Nextdoor, the free and private social network for neighborhoods, launches Nextdoor for Public Agencies
Local Agencies in Any U.S. Municipality Will Now be Able to Sign Up and Quickly Connect with Verified Residents on a Secure Network
San Francisco, CA, Sept. 30, 2014 – Nextdoor.com, the free and private social network for neighborhoods, today announced the launch of Nextdoor for Public Agencies on the National PrepareAthon! Day of Action. Nextdoor for Public Agencies allows cities and their agencies to easily sign up, verify, and start communicating with their residents on Nextdoor.
More than 43,000 neighborhoods across the country already use Nextdoor to connect with each other about the issues that matter most in their communities, including crime and safety, local recommendations, and classifieds. Over the last three years, Nextdoor has become the lifeline to the neighborhood, and now thousands of local agencies will have the ability to join neighbors in the conversation.
Nextdoor for Public Agencies provides an online sign-up flow with agency verification and easy set-up. Once a public agency is verified, they can start sending important updates to verified residents on Nextdoor. Starting today, Nextdoor for Public Agencies is immediately available to police departments, sheriff’s offices, fire departments/EMS, and departments of emergency management across the country.
“Crime and safety issues have emerged as an important topic discussed on Nextdoor and it was only natural that residents wanted to hear from their local agencies,” said Sarah Leary, Co-Founder of Nextdoor. “We built Nextdoor for Public Agencies to allow local officials to share important updates with residents while still maintaining neighbors’ privacy. This two-way line of communication has been transformational for our members and helps make communities safer.”
Nextdoor is the best platform for local agencies to connect with verified residents. Public agencies use Nextdoor to send periodic and targeted updates to specific neighborhoods, groups of neighborhoods, or the entire city. Unlike other communication channels, agency officials appreciate that every member of Nextdoor is a verified resident. Residents value hearing from local officials while still maintaining their privacy, as information from their private neighborhood websites cannot be accessed by the local agencies.
“Disasters can strike at anytime and anywhere,” said Rafael Lemaitre, Director of Public Affairs for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “The National PrepareAthon! Day of Action is an opportunity for individuals, organizations, and neighborhoods in communities across the U.S. to prepare for different hazards through drills, group discussions, and exercises. Prepared neighborhoods are resilient communities, and today serves as a reminder for individuals, families, and neighborhoods to come together and have a plan of action before a disaster strikes.”
Nextdoor for Public Agencies is free for both public agencies and residents. Agencies are able to share important information, safety tips, and urgent alerts with Nextdoor neighbors. Public agencies interested in joining Nextdoor can visit nextdoor.com/agency to get started.
About Nextdoor.com, Inc.
Nextdoor (nextdoor.com) is the free and private social network for neighborhoods. Using Nextdoor’s platform, available on the Web and mobile devices, neighbors create private neighborhood websites where they get to know one another, ask questions, exchange local advice and recommendations, and organize virtual neighborhood watches to reduce crime.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., Nextdoor is a privately-held company with the backing of prominent investors, including Benchmark, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Tiger Global Management, Shasta Ventures, Comcast Ventures, DAG Ventures, Bezos Expedition, A-Grade Investments, and Google Ventures.
Nextdoor has been named one of Time Magazine’s 50 Best Websites and one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Brilliant Companies. More than 43,000 neighborhoods across the country are using Nextdoor to build happier and safer places to call home.
For additional information and company images: nextdoor.com/newsroom