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CSS Launches Turnstile

Progressive Blog Aims to Connect People to Change New York City

New York, NY, July 18, 2005 -- The Community Service Society (CSS), one of New York City’s oldest not-for-profit organizations and a leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers, is ushering in a new era of civic discourse with the launch of Turnstile, a web blog designed to connect community activists, policy advocates and the public.

Like the transit system it emulates, Turnstile will be an online environment through which New Yorkers across economic, race, ethnic, gender and generational lines can meet, using the power of Internet technology to exchange ideas, critique public policy, and organize efforts to move the city in a progressive direction. The Turnstile blog will officially launch on Monday, July 18.

David R. Jones, president of CSS, announced, “The longevity of CSS in this great city is attributable to the success we have had at adapting to our changing environment. Turnstile represents change; our acknowledgement of a new communications framework and embracing of the Internet as a dynamic tool interacting with the public, building community, and organizing and mobilizing New Yorkers on behalf of the working poor of our city.”

The motivation for choosing Turnstile as the name of the blog was the realization that in urban spaces the mass transit system is the one environment through which all types of people converge and cross paths. The turnstile itself is symbolic as the universal portal through which everyone, regardless of social status, must pass en route to a predetermined destination.

Each week on Turnstile a critical issue will be profiled and a group of contributors will be invited to respond and have their comments and the issue at hand critiqued by the public. The blog is designed to encourage discourse across areas of expertise. Membership, free to the public, will be required to post comments. All conversations will be archived and searchable on the website.

Turnstile was conceived by Walter Fields, Vice President of Political Development at the Community Service Society, as part of a larger CSS Civic Participation Project. Fields notes, “It goes without question that we have moved beyond the notion of the Internet as a novelty. It is now providing a level of connectivity that just a few years ago did not seem plausible. Turnstile will be our online platform that will inform our efforts at the grassroots.”

The Turnstile blog will be accessible through the CSS web site at http://turnstile.cssny.org/.

For over 160 years, the Community Service Society, an independent, nonprofit organization, has tackled the complex issues of poverty by advocating for the poor and underserved; researching and shaping public policy affecting them; and providing direct services that improve their quality of life.

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