June 26, 2026, recorded at Golden Magnolia Sanctuary in Fairfield

Watch the full conversation: Stewardship, Neighborhood and Resilience – Faith Reeves and Kristina Branstetter

In this Community Dialogue, Faith Reeves, Director and Project Manager with FRAN, talks with board member Kristina Branstetter about residential land stewardship, neighborhoods, and community resilience.

From homeowner to board member

Kristina is an attorney with a background in securities law, governance, and nonprofit law. But her path to FRAN started closer to home. Buying a house in Fairfield got her thinking about things she had never considered before: growing her own food, composting, soil health, drinking water, and the work of caring for an old home and its foundation. As she puts it, the land really affects everything around us.

In law school she worked in a small business and nonprofit law clinic, where one of her advanced projects was community mapping: identifying what assets each neighborhood had and what it needed, then connecting the two. The lesson stuck with her. Communities already have a lot of strength. They just need a way to connect it.

What resilience means

For Kristina, resilience is not one big thing. It is many small connections that add up: neighbors getting to know each other, organizations working together, and people getting the resources they need. When you build a strong system of support, nobody falls through the cracks.

That can be as simple as knowing which neighbor has a basement when a storm is coming, keeping an eye on a house while someone is out of town, or trading garden surplus. One household grows more hot peppers than the whole block can eat, another is great at cantaloupes. Finding those strengths and gaps, and matching them up, is what neighborhood resilience looks like in practice.

Block parties start July 16

FRAN is hosting 10 block parties, two in each of Fairfield’s five wards, running July through November. The first five will be held at city parks, starting July 16. Later in the season, FRAN plans to move into neighborhoods and close down a street for true block parties.

Each event is a chance to meet neighbors, learn what resources exist in the community, and find ways to plug in. Details will be posted on the block party page at franiowa.org, and anyone who wants to volunteer can sign up through the Get Involved page.