Community newspapers were once *the* way to stay informed about what’s happening in your area. That was upended by our mass adoption of social media. Now we’re all using Facebook.

But Facebook doesn’t need to be in control. There’s a better way. With WordPress, we can create a local community hub. A site for sharing stories, showcasing members, listing events, crowd-sourcing content, and selling premium subscriptions to cover costs.

In this session we’ll build a community hub website with minimal code. We’ll start with a clean WordPress installation; add pages; a theme; and plugins.

Running a local business? Launch a community hub and invite other businesses to join. Involved resident? Launch a hub and invite your neighbours. Teacher? Launch a hub for your school district. (You get the idea.)

The site wouldn’t replace Facebook. It’d exist alongside Facebook. But your community deserves a place on the web that it has actual control over.