There is no doubt that the Coronavirus has forced us all to adapt to a situation that none of us had ever lived through. Some of us are coping with it better than others, but all of us are having to learn to cope somehow.
Dr. Mitch Rosenwald, Oakland Park resident, and professor of social work at Barry University perceived the need to not only build our community throughout the quarantine but to fortify it. That led him to conceive of the idea for the Oakland Park Community Check-In .
The Technology Learning Curve
Dr. Rosenwald is used to performing live in front of an audience of students but going live on Facebook was an entirely different endeavor. He sought out the expertise of Larissa Castelluber from DesignMoves in Downtown Oakland Park and learned that he needed the BeLive app to go live on Facebook.
He then discussed the idea with me, Desiree Avila, the editor of Living aIn Oakland Park and we began to formulate a plan to broadcast the show and test the technology. The test runs for the show did not always go well, but each time we learned something and finally we felt confident enough to schedule the first broadcast for Saturday April 11, 2020.
Let's Get Live!
The first guest speaker was Vice Mary Jane Bolin. We met her online and behind the scenes about 15 minutes before the live broadcast was to start. Then as it was time to begin something went wrong and we had to delay it 10 minutes. Finally the green button came on, Dr. Rosenwald went live and as they say the rest is history!
The Community Tunes In And It's A Hit
Dr. Rosenwald introduced himself and Vice Mayor Bolin and they began talking about the crisis as members of the community tuned in. In the background I fielded the questions and shared them with Dr. Rosenwald. After the general discussion, Dr. Rosenwald asked Vice Mayor Bolin the questions the audience sent in and she answered them live.
Comments kept coming in thanking us for creating the community broadcast and acknowledging how helpful it was. Check out some of the audience’s comments below :
Michele Lee shared: “Thank you for doing this!! So Informative!!“
Bonnie Baltier DiPacioYou all have been way ahead of the curve keeping Oakland Park residents informed. Thank you.“
Michelle Mesiano McLaren: Good morning. Thanks for doing this.”
Eric AlbertThank you all for making this happen & passing on this information.“
As the first broadcast neared its end, it was clear that this was something the community needed and appreciated. It was by all means a hit!
For more information about the next Oakland Park Community Check-In read below.
General Information About The Oakland Park Community Check-In
The Purpose of the Broadcast
The purpose of the Oakland Park Community Check-In is to disseminate information, answer questions and let the Oakland Park community know that we are in this together and we will get through it together. The broadcast will run throughout the duration of the quarantine.
When, Where and How To Watch The Next Broadcast
The Oakland Park Community Check-In is broadcast live every Saturday at 10am. It is broadcast through the Living In Oakland Park Facebook group. You must be a part of the group in order to watch the broadcast. Click here to join the group and watch the first Oakland Park Community Check-In.
On Saturday April 18th, Mayor Matt Sparks will be the guest speaker. For an up and coming programming schedule, click here.
Got Questions?
We want to answer all your questions and will field as many of them as possible. If you know what questions you have ahead of time, please email them to editor@LivingInOaklandPark.com or click here to submit a question.
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