Chicago Public Media, owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ, soft-launched on Oct. 7 chicago.com, a new online platform focused on local communities.The nonprofit rolled out its pilot in Chicago neighborhoods Avondale, Bronzeville, Edgewater/Andersonville and South Shore, as well as the city of Ev anston.Chicago.com expects to add more communities next spring or summer, said Melissa Bell, CEO of Chicago Public Media.Each of the five Chicago.com communities has an events calendar, user-generated guides to local places, a forum where neighbors can share information and a weekly newsletter curated by a steward.Chicago.com also curates headlines from the Sun-Times, WBEZ and other news sources.Ahead of the launch, more than 4,000 people joined waitlists for the first five communities, according to a news release. Chicago Public Media did not disclose how many users it has.A paid local resident moderates each community forum, and Chicago Public Media plans to hire a permanent general manager for Chicago.com.The platform aims to be an alternative to for-profit social media platforms and to support non-toxic environments for civic discourse, Bell said.So far, people are “really responding to the fact that this is human-led and very much an alternative to some of the faceless, nameless technology platforms that currently exist,” Bell said “People are interested in seeing an alternative on the marketplace that currently doesn't exist outside of the traditional Facebooks and Nextdoors.”Chicago.com launched the pilot with tech nonprofit New_Public.The Chicago Community Trust, a community foundation, owned the inactive chicago.com domain and gifted it to Chicago Public Media. The trust didn’t disclose the value of its in-kind gift.Bell said Chicago Public Media has a budget for investing in Chicago.com but did not disclose how much.The nonprofit is also still fundraising. “We're hoping to have the ability to have a bigger investment to move faster and ensure that we are building the product out as quickly as possible,” she said.Bell added, “We had a very, very strong year last year, and we are able to actually ensure that we can reinvest into our organization.”Kathy Herwig, Chicago.com steward for Edgewater/Andersonville, said, “People are really just looking for ways to help one another.” Users are sharing information about events, tradespeople and restaurants or discussing questions about gardening and tenants’ issues, she said.People are “proactively saying that they're looking forward to this new space and saying that they want to help build it, and they want to help build a space for healthy community dialogue,” Herwig said. They “are looking for something different than what they're finding in other places.”Herwig is a co-moderator of Edgewater’s Facebook group, which has about 11,000 members.Rashanah Baldwin, Chicago.com steward for South Shore, said people are also sharing volunteer opportunities and neighborhood news. For example, users discussed a recent article about a street named for the late Donda West, mother of hip-hop artist Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. Donda West lived in South Shore and was an English professor at Chicago State University.“We want that healthy community engagement, not just missing dogs or stolen packages,” Baldwin said. Chicago.com users are “looking for something different. They realize it's not Facebook. There aren't advertisements or algorithms, they don't have to navigate that.”Baldwin previously moderated Englewood Portal, an online forum for the South Side neighborhood. She is also a co-chair of Chicago Public Media’s Sounding Board.“I'm just looking for the platform to become that space where that old-school engagement comes back,” she said. “Seeing residents already post about what they're doing, like a bike meetup, if anyone wants to join. I'm looking forward to more residents who don't know each other connect online and move it to offline.”Baldwin plans to hold more in-person meetings in the neighborhood with stakeholders, such as the local chamber of commerce at venues like South Shore Public Library.The chicago.com launch comes at a time when many news organizations are struggling financially. In July, Bell said 2026 financial projections indicate Chicago Public Media will be “close to break-even.”Chicago Public Media, parent of WBEZ, in 2022 acquired the Sun-Times and converted it from for-profit to nonprofit status, through a $61 million, five-year pledge from philanthropists and foundations.Last year, the Sun-Times culled 20% of its news staff through buyouts. In 2024, Chicago Public Media had layoffs that largely affected WBEZ staff and programming. ...read more read less