We have shown through the actions that we have taken to date that we can have an impact and there’s that sense of optimism about being able to do things in the future, says Glenn McAnanama, today’s interview guest. Glenn has cultivated a thriving community group called Upper Greenside in New York City in just two years, using two simple tools: a blog and a Meetup.com group. Let’s find out how he did it.
At first glance, Manhattan’s Upper East Side might seem like an odd place to find an environmental online community leader, but Glenn and his group call it home and see it differently. Upper Greenside first coalesced around an effort to find a location for green market where neighborhood residents could buy fresh, organic produce. After chalking up this first success, the group has broadened its agenda to facilitating alternate transportation, improving recycling, energy efficiency, and other local issues.
The group meets and seeks petition signatures face-to-face, but organizes its efforts and recruits new members almost entirely online using Meetup.com and email.
I’m sure there are people we haven’t reached because they’re just not part of the digital community in the same way that others are, Glenn says. But at the same time, I’m not sure who they are.
Glenn reports that Upper Greenside members generally found out about the group online, or by word-of-mouth from somebody who first found out about it online. Glenn reports that this online organizing has led to face-to-face meetings and results.
Based on the emails that I wrote, I got invited to meet my local city council person, he says. That was really the first interaction I had with local government.
The first, perhaps, but not the last. Glenn now sees email as something to open the door for a phone call, which leads to an in-person meeting and the opportunity to get things done.
We need to make the new media work for us so that we can achieve our ends when we’re in live face-to-face meetings and build those relationships. So that later they know us when we’re emailing them, he says.
As with the other online community leaders profiled in this series, Glenn puts time into this effort 5 to 10 hours per week, he says. But by using online organizing tools with skill and commitment, Glenn and his peers make it look like they’re a team of pros working 50 hour weeks.
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