Following extensive communications with CSDA, Nextdoor has recently expanded their eligibility requirements. Special districts can now have their own free Nextdoor for Public Agencies page to communicate with residents within their district, provided they meet the following criteria:
- They are a permanent government agency with a full-time staff.
- They do not represent a committee, board, program, or project.
- They do not represent an elected official.
- They have a discrete jurisdictional boundary that has been approved by their state's governing body.
- They can provide a GIS map file of their boundary upon request.
- They can apply using a personalized work email (ie. firstname.lastname@agency.com) and can provide proof of employment upon request.
Special districts that do not have a GIS map file of their boundary may contact CSDA endorsed business affiliate California CAD Solutions for CSDA member-preferred pricing on developing the necessary GIS file.
Nextdoor is an app for neighborhoods where you can get local tips, buy and sell items, and more. It allows public agencies to share critical, real-time information directly at the neighborhood level.
CSDA played a significant role working with Nextdoor to help in its policy development related to special districts. This multi-year effort began after receiving a wide range of inquiries from CSDA members, as well as anecdotes at CSDA conferences. Special district leaders clearly saw value in gaining equitable access with cities and counties to the platform to ensure communities served by special districts would receive the same access to information and resources they need.
In the Spring of 2021, CSDA convened a feedback group of more than two-dozen special district officials to confirm how special districts were accessing and using Nextdoor and to better understand what interest special districts had in using the platform going forward. CSDA conveyed this feedback to Nextdoor and helped answer questions about the services communities receive from special districts and the manner in which they are governed.
CSDA would like to thank Nextdoor for taking time to meet, discuss, and consider the perspectives shared by CSDA and our membership.
For more information or to sign up for Nextdoor for Public Agencies, go to nextdoor.com/agency. To sign up, click Get Started. Please reach out to agencysupport@nextdoor.com with any questions.
Update as of August 24, 2022: In order to make it easier for districts to get their GIS boundary file, CALCAD put up a banner on their home page that if clicked, viewers are taken to a contact/request form.
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