The Delaware Emergency Management Agency is adding the social media app Nextdoor to its toolbox.
DEMA will be using Nextdoor’s Public Agencies platform to enhance its ability to communicate with Delaware residents.
DEMA spokesperson Gary Laing says the app is a private social network for neighborhoods with over 73,000 members in Delaware. He says it currently reaches nearly 57,000 households - allowing them to connect on a very local level.
"Where community group cans communicate with each other. They can keep tabs on what's happening in their neighborhoods, advise each other of special events, yard sales, that kind of thing," said Laing. "But it's a very community-oriented app."
Nextdoor allows organizations like DEMA to send notifications on a statewide or countywide basis. It also gives DEMA the ability to send emergency notifications to specific communities.
Laing says Nextdoor reached out to DEMA about teaming up.
"They gave us a demonstration of it and we said this is something that would be very good for us to use," said Laing.
Delaware State Police and New Castle County Police are also using Nextdoor. Laing says State Police told DEMA Nextdoor is a very valuable app for them.
You can get signed up for the app by logging on to Nextdoor.com.