FROM ISOLATION TO COMMUNITY

The way we experience community has completely changed.

If you look across generations - mine, a little older, and especially younger - you can actually see the shift happen in real time.

There was a time when community meant being outside.

It meant getting all the kids in the neighborhood together, playing games, running around, figuring things out in real life. It was simple, but it was real.

Then things started to change.

First it was video games. Then it was online games. Then phones, social media, iPads.

Now, community often looks like logging on instead of showing up.

It's hopping on a game with friends. It's being connected digitally. It's interaction - but through a screen.

And to be fair, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. There's value in it.

But it's not the same.

There's something different about real-life interaction. The energy, the presence, the shared experience - it creates a kind of connection that you just can't fully replicate online.

And there are real benefits that come with that.

Social development. Confidence. A true sense of belonging.

Those things are harder to build when everything is happening behind a screen.

I feel like my generation was right in the middle of that transition.

We experienced both sides.

We played outside, but we also saw the shift into digital. And now, looking at the younger generation, it's clear that a lot of that real-world community is being lost.

And that matters.

Because I want the next generation to experience what we experienced.

Not instead of technology - but alongside it.

To have real spaces where they can show up, connect, and be part of something in person.

That's why we created LOCAL.

Not just to organize events, but to help rebuild that sense of real, in-person community.

To create opportunities for people to come together again - not just online, but in real life.

Because connection shouldn't only exist through a screen.

It should exist all around us.