According to a new Pew Research Center poll, less than a quarter of Americans (23%) say they’ve ever spoken with or been interviewed by a journalist. A big reason for that? The number of journalists in America has sharply fallen in recent years, in part due to Google tanking about a quarter of traffic for publishers basically overnight and private equity gutting countless vital outlets while trying (and usually failing) to turn them into profit machines.

Since 2002, 75% of journalism jobs are gone, which means fewer adults than ever are having real-life conversations with the reporters who cover their communities.

We’d like to change that.

Next month, SFGATE is launching a series of totally free pop-up newsrooms across San Francisco. We’re partnering with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department to host them in SF green spaces, starting with the JFK Promenade (at 8th Avenue) in Golden Gate Park on Friday, Sept. 18, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (set a calendar reminder!). Our second one is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16, at the Marina Green Triangle. We’ll have about a dozen journalists on hand working in a temporary newsroom we’re constructing, all available to talk to readers in person. We want to hear what’s going on in your neighborhood, or what everyone in your group chat is talking about, or if there’s a breakfast sandwich in the city we need to immediately investigate (OK lie, I just personally want to know that, but still).

At a time when you could conceivably not leave your house for anything, thanks to remote work paired with grocery and food delivery services, and amid a growing friendship crisis – we need more human connections, not fewer. So our pop-up newsroom will also have a few added bonuses to help facilitate those: Our photo staff will be doing professional, prom-style “friends photo shoots” in the park (pets count as friends, too!), we’ll have a community wall where people can leave messages, and we’re giving away free tote bags, posters and postcards featuring art from local artist Shirley Chong for anyone who’s already a Friend of SFGATE or signs up to be one on the spot because they want to support our newsroom (or just really want our ad-free app).

Our hope is that you leave with a full heart, and maybe even a light sunburn, if San Francisco’s best weather month does its thing. And we hope to leave with an even better understanding of our community, and possibly a few new stories to chase down.

Hope to see you there.

More SFGATE site news

–  SFGATE launches ‘Friends of SFGATE,’ complete with ad-free app
–  SFGATE launched a National Parks bureau. It led to explosive growth.
–  West Coast’s largest news site begins major national parks coverage expansion
–  Why SFGATE is expanding way beyond San Francisco

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This article originally published at SFGATE launches a series of pop-up newsrooms at parks across San Francisco.