1. The Chicago Startup Meeting Welcome to the first Idealist podcast. This podcast is all about shining a spotlight on the people, organizations and groups on Idealist.org making connections in their community. In January, we sent an email to thousands of people who use Idealist around the world about our coordinated campaign of Idealist Start-up Meetings. The idea was to connect people who wanted to make change in their community but weren't sure how to start. This one simple email led to led to 400 meetings in 80 countries over the following months. In this episode we highlight the Chicago Idealist Network by interviewing the hosts (Dave and Katie) and some attendees (Ryan, Jeff and Jackie). They discuss how this group that grew from 9 to 150 members is now making connections within their community. The Chicago Idealists Network on Idealist.org Read more about this project at Imagine. You can click "Direct Download" below to listen to this episode now.

Welcome to the Idealist.org Podcasts! This podcast is a project of the organization, Idealist.org, an online community of people turning their good intentions into action. Our podcast comes in two flavors. The first is the Community Podcast, which features stories about innovative ideas and people who are building better communities around the globe. The second is the Careers Podcast which features interviews with professionals and leaders in the Public Service Careers sector.For more information on check out idealist.org/podcast.