BATON ROUGE, LA — January 29, 2019 — Today, Mayor Broome announced that the City-Parish has joined Nextdoor, the trusted communications and social media platform for neighbors that is used by over 85% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In establishing a public agency account on the platform, the City-Parish will now have the ability to communicate directly with more than 75,000 registered Nextdoor users and 558 neighborhoods throughout East Baton Rouge Parish.

“In today’s world, our citizens are accustomed to receiving, and expect, real-time information on programs, services, and issues that impact their daily lives – all from the click of a button or the comfort of their mobile device,” said Mayor Broome. “By joining Nextdoor, we now have yet another tool at our disposal to connect Baton Rouge residents with important updates at the neighborhood level and in an environment they already know, use, and trust.”

In addition to Nextdoor’s core platform utilized by residents to share information, make recommendations, buy and sell goods, and more, Nextdoor for Public Agencies offers City-Parish staff the ability to communicate directly with the residents they serve, with area-specific updates that can be shared with distinct neighborhoods or general updates that can be shared with all registered users in East Baton Rouge Parish. However, each neighborhood on the platform is private and its content can only be seen by other verified residents. City-Parish agencies are not able to view conversations residents have with one another on their neighborhood Nextdoor sites.

Nextdoor members will begin to automatically receive City-Parish updates by default, beginning with communications from the Department of Environmental Services, the local agency responsible for the management of critical services and infrastructure such as garbage and recycling collection, the East Baton Rouge Parish wastewater system, environmental compliance, and more. The department will use the platform to provide information to residents about these services, including topics such as holiday garbage and recycling schedules or operating hours, construction projects taking place in a given area, and helpful tips on recycling or actions residents can take to preserve their sewer infrastructure.

To access the City-Parish’s Nextdoor page, visit https://nextdoor.com/agency-detail/la/baton-rouge/city-of-baton-rouge.