Steven Clift   •   about 15 years ago

Introducing BeNeighbors.org

We just found out about this challenge, so we thought we'd put out a shout out here.
In short, BeNeighbors.org is a non-profit effort to connect nearest neighbors to each other. Think electronic block clubs. While our approach is a silo busting - let neighbor be neighbors system - two themes come up again and again as public service benefits. They are crime prevention and disaster preparedness.
Anyway, check out our one pager, our list of public benefits, and join our open source style online working group.
Also, on a related note our current "public" engagement Issues Forum model is being deployed by volunteers in Christchurch, New Zealand to assist community recovery. It would have course been better if the neighborhood system had been in place before the quake. While we are based in Minneapolis, we have had a regional forum in Christchurch for five years.
Lastly, I was invited into a discussion about the use of the Net/social media in response to the quake/tsumani in Japan. Here are some rough comments one and two.