What do you want San Antonio to look like in 2020? What do you love about San Antonio? What do you think we should do, as a city?

St. Mary’s University community members will have the chance to voice their opinions at the third gathering of SA2020, a community-wide project to determine what San Antonio’s citizens want for the city’s future. Led by Mayor Julián Castro, the goal of SA2020 is to create actionable, achievable goals to make San Antonio a leading city in the next 10 years.

The third community forum of SA2020 will take place on Wednesday, December 8, at 6:30 p.m. in the Bill Greehey Arena in St. Mary’s Alumni Athletics & Convocation Center. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. (map)

And even if you cannot attend the event, you can still participate, thanks to the efforts of one St. Mary’s adjunct faculty member. Charlotte-Anne Lucas, adjunct professor in English-communication arts is involved in SA2020 through NOWCastSA, an independent, nonprofit community news organization. As the program coordinator, Lucas helped NOWCastSA livestream the September kickoff meeting, using a chat box to post 2,200 comments from those viewing the event online.

“The chat function is great because we are encouraging people to participate in the discussion,” Lucas said. “We’re giving people access to information they might not have otherwise had, and that helps them make better decisions.”

As a former journalist and editor for publications like the San Antonio Express-News, Philadelphia Inquirer and the Phoenix New Times, Lucas is familiar with reporting and delivering information to the public. But NOWCastSA’s format allows users to become community journalists and contribute their own news.

“The role of journalism is different now than in the past,” Lucas said. “It’s no longer about just reporting – it’s about collaboration.”

Collaboration is a major part of the SA2020 community forums. At each forum, San Antonio citizens have turned out in droves to discuss everything from transportation to education.

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