The City of Topeka is encouraging residents to sign up for Nextdoor, the free and private neighborhood social network, to help strengthen neighbor-to-neighbor and citywide communications. To help raise awareness for the City’s presence on the platform and to inspire residents to join, the City is unveiling a Nextdoor branded property maintenance truck that will tour Topeka.
“Topeka has always been an innovative and resourceful City. Nextdoor is another great tool we can use to help us better communicate and reach our residents,” said Monique Glaudeˊ. “We look forward to more residents joining us on Nextdoor so that we can work together to create stronger, healthier neighborhoods.”
With Nextdoor, Topeka residents can create private neighborhood networks to share information with each other, including neighborhood public safety issues, community events and activities, local services, and even lost pets. The City of Topeka launched with Nextdoor for Public Agencies in December 2013 and is using the platform to post information to residents, such as important news, services, programs, free events, and emergency notifications.
Since the City partnered with Nextdoor, membership on the platform has grown by 2200%. This increased membership and engagement on Nextdoor has successfully driven higher levels of participation in City discussions, workshops, and events. The City of Topeka asked residents if they feel more informed since the City of Topeka started using Nextdoor. Seventy-one percent of the 381 residents that responded to the poll told us that they do feel more informed since the City started posting on Nextdoor.
“We are thrilled to be celebrating the City of Topeka’s amazing use of Nextdoor to better connect with residents,” said Joseph Porcelli, Senior City Strategist at Nextdoor. “Topeka is full of wonderful neighbors and we are looking forward to welcoming more onto the platform as the City continues its efforts to engage at the neighborhood level.”
Nextdoor is free for residents and the City. Each Topeka neighborhood has its own private Nextdoor neighborhood website, accessible only to residents of that neighborhood. Neighborhoods establish and self-manage their own Nextdoor website and the City will not be able to access residents’ websites, contact information, or content. All members must verify that they live within the neighborhood before joining Nextdoor. Information shared on Nextdoor is password protected and cannot be accessed by Google or other search engines.
Those interested in joining their neighborhood’s Nextdoor website can visit www.nextdoor.com and enter their address. If residents have questions about their Nextdoor website, please visit help.nextdoor.com.