I would encourage each of you to look at we are doing in Sonoma Valley and see if it might work for your local community. With minimal effort and minimal resources we have set up the following:
A Website
We used Google Sites to create a free website that can have multiple collaborators maintaining it.
A Calendar
We used Google Calendar to create a free group calendar that can have multiple collaborators maintaining it. Individual users can then subscribe to this calendar or visit it online. It is also placed on our site as it’s own page.
A Blog
We used Blogger to create a free blog where we can post news items for people to follow. As with the website and the calendar, the blog can have multiple collaborators maintaining it.
An Email Discussion Group
We used Google Groups to create a free email list (or “mail exploder”) to allow our members to have a public forum where they can easily communicate with each other. Anytime someone posts a message to our Google Group, it gets sent to all members who have subscribed to the group.
A Group Page a CommunityOrganize.com
Since Community Organize is an evolutionary step in the process of transforming the campaign into a new social movement for “civic engagement and political action”, we created a free group page on Community Organize so are we are tied into the larger network of community teams.
A Domain Name
The only thing that cost us any money was creating a domain name with a domain registrar -- I used GoDaddy -- for about $15 a year. We chose the domain name SonomaValleyCAN.org.
We’ve already held one general meeting (as part of the “Change is Coming” weekend) and two planning meetings which have resulted is us launching the following efforts:
- Adopting a local food bank
- Planning a project for the National Day of Service
- Holding a larger “Valley Forum” to inform and include more people
Yes we CAN!
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