The Colorlines community has grown dramatically in the past couple of years–and it’s still growing bigger every month. But we’re not just interested in size around here; we’re interested in meaningful engagement. So I’m proud to introduce our newest Colorlines Editorial Fellow, Stacia L. Brown. For the next 12 months, Stacia will be devoted to you, developing new ways to foster productive dialogue with and among our readers. In sum, she’s here to increase the sense of community between our readers, the Colorlines reporters and the newsmakers we cover.

So how will Stacia engage with all of you? Well, we’re going to expiriment and find out. There’ll be Twitter chats around news events in which racial justice plays a crucial role. There’ll be Google+ Hangouts, with live discussion in social media. We’ll grow more active in moderating discussions in the comment sections of our articles. And more stuff we haven’t thought of yet. We also invite you to reach out to us via email at [email protected]. 

We’re in good hands with Stacia. She’s the founder of Beyond Baby Mamas, a social media community dedicated to single mothers of color. The group provides a safe space for moms to share stories and dialogue on issues large and small, from the political to the emotional. She’s also a founding blogger at PostBourgie and a regular contributor to The Atlantic’s The Sexes blog and to Huffington Post Live. Most importantly, she’s part of our commuinty already, and many of you have likely met her on Twitter already. 

So speak up! We’re ready to listen.

And you’ll get your first chance later this week. On Thursday, we will delve into George Zimmerman’s acquittal with a live chat. Colorlines News Editor Aura Bogado will lead a Google Hangout panel of youth, organizers and faith leaders to explore the question, What is justice in this case–beyond sending an individual to jail? Join the conversation on Twitter with @colorlines and at #HoodiesUpNext, Thursday, July 18 at noon.