squeaky voice.’”

It was because of the actions of Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 Team of Neighbors members including Lowe, that one Council candidate responded to the questionnaire from the group:

“I appreciate your outreach and the multiple requests. As I stated previously, I do not feel comfortable engaging with an organization whose public-facing culture, through the conduct of several of its members over time, has too often reflected unnecessary negativity on social media — including sarcasm, mocking, gaslighting, elitist commentary, minimizing, and a dismissive framing toward those who raise questions or dissenting perspectives.

‘In civic life, disagreement is inevitable and often healthy. But organizations, especially those that seek to influence public dialogue and policy, also carry a responsibility to model intellectual honesty, restraint, and basic civility in how they engage with others — particularly neighbors, residents, and community voices who may not fully align with them. The tone an organization tolerates publicly ultimately shapes the trust it can build privately. We have all had times we failed in this ideal, and I understand that. However, as a future CM, I am committed to refraining from that behavior on social media.”

While the Board members are now listed, there is no biographical information about any of them. For a group that wants to impact and purports to teach others about Ann Arbor’s urban planning and zoning policies, it appears none of the Board members has education or experience in urban planning or zoning. Board member SaraEllen Strongman, for example, is an assistant professor of Afroamerican and African studies at the University of Michigan. Board member Jean Leverich is a practicing social worker specializing in EMDR therapy. Eric Shalayko works for the Univ. of Michigan’s Center for Academic Innovation making marketing films and videos. A trio of Board members are software engineers.

An Oct. 2025 article published in Concentrate, a publication whose revenue is generated by funding from sponsorships and partnerships in exchange for targeted, positive, editorial content, Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 is described as a “special project organized under the Washtenaw Housing Alliance.” On the Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 webpage, there is no indication that the Washtenaw Housing Alliance formed the group as a “special project.” The Washtenaw Housing Alliance is listed on the Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 webpage among “Orgs for More Neighbors.” On its most recent federal income tax return, the Washtenaw Housing Alliance listed its mission as ending “homelessness in our community.” As a 501(c)3, the Washtenaw Housing Alliance is strictly forbidden from partisan politics, including the partisan politics done by the Neighbors for More Neighbors A2.

The Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 webpage is still devoid of any copies of newsletters past or present, information about finances or, if the Concentrate 2025 article is accurate, information about the formation of the group by the Washtenaw Housing Alliance. This would make the Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 a political front group, an organization that masks its true sponsors, funding sources, or objectives behind a misleading, benign, or grassroots-sounding public facade.

To whit, Neighbors for More Neighbors A2 Board member SaraEllen Strongman told Concentrate, “The goal is to make Ann Arbor an even more vibrant and exciting place for even more people to enjoy.”

Critics of the group and its push behind City Council’s passage of the Community Land Use Plan (CLUP) in March 2026 say that Council’s decision to upzone every Ann Arbor residential neighborhood was to put Ann Arbor up for sale. For example, Mayoral candidate Yousef Rabhi has expressed skepticism toward the CLUP’s market-rate density approach, advocating instead for public land trusts and direct public investment in affordable housing.