What Listening Looks Like

On Sunday March 18th, 2018, I had the pleasure of participating in a community media initiative called The Listening Post. Before jumping into my experience, I want to give some background about this initiative and what it has been doing around the United States. The Listening Post has the goal of creating news that community members can use. This is because its founder, Jesse Hardman, recognized that in many poor communities the information that is shared by the local news media outlets does not always cater to the needs of the community members. Because of this, many people have lost their trust in news and they turn to other sources such as social media for their sources of information.

The Listening Post is using its resources by helping community members share their perspectives and grievances so that local news outlets can have a better opportunity to broadcast media that meets the needs of people that they are supposed to serve.

This initiative has partnered with many community groups in New Orleans, New Jersey, Baltimore, Omaha, Georgia, Minneapolis and now, Philadelphia. As a current graduate student who’s specialization is community development, this initiative and its creative approach is very intriguing to me. It engages those that are often overlooked in media and are not allowed to give their side of the story or are not considered when the news thinks about sharing resources. So being a part of this experience was both an honor and nerve-wrecking.

I was nervous about how to engage people in the community, although I am from Philadelphia and I still currently live there. Luckily I wasn’t alone in my journey and I had some other classmates to help me. It was also comforting that I was in a familiar place, which is a local coffee shop and bookstore, with some familiar faces. When I first arrived, I wasn’t sure how to approach people and get them to see the relevance of sharing their opinions and thoughts on the issue of poverty in Philadelphia. Everyone seemed like they were in their own space and they were all so focused. I didn’t want to be invasive. I walked around the place and found a few people that were talking in a backroom that has a seating area.

There was a young lady that seemed like she was about to leave and I quickly introduced myself and told her about the initiative in hopes that she would be eager to share her thoughts. She hesitated for a moment and said that she doesn’t live in Philadelphia anymore. I asked her if she had knowledge about poverty in Philadelphia and if she was from the area and she said yes, she was born and raised in Philly and she still always comes back to visit family.

From there, we began our journey of set up and communication. She looked as if she was preparing her thoughts and what she wanted to say. As we conversed, my classmates and I discovered that she had studied a similar degree when she was in university. This was a relief because she had great understanding and patience about the work that we were doing. After she introduced herself, one of my classmates began to ask her questions and it was as if these thoughts were already at the top of her mind. It was a great experience to have because it reminded me as a Philadelphia native and resident that people are still watching and noticing the changes that need to bemade in order for a better quality of life to be available to those that are often forgotten.