CommonPlace, our web platform for local community engagement, was inspired by the Professor Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone.  Thus it was a joy to see Putnam’s Saguaro Seminar post about us:

Peter Davis, Harvard University senior, got motivated to launchOurCommonPlace in 2009 after taking Bob Putnam’s course on social capital. He co-launched OurCommonPlace with Max Novendstern confident that the internet could be utilized to build up American civic life.

CommonPlace is a web-based platform that greatly facilitates local community engagement. It makes it far easier for you to connect with and share information with neighbors and local leaders.

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Residents can find out what’s happening locally or post about local happenings, needs (a good roof repair company, or interest in starting a Boomer ultimate frisbee league, for instance).  They can:

Ask to borrow a ladder or power drill

Publicize a tag sale or block party

Find out how they can take cooking classes

Ask who has a used loft bed they can have or buy

Find people and organizations with shared interests or hobbies around them

Ask how to fix a pot hole

Find out where their lost cat wandered off to

Organize a service project